Adam Ludwig von Ochs

Adam Ludwig von Ochs

Adam Ludwig Ochs , from 1802 von Ochs (* May 24, 1759 in Rosenthal ; † October 21, 1823 in Kassel ), was a major general and diplomat from the Electorate of Hesse , who became famous for his participation in the Napoleonic campaign in Russia .

Early years

Adam Ludwig Ochs was born in Rosenthal as the son of the less well-to-do master carpenter and mayor Bastian Ochs and Maria Meschet, and he showed himself to be connected to the soldier's class at an early age. At the beginning of 1777 he followed the call of Landgrave Friedrich II of Hesse , who offered England 12,000 Hessians to fight the North Americans. (→ Soldiers trade ). On April 11th he joined the Hessian Feldjägercorps under Colonel von Wurmb with the charge of a Fourier . After crossing to America and completing his basic training, he was promoted to officer on September 7, 1781; in addition, he also endeavored to advance his intellectual training. As a lieutenant and adjutant of Wurmbs, he took part in all of his campaigns in the American War of Independence and proved himself in the reconnaissance of hostile terrain. Ochs had the opportunity to find advantageous accommodation in America, but his love for his old homeland determined him to return to Europe with the Jägerkorps, who left in 1784.

In the service of Hesse

He completed his theoretical knowledge in the military field and was able to work as an instructor in 1787. Ochs was the only second lieutenant who was allowed to remain in the Waldau garrison near Kassel with the now downsized body hunter company. Through the mediation of his former comrade in arms, General Ewald , the position of captain in the Danish army would have fallen to him. Landgrave Wilhelm IX . but did not let him go and promoted him to compensation on October 11, 1788 to staff captain. The campaign of 1792 brought Ochs back to the field, he fought under the landgrave, who led his company personally in the campaign in Champagne . In August 1792, an Allied army gathered in the area of Koblenz , which the Elector of Hesse joined with 6000 men at a special request. When the English army under the Duke of York turned against Dunkirk in 1793 , Ochs was successfully detached into the enemy's hinterland when crossing the Lys. His behavior in front of Ypres on August 21, 1793 earned him the Hessian Order pour la vertu militaire . In the Battle of Hondschoote on September 8, 1793, the Hessian hunters faced the French General Vandamme , and the Brigade Leader General von Cochenhausen was fatally wounded. Ochs had to give way to the superior force, was seriously wounded and was in the hospital until the spring of the following year.

For his excellent behavior at the meeting at Boxtet on September 14, 1794, he was publicly commended by the commanding General Wallmoden . During the evacuation of Mechelen he lost a horse under his body, the Hessians then had to give up the Meuse front and went back behind the Waal as rearguard . After the French occupied Holland, the Allies remained on the defensive behind the Ems until peace came . 1798 Ochs was succeeded by his sovereign to Quartermaster General in the General Staff conveyed. He then took care of a new Hessian drill and service regulations and was finally appointed major and commander of the hunter battalion in 1799 . With an imperial decree, Ochs was raised to the nobility in 1802 . Ochs now belonged to the narrower circle of people whom the elector honored with special confidence, while he conducted the cabinet's military correspondence. In the campaign of 1805, Napoleon insisted on a free march through Hessen-Kassel during the deployment against Austria . Ochs was already a lieutenant colonel and, as a brigadier of the light troops, watched the French corps Bernadotte's passage . In his capacity as chief of staff , he marched to the allied combined Prussian-Hessian corps in the direction of Fulda , but the intended campaign no longer took place. After the outbreak of the war in 1806 , the Elector of Hesse , who was also a Prussian field marshal , tried to negotiate a neutrality treaty with both powers. On October 5, 1806, Prussian troops advanced through the Hessian area. Napoleon insisted on the unarmed neutrality of Hesse, the French ambassador protested in Kassel. The French Mortier corps advanced from Hanau to Fulda, while a Franco-Dutch army under General Daendels was approaching from Paderborn . On November 1st, the elector had the garrison of Kassel under General von Webern disarmed and the French occupied the city without a fight.

