New Jersey, with his division of Maryland men, his Delaware regiment and
the 1st artillery, to relieve Charleston, but on arriving at Petersburg,
Virginia, he learned that Charleston had already fallen. In his camp at
Buffalo Ford and Deep River, General Horatio Gates joined him on the
25th of July; and next day Gates led the army by the short and desolate
road directly towards Camden. On the 11th-13th of August, when Kalb
advised an immediate attack on Rawdon, Gates hesitated and then marched
to a position on the Salisbury-Charlotte road which he had previously
refused to take. On the 14th Cornwallis had occupied Camden, and a
battle took place there on the 16th when, the other American troops
having broken and fled, Kalb, unhorsed and fighting fiercely at the head
of his right wing, was wounded eleven times. He was taken prisoner and
died on the 19th of August 1780 in Camden. Here in 1825 Lafayette laid
the corner-stone of a monument to him. In 1887 a statue of him by
Ephraim Keyser was dedicated in Annapolis, Maryland.
See Friedrich Kapp, _Leben des amerikanischen Generals Johann Kalb_
(Stuttgart, 1862; English version, privately printed, New York, 1870),
which is summarized in George W. Greene's _The German Element in the
War of American Independence_ (New York, 1876).
KALCKREUTH (or KALKREUTH), FRIEDRICH ADOLF, COUNT VON (1737-1818),
Prussian soldier, entered the regiment of Gardes du Corps in 1752, and
in 1758 was adjutant or aide de camp to Frederick the Great's brother,
Prince Henry, with whom he served throughout the later stages of the
Seven Years' War. He won special distinction at the battle of Freiberg
(Sept. 29, 1762), for which Frederick promoted him major. Personal
differences with Prince Henry severed their connexion in 1766, and for
many years Kalckreuth lived in comparative retirement. But he made the
campaign of the War of the Bavarian Succession as a colonel, and on the
accession of Frederick William II. was restored to favour. He greatly
distinguished himself as a major-general in the invasion of Holland in
1787, and by 1792 had become count and lieutenant-general. Under
Brunswick he took a conspicuous part in the campaign of Valmy in 1792,
the siege and capture of Mainz in 1793, and the battle of Kaiserslautern
in 1794. In the campaigns against Napoleon in 1806 he played a marked
part for good or evil, both at Auerstadt and in the miserable retreat of
the beaten Prussians. In 1807 he defended Danzig for 78 days against the
French under Marshal Lefebvre, with far greater skill and energy than he
had shown in the previous year. He was promoted field marshal soon
afterwards, and conducted many of the negotiations at Tilsit. He died as
governor of Berlin in 1818.
The _Dictees du Feldmarechal Kalckreuth_ were published by his son
(Paris, 1844).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account