Johann de Kalb

Johann (of ) Kalb, French Jean de Kalb, De Kalb mainly in America and Baron de Kalb ( born June 29, 1721 Hut Village (now the district of Erlangen ); † August 19, 1780 in Camden, South Carolina after being wounded ) was a German - American general during the American Revolution.

Family

Calf was born as the son of the farmer Johann Leonhard calf, his mother was Margaret Seiz widowed plaster from Eschenbach. His brothers George and Andrew were also farmers. He married in Paris in 1764 Anna Elisabeth Emilie van Robais (* October 30, 1748, † November 20, 1785 ), daughter of Pierre van Robais cloth manufacturer and Suzanne Gastebois. The couple had a daughter and two sons, who were French officers.

• Frédéric ( Salm- Salm Regiment ) ( 1765-1793 )
• Anne Marie Caroline ( 1767 -? ) ∞ Jean -Luc Geymuller ( 1751-1799 )
• Elie (1769-1835) ( Regiment Royal Deux -Ponts ) ∞ Marie Elisabeth Charlotte " " Elise " Signard d' Ouffieres ( 1768 -? )

Life

Calf went in 1737 as a waiter in a foreign land. In 1743 he became a lieutenant in the French German Foreign Regiment lions Dahl, promoted to captain in 1747, 1756 to Major and took part in the Seven Years' War. Here he stayed in the Corps of the Duke of Broglie. He helped, among other things, to cover the retreat of Rossbach and distinguished himself at the Battle of Bergen. 1761, he was quartermaster general 's adjutant in the army of the Upper Rhine.

On the recommendation of Choiseul, he went in 1767 and 1768 to North America to explore the mood of the local population against the colonial mother country Great Britain. 1777, shortly after the outbreak of the revolution, he went together with Lafayette back to North America. In December 1779 he George Washington transferred the command of the divisions of Maryland and Delaware, to cover the city of Charleston. The city was, however, already fallen before his arrival, 12th May 1780, so calf retreated to the south and took on 16 August under Gates at rejected by him and also unhappy verlaufenen Battle of Camden in part. In this battle calf was mortally wounded and died on August 19, 1780 in Camden.

Johann Kalb was a member of the Federation of Masons in a so-called Feldloge. Masonic officers carried him from the battlefield. His military opponent General Charles Cornwallis had him buried with Masonic honors.

Honors

• A monument was inaugurated in 1825 in the presence of the Marquis de La Fayette and the Freemasons of Camden.
• In the U.S., several cities and counties were named after him.
• In obtaining the Johann Kalb Street was named after him in 1955.
• In Munich in the former residence of the American forces at the Perlacher Forest 17th district of Giesing top of the " General - Kalb -Weg " named after him.

De - Kalb - bust in Decatur ( Georgia)