In the service of France

The peace of Tilsit brought the union of Hesse with the Kingdom of Westphalia . In December 1807 Ochs also made himself available to the newly established Westphalian government because of financial need. After the outbreak of war in Spain , a Westphalian brigade was also set up for the local theater of war in 1809. When the Westphalian 2nd Army Division had already reached Metz , the commander General Webern was relieved and replaced by the Ochs, who had been promoted to colonel . Ochs took over the 6000 men and marched through southern France via Perpignan to Catalonia . During the siege of Gerona at the beginning of May 1809, Ochs distinguished himself to such an extent that he was promoted to brigade general at the suggestion of his superior General Morio . His health soon suffered from the strange climate, and a febrile illness forced him to return home. After his restoration, he commanded the entire Westphalian troop corps in Catalonia the following year, which was recalled from Spain in April 1810.

In July 1810, King Jerome gave him command of the coast between the Elbe and Weser in order to maintain the continental barrier against England. In January 1812, Marshal Davoust placed Braunschweig under martial law after a riot. In agreement with General Saint Germain , Ochs was able to help the beleaguered city of Braunschweig by ensuring that the new French garrison usually had to be quartered and not fed at the expense of the local citizens. Ochs was still in Braunschweig when he received the order from King Jerome to return to Kassel and to take command of the Hessian-Westphalian 24th Infantry Division for the Grande Armée against Russia. The French General Junot was his immediate superior as commander of the Westphalian 8th Army Corps. Ochs and General Tharreau commanded the infantry, Generals von Hammerstein and Chabert the cavalry of the corps. The Hessian-Westphalian corps fought at Walutino on August 18, 1812 and suffered heavy losses at Borodino and off Moshaisk on September 7 . Generals Lepel and Tharreau were fatally wounded, Ochs was unharmed. The Westphalian corps had suffered so much that it was unable to make the short march to Moscow. It remained in Mosaisk until the general retreat began on October 28th.

On November 15, Ochs opened the way through the enemy troops near Krasnoye , then his troops disbanded. He succeeded in saving his eldest son, whom he found wounded in Orsha , from captivity. Sick of himself in Thorn , he was rescued in a similar situation by his son in Posen. When Jerome returned to Kassel at the beginning of 1813, he was appointed military governor of Halberstadt , where he restored his health. On May 30, 1813, Halberstadt was attacked by Cossacks under Chernyshev and Ochs, wounded by the Russians, was captured and brought to Dorpat .

Retirement

His attempts to take part in the Allied campaigns against Napoleon in 1813 and 1815 failed. He was forced to fill the rest of his existence with writing: in 1817 his "Reflections on the Modern Art of War" came out in Kassel. In 1818 he was employed by the Elector Wilhelm I to write Hessian military history. Ochs still received honors and lived in philosophical seclusion, limited to a moderate income.

From his marriage to Maria Luise geb. Schödde (1762–1811), daughter of pastor Philipp Schödde, had four children:

• Carl Philipp Wilhelm (1794–1846), Major General of Hesse ⚭ Therese Karoline Henriette Charlotte (* December 30, 1812 - † November 6, 1871)
• Elise Philippine Amalie (1789–1857), writer ⚭ October 11, 1809 Leopold von Hohenhausen (* May 16, 1779; † December 22, 1848), councilor and writer
• Wilhelmine (Minna) Johanne (born October 29, 1799), friend of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff
• Ludwig Johann Adolf (January 1803; † 1862), Hessian lieutenant colonel and member of parliament

literature

• Leopold von Hohenhausen, Adam Ludwig von Ochs: Biography of General von Ochs: A political-military contribution to the history of the North American and the French Revolutionary War, as well as the campaigns in Spain, Russia and Germany. Verlag Luckhardt, 1827, digitized
• Bernhard von Poten :  Ochs, Adam Ludwig von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, pp. 128-130.
• Inge Auerbach and Otto Fröhlich: Hessian troops in the American War of Independence. Marburg 1976.
• Biography of General von Ochs A political-military contribution
• Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses 1891. Forty-first year, p.620ff
• Friedrich W. Strieder, Basis for a Hessian Scholar and Writer History from the Reformation to the Present Time , Volume 18, p.420ff
• Adam Ludwig von Ochs . In: New Nekrolog der Deutschen , 1st year, 1823, 2nd issue. Ilmenau 1824. pp. 673-697.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses for the year 1873, p.232
2. ^ Leopold von Hohenhausen in the Lexicon of Westphalian Authors