Caspar von Geismar

Baron Friedrich Caspar von Geismar , Russian: Фёдор Клементьевич Гейсмар (according to baptism entry from May 14, 1783 in the church book of St. Bartholomäus Ahlen in Westphalia complete: Fridericus Casparus Antonius Henricus, * May 12, 1783 in Ahlen on Gut Severinghausen; † May 10 1848 in Saint Petersburg ) was among other things Imperial Russian General Adjutant of Tsar Nicholas I.

Friedrich Caspar von Geismar

Life

origin

Baron Friedrich Caspar von Geismar comes from the noble family Geismar zu Riepen , who had been based in Warburg since around 1200 . He belonged to the so-called Dösseler Liníe von Geismar, which had resided in Dössel, a small village near Warburg , since 1667 . Caspar von Geismar was born as the son of the married couple Clemens August Baron de Geismar, Capitanus Regiminis de Schultz and Bernadina de Berswardt . His father was a major from Münster. His sister Sophie was married to Joseph von Papen-Wilbring , Herr auf Haus Wilbring near Waltrop, Erbsälzer zu Werl, son of the imperial cuirassier-Rittmeister Andreas Ernst Adam Anton von Papen-Wilbring, Herr auf Haus Wilbring, Erbsälzer zu Werl and his wife Antonie from Kückelsheim to Grüneberg .

Early military career

Caspar von Geismar took effect on 2 August 1798 at the age of 15 years in the Austrian German Masters - Infantry Regiment one. He took part in the siege of Mantua and the battle of Novi . In 1800 he and his entire detachment were captured by the French at Marengo and imprisoned in a fortress in Genoa . In the next campaign he already took part in the rank of ensign and distinguished himself in the battles at Buzzolo and Valeggio. In 1804 he resigned from the Austrian army and decided to try his luck in the service of British troops in India.

In the Russian army service

On the island of Corfu , he met the Russian general Anrep , who persuaded him to enter the Russian service. In January 1805 he was accepted as an ensign in the Siberian Grenadier Regiment and then stationed in Corfu. With this regiment he took part in the wars against the French from 1805 to 1806, including the Adriatic expedition and the landing in Naples. In the campaign of 1807 he distinguished himself in the village of Turbat and, at the head of 100 hunters, captured the castle of Baschinski near Obilesti. In March 1809 he and his hunters stormed the fortress of Slobodzey, for which he received the Order of St. George, 4th class. In 1810, during the siege of Razgrad, he was instructed to negotiate the surrender of the fortress, which surrendered on May 28th. In the same campaign he distinguished himself near Shumla, with 100 grenadiers repelling for several hours the attacks of a large group of Turkish horsemen. In 1811 Geismar took early retirement and settled in Romania after marrying a princess Gica.

In April 1812, after he had returned to the Russian army, he was accepted into the Kiev Grenadier Regiment, which was subordinate to General Bachmetjew . In 1812 he fought with the Russian 11th Infantry Division against the French troops until the Grande Armée had to withdraw from destroyed Moscow on October 19 because of the onset of winter . Already in the battle of Ostrowno he was seriously injured in his left leg and after his recovery was appointed adjutant to Count Miloradowitsch , who sent him from Kalisch as head of a Cossack department to Saxony . In 1813 he fought under General Miloradowitsch and took part in the Battle of Kulm . In the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig he commanded a Cossack regiment and was then assigned to Weimar with around 800 men to protect the ducal family . Here he prevented through committed military action on 21./22. October 1813 the invasion of the numerically superior Napoleonic troops and saved the city of Weimar from plunder and destruction. Exactly one year later, on the evening of October 21, 1814, with the consent of all members of the city council , the city of Weimar granted the "Imperial Russian Colonel, Baron von Geismar ... citizenship for himself and his descendants". A council deputation presented him with a certificate made out on parchment with an attached silver seal cap - he thus became the first honorary citizen of the city of Weimar.

Memorial stone for Caspar von Geismar, the first honorary citizen of the city of Weimar (in Weimar, on the corner of Friedensstrasse / Jakobstrasse)

In the subsequent pursuit of Napoleon's troops, von Geismar is said to have been the first Russian soldier to step on French soil, according to an army report. Friedrich Caspar von Geismar was awarded the highest military order , Pour le Mérite , by Tsar Alexander I.

