Karl Friedrich Adam von Schlitz

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Count Karl Friedrich Adam von Schlitz called Görtz (* December 21, 1733 in Schlitz ; † August 24, 1797 in Ohlau ) was a royal Prussian general of the cavalry and chief of the Kurassier Regiment No. 8 .

Life

He received his education together with his brother Johann Eustach at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig , at that time the Duke of Braunschweig also studied there. There he learned the basics of science.

In Hessian service

With the death of his father, however, his life took a different direction. His older brother Georg (1724–1794) was in the army and recruited him. In 1750 he became an ensign in the Grenadier Regiment Wilhelm von Hessen-Kassel. In 1752 he was commissioned to recruit three more companies at the Hanau location . He carried out this assignment at his own expense.

At the beginning of the Seven Years' War , Landgrave Wilhelm von Hessen-Kassel rented some infantry regiments to England. The troops went to England with the Count of Isenburg . Görtz accompanied the count as an adjutant at his own expense. The troops came back to Germany as early as 1757 and met the Allied army near Bielefeld . The Count von Görtz received his own company again.

The night before the battle of Hastenbeck , he was given the job of erecting a battery in front of the army, which he succeeded in spite of enemy fire. After the agreement of the Zeven monastery , he believed the fighting had ended and wanted to return to Gut Schlitz in Franconia. He had already received a passport from the French Commander in Chief Marshal Richlieu when the war broke out again in November. He went to Celle , where the Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel had his headquarters. He was very impressed by the Count and borrowed the Adjutants from Count Isenburg. He then fought in the skirmish near Sangerhausen . He was injured in his left knee.

The troops were supposed to gather near Kassel, which was prevented by the French. The attempt by the Allied troops to cross the Werra was also prevented in the Battle of Lutterberg (1758) . The troops had to withdraw via Minden and Einbeck . Isenburg left his troops in Einbeck. The landgrave decided to reinforce his hussars. Görtz became major and should now recruit a squadron. He did that in the winter of 1758/1759 in Bettenhausen . The squadron was not yet complete when he was to replace the sick commander of the hussars. He collected 150 hussars and 100 hunters and attacked the imperial general Voghera at Biber. He was able to take numerous prisoners and capture two standards. Then he was ordered to Kassel to complete his squadron. After the lost battle near Bergen , the troops were deployed to clear the magazine there.

With the campaign of 1759 he was able to relieve the citadel Vechta and advanced with the army against Osnabrück . In the battle of Minden he commanded the vanguard. Then he went with his hussars between Rinteln and Hameln over the Weser and followed the retreat of the French to Kassel. He then returned to the army, which was now besieging Munster under the leadership of General Imhoff . After taking the city, he was ordered to Rinteln to recruit two squadrons of hussars. In 1760 he was given two squadrons for his own regiment. After the landgrave's death, he was also given the Garde du Corps , plus permission to continue participating in the campaign. But there were probably considerable problems and so he left the Hessian services.

In Danish service

At that time there was fighting between Russian and Danish troops. He settled by the Danes as a colonel in the cavalry recruited and moved with the Count of St. Germain in the campaign of 1762. But the troops took only the time to Lübeck associated Travemünde . The death of Tsar Peter III. put an end to the war. The Danish King Frederick V then gave him permission to return to the Allied army and to Duke Ferdinand. He stayed there until the Peace of Hubertusburg . He returned to Denmark and received a dragoons regiment stationed in Odense on Funen . After the death of King Friedrich, numerous intrigues arose that made Görtz demand his departure. He then went back to his goods first.

In Prussian service

In 1771 he traveled to Potsdam , where the Prussian King Friedrich II took him over as colonel of the cavalry. The king also sent him on two diplomatic missions to St. Petersburg. He represented Prussia at the wedding of Grand Duke Paul with Princess Wilhelmina Luisa of Hessen-Darmstadt , as well as at the second wedding of the Grand Duke with Princess Sophie Dorothee of Württemberg .

In August 1777 he was appointed major general. During the War of the Bavarian Succession he was in the king's entourage. In 1779 he accompanied Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm to St. Petersburg . In 1785 he was sent to Kassel to negotiate with the Landgrave about joining the Princes' League, which he successfully managed. When he returned, Frederick II was already very weak. On March 3, 1786, however, he appointed the Count lieutenant general. He was one of the few present at the death of the monarch. After Frederick's death, he brought the news to the Crown Prince, who sent him on to the Queen at Schönhausen Palace . Then he had to take the news to the rest of the royal family. When the new King Friedrich Wilhelm II traveled to his country to pay homage, Görtz was allowed to sit in the carriage with the king.

In September 1787 he became chief of the Cuirassier Regiment No. 8 (Pannewitz) in Ohlau in Silesia. In 1795 he was appointed general of the cavalry and died in 1797 in his cuirassier garrison, well-known through Seydlitz .

family

The Schlitz family, called Görtz, belongs to a family of imperial knights in the Franconian district. His parents were the Brandenburg castle captain in Hanover, Count Johann von Schlitz called Görtz (* April 30, 1683; † July 28, 1747) and his wife Maria Friederika Dorothea von Görtz (* August 22, 1696; † September 2, 1773). The diplomat Johann Eustach von Görtz (1737–1821) was his youngest brother.

He married on June 15, 1764 Louise Charlotte von Knuth (* March 4, 1745 - April 30, 1812), daughter of Count Eberhard Christoph von Knuth . The couple had the following children:

  • Johann Heinrich Christoph (* October 16, 1769; † May 1778)
  • Sophie Elisabeth Luise (February 15, 1771 - September 14, 1843)
⚭ May 15, 1791 Karl Friedrich Peter von Raoul († July 13, 1794)
⚭ October 5, 1796 Baron Christian Wilhelm von dem Bussche-Lohe (* 1756; † January 3, 1817)
  • Friederike Wilhelmine, (* June 5, 1783; † June 27, 1852) ⚭ October 7, 1801 Hans Ernst von Haugwitz (* January 13, 1779; † October 5, 1843)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ New Lusatian Magazine . Volume 21, News from Lusatia. Third and fourth piece, 1843, p. 73, digitized , obituary
personal data
SURNAME Schlitz, Karl Friedrich Adam von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schlitz called Görtz, Karl Friedrich Adam von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian General of the Cavalry, Chief of the Kurassier Regiment No. 8
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1733
PLACE OF BIRTH slot
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1797
Place of death Ohlau