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Subject: Black Hussars for Kaiser Wilhelm?
Author: TOwen84
Date: Monday, January 26, 2015
Classification: Military
Surnames: Gaul

Hello all,

I'm hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction or even tell me if I am completely off base.

Family legend goes that my great-great-grandfather (Leo F Gaul) served in the military before immigrating to the US in 1876.
All I have to go on is a faded photocopy of something that I believed was typed in the 1960s saying that he was from "Butow, 30 miles west of Danzig" and that he served in the "Black Hussans" as a "body guard" the the Kaiser

I believe that it means present day Bytow Poland (formerly West Prussia?) which is closer to 50 or 60 miles but it's alot closer than Butow, Germany.
I also think "HussaN" is incorrect and might possibly be HussaR as I have not been able to find any reference or even the word Hussan.
In my searching, I have also found groups called the Black Brunswickers, is this the same as the Totenkopf (Death's head)? and the Garde du Corps which seemed to be more the Kaiser's body guards, right?

I can't verify any of this with any family records, so my question is, is there a list or muster role or some kind of resource that might have names of Prussian service members along with vital stats that I could verify with what I do have?

Thanks for any insight that you can offer
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