Honors

Geismar was used by the Freemasons of Loge Anna Amalia of the three roses on the occasion of the 50th Foundation Festival on 24 October 1814. Master raised, suggesting Johann Wolfgang von Goethe left a deep impression and literary expression in Goethe's poem Creed found.

His fame and his deeds also reached his hometown Ahlen , on the occasion of his last visit to his birthplace, Gut Severinghausen (Haus Kalckstein ) in July 1830. At a solemn reception of the citizens of Ahlen on the market square in Ahlen, the magistrate awarded him the “Citizens Crown” - He became the 1st honorary citizen of the city of Ahlen.

The following poem was recited by twelve young girls dressed in white:

Welcome cheers your fatherland Westphalia

You hero of the Danube River,

And cheers fill your father's town Ahlen,

As proud of you as Rome

Like the army emperors to triumph

Received the city of the world,

If the city welcomes the son it has born,

As a celebrated hero.

Ahlen exults towards you from the gate:

Hail in the wreath!

Scatter flowers, build honor arches out of laurel

The hero of Münsterland.

The general's fame rose with eagle wings

Up to the sun path,

O Hellas will redeem you sing paan,

Whom God chose to win.

Help the mightiest of the Czars,

The emperor's adjutant,

You overthrew the infernal barbarians

As a sword in God's hand.

Only three names frightened the Ottomans,

Like a ghost power

Since only they escaped fate,

Command her call to battle.

With Paskewitsch from Yerevan the Reussen

Serves Wodan's feast of the gods

The prince of the Balkans Diebitsch, the pride of the Prussians,

And - Geismar the Westphal.

In the November uprising

After the Polish November uprising of 1830 , Geismar received a division of the Russian army under Field Marshal Diebitsch to put down the Polish uprising . However, his troops suffered successively at Stoczek (February 14), Wawer (March 31) and Stare Iganie (April 10) several defeats against Polish troops under Skrzynecki . Nevertheless, in September 1831, under the new Commander-in-Chief Paskevich, he was given another opportunity to parole when attacking Praga . He was badly wounded in the attack on the Redoute Ordona. After the war he was appointed commanding general of the Russian 1st Army Corps and retired in 1840.

Awards

• Military Order Pour le Mérite ( 1813 )
• first honorary citizen of Ahlen and Weimar

literature

• 300 life pictures of important Westphalia - Westphalian heads , p. 89 f, by Wilhelm Schulte, Ahlen - Verlag Aschendorff, Münster 1963,
• Friedrich Caspar Reichsfreiherr von Geismar (1783-1848) - A General of the Tsar from Ahlen , by Wilhelm Kohl, in: an ems and lippe 1987, home calendar for the Warendorf district, p. 28ff
• Weimar Kultur Journal , No. 1/2001, p. 16 f: Friedrich Caspar von Geismar - He saved Weimar from the Napoleonic troops on 21.22. October 1813, by Jutta Fulsche
• Journal of the Association for Thuringian History , Volume 56 (2002), p. 279 ff: Reichsfreiherr Friedrich Caspar von Geismar (1783–1848) formerly an honorary citizen of the city of Weimar - contribution to the life story of an imperial Russian general, by Jutta Fulsche
• Biography of Lieutenant General Reich Baron Friederich Caspar von Geismar. Münster 1860 ( digitized from ULB Münster )

Web links

Commons : Caspar von Geismar  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Memorial stone for the first honorary citizen of Weimar

Individual evidence

1. ^ Erbsälzer Archive in the City Archives of Werl, Westphalia
2. ↑ http://www.internetloge.de/arst/goethe.htm
3. ↑ Goethe and royal art ( Memento of the original from June 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Kunstmuseum Hamburg; accessed on May 1, 2016. 
4. ↑ Biography of Lieutenant General Reichs-Freiherr Friederich Caspar von Geismar - General of the Cavalry, General-Adjutant Sr. Majesty of the Emperor of Russia, holder of the Grand Cross of St. Alexander Newsky, St. Vladimir, St. Anna, des Rothen Adler, White Falcon and the Military Order of Merit, Knight of the Order of St. George and the Order Pour le mérite -, Verlag der Theissing'schen Buchhandlung, Münster 1860.