Johann Heinrich Otto von Schmidt

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Johann Heinrich Otto von Schmidt (born November 18, 1758 in Bublitz , † February 5, 1841 in Berlin ) was a Prussian lieutenant general of the artillery .

Life

origin

He was the son of Johann Gottlieb Schmidt (1714–1775), Mayor of Justice in Bublitz, and his wife Hedwig Helene, born von Lettow from the Drawehn family.

Military career

Schmidt came early to the house of his uncle, who later became General von Lettow. In May 1772 he joined the field artillery corps as a bombardier in the Prussian service . The circumstances of the same and the stagnation of the promotion in general caused that he was only promoted to second lieutenant on March 29, 1782 . Little had happened for his scientific training. He often said later that he had had to give a lot of lessons in his life but received little himself. His military usefulness, his earnest striving to acquire the knowledge required for higher positions through his own strength and his whole personality soon drew the attention of his superiors to him. When the Ottoman government asked for artillery instructors in 1791, Colonel Karl Ludwig Bogislav von Goetze was commanded to Turkey with two officers, lieutenants Scholten and Schmidt . The mission was secret and so it came about that the Prussian officers appeared in Turkish clothes. Schmidt's appearance and whole demeanor made him particularly suitable for such a use; the way in which he had fulfilled the latter, was the reason that he was awarded the order Pour le Mérite after his return in 1792 and he was raised to the nobility.

In the same year he went to war against France . During the same year he participated as adjutant, first under the command of General Georg Friedrich von Tempelhoff , then his successor, General Karl Friedrich von Moller , in the bombardment of Longwy and Verdun and the cannonade of Valmy , and in 1793 in the siege of Mainz and the bombardment of Landau and in 1794 in the battle of Kaiserslautern .

After returning home, he was placed in the senior war council , and from 1808 in the war ministry . This gave him the opportunity to train himself further in the scientific and technical branches of the artillery, especially since his position brought him into closer contact with an excellent officer of the weapon, the then Major Pontanus , who particularly encouraged him and later came into frequent contact with Scharnhorst came. He was promoted to prime lieutenant in 1797 and to staff captain in 1799 . At the outbreak of the war in 1806 he was given a company and in 1809 he became a major . After the peace treaty he worked for a while in the War Ministry, but then he was appointed artillery officer of the fortress Graudenz , which at that time was of particular importance for the Prussian state and required particularly careful and strong men.

When the war of 1812 broke out and Prussia provided the Emperor Napoleon with an auxiliary corps, Major Schmidt, although one of the youngest staff officers, was appointed commander of the same artillery. There were seven batteries , 45 cannons and 15 howitzers , along with two park columns and two bridge columns. Schmidt personally took part in the battles near Eckau and the Aa during the campaign. Also for the war of 1813 he was assigned to General Yorck . After he was appointed brigadier of the Prussian artillery brigade on February 27, 1813 , he was now in command of the artillery of the 1st Army Corps. "I feel quite incapable of suggesting a more worthy man to your majesty," reported Prince August to the king, and he was also welcome to his commander Yorck. The artillery under him consisted of 13 batteries. How much Yorck valued him emerges from a letter in which he requested promotion to general for him on May 7, 1814. After describing Schmidt's services for the successes in general and especially for the victories at the Katzbach , at Möckern , at Laon and at Paris , he expresses his conviction that the king, if he was an eyewitness, to him on the battlefield General would have made ; he calls him an ornament of the corps and says that as a general he would be an ornament of the army . On another occasion he said that Schmidt had often made what seemed almost impossible possible. The historian Droysen says: “No danger confused him, no difficulty frightened him. He was just as exemplary in the office as on the battlefield. ”This was evident both in the arrangements he made for the battle and in his effectiveness in internal service, namely in his care for guns and shooting supplies. “There was something respectable about his character. One involuntarily felt better around him than usual, ”writes a war companion. In the corps it was said that Schmidt was the only senior officer whom Yorck had never been rude to, at most he had hit his adjutant. Yorck drew him to all important consultations and gave him a free hand in the arrangements concerning the artillery. Nevertheless, Schmidt did not become a general until May 1815; for his achievements in the years 1813/14 he received both classes of the Iron Cross and the Oak Leaves for the order Pour le Mérite .

After the peace agreement he was returned to the War Ministry; with his position there he combined the command of the immobile artillery and the management of the ministry during the campaign of 1815, insofar as they did not directly affect the army in the field. He remained in the former sphere of activity until 1820. It was his particular responsibility to manufacture the material. The necessary consideration for the limited resources of the state imposed a restriction on him in this regard, under which the weapon suffered for a long time and in which he perhaps went too far. On April 3, 1820 he was appointed inspector of the Guards, 2nd and 3rd Artillery Inspection and at the same time the President of the Artillery Inspection Commission. To celebrate his 50th anniversary in service, he was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle, 1st Class with Oak Leaves. In the following year, Schmidt asked to leave, which was granted to him on March 25, 1824 as lieutenant general and a pension of 2000 thalers. From then on he lived in Berlin, where he died on February 5, 1841.

family

Schmidt married Albertine Sophie Heydenreich (born April 17, 171 in Rüdersdorf; † May 26, 1797 in Berlin) in Berlin on October 23, 1796. After her untimely death, she was buried in the garrison cemetery. He married Ernestine Antoinette Wilhelmine von Holtzendorff on December 12, 1802 in Berlin (born June 1, 1782 in Berlin; † August 10, 1809 in Königsberg ).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Gustav Droysen : The life of Field Marshal Count York von Wartenburg. Volume 2, p. 171. Digitized
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Johann Heinrich Otto von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian lieutenant general of the artillery
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1758
PLACE OF BIRTH Bublitz
DATE OF DEATH February 5, 1841
Place of death Berlin