Rudolf Eickemeyer

This article deals with the professor and officer Rudolf Eickemeyer (1753–1825). For the inventor and entrepreneur Rudolf Eickemeyer (1831–1895) see Rudolf Eickemeyer (Inventor) .

Rudolf Eickemeyer

Heinrich Maria Johann Rudolf Eickemeyer (born March 11, 1753 in Mainz , † September 9, 1825 in Gau-Algesheim ) was an electoral-Mainz professor at the University of Mainz and from 1779 an officer in the service of Elector Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal .

He was one of the military commanders during the siege of Mainz (1792) . After the surrender to the French revolutionary troops in 1792, he joined the army of the French Republic , which he left with the rank of general . After retiring from the French army, he was Maire , later Mayor of Gau-Algesheim . In the course of his career as a politician, he was also Provincial Councilor for the Province of Rheinhessen and later a member of the Hessian Chamber of Deputies in the Grand Duchy of Hesse .

family

Rudolf Eickemeyer was born in 1753 as the son of the Kurmainzischen artillery captain Johann Christoph Eickemeyer (1720–1797). On the father's side, the family came from Eichsfeld in Electoral Mainz . The family of his mother Katharina Theresa Franziska Schmidt (1727–1798), whose father was also an artillery captain in the Kurmainzian service, came from the Rheingau , but had been based in Mainz since the third generation. Eickemeyer had five older sisters. In 1792 Rudolf Eickemeyer married the widow Therese Zucki née Appiano, with whom he already had an illegitimate daughter. In 1803 he settled with his family in Gau-Algesheim, where he died in 1825.

Training, study and teaching

Domus Universitatis - the old Mainz university building

Eickemeyer was originally chosen for the clergy. But when he made it clear that he would rather take up his father's profession, a military career was sought for him. His father, who studied mathematics in Göttingen for several years before settling in Mainz, taught him mathematics himself. In 1770, at the age of 17, he was given a vacant position with the Electoral Mainz artillery due to his specialist knowledge and became a junker . This was the lowest officer grade in the artillery.

Just three years later he applied for a position as a school teacher at the then newly founded school teacher academy. A year later, the 20-year-old got a job as a teacher of mathematics and architecture there and at the newly founded Gymnasium Emmericianum . Another year later, in 1774, Eickemeyer was given the chair of mathematics at the University of Mainz. Since he had not yet had a university degree and felt overwhelmed by this task, he asked Elector Erthal for educational leave. This was approved after his father promised to represent his son as a lecturer. Rudolf Eickemeyer moved to Paris at the end of January 1775 to study mathematics and natural science subjects at the university there. During this time he got to know the Enlightenment men Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Benjamin Franklin personally. In 1777 he finished his studies in Paris and went on a study tour through France and Flanders. He later moved to London. There he continued his studies. Here he met Joseph Priestley as well as Johann Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster , both of whom had just returned from James Cook's second trip to the South Seas. After studying at Oxford and Cambridge , Rudolf Eickemeyer returned to Mainz in 1779 and, meanwhile in the military rank of lieutenant engineer, took over his chair at the University of Mainz. From 1789 to 1792 he was dean of the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Mainz. Also in 1779 he was appointed director of the hydraulic engineering authority. In this role he was busy straightening the Rhine and expanding the towpaths .

Officer of the Kurmainzer Army

City and fortress Mainz around 1755

Rudolf Eickemeyer's military career in the Kurmainzer Army began initially in the Mainz artillery, whereby his father, as the leader of the Mainz engineers, was able to arrange a transition to the engineering force for him. In 1779 Eickemeyer already held the rank of lieutenant engineer and was working out plans for a reform of engineering in Mainz. Although his father, as a colonel, had been in charge of the engineers as well as the artillery from 1788, he had already ceded management responsibility to his son for health reasons years earlier. Rudolf Eickemeyer was de facto responsible for the entire fortifications of the city of Mainz from the beginning of the 80s . In January 1787 Eickemeyer rose to major and in 1790 was Oberstwachtmeister of the electoral engineering corps. In June 1790, as leader of the engineering corps, he took part in the campaign against Liège , where he drafted a plan to take the city of Hasselt. However, since the insurgents prevented a siege of the city, the engineer corps was not used. During this time he devoted himself to a job advertised by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences on the subject of What are the best and most detailed means for Bavaria to prevent the leakage of rivers and the flooding that accompanies them? Eickemeyer, together with the electoral water engineering director von Ridel, submitted a corresponding memorandum and won the First Prize endowed with 25 gold ducats. In 1803 the 50-page memorandum with four additional plans was printed by the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Siege of Mainz in 1792 and Eickemeyer's role in handing over the city

Elector Friedrich Carl von Erthal fled Mainz from the siege

In view of the great danger, Eickemeyer drafted a whole series of threat scenarios and a short memorandum to defend the city together with the governor of Mainz fortress. In the course of his service, Eickemeyer also made several reports directly to the elector and pointed out the precarious condition of the fortifications. Since a large part of the ramparts was practically privatized and occupied by gardens, he recommended a whole series of immediate measures, including leveling various sections of the fortress. But it was not until 1792, when the First Coalition War broke out , that people were willing to pay more attention to this topic. When, after Speyer's capture, French revolutionary troops under General Adam-Philippe de Custine approached Mainz in October 1792 , the state of siege was declared. Since in Mainz, as everywhere in the empire, it was assumed that the Austro-Prussian army would achieve rapid success against France, only minor measures had been taken up to this point. Now, in view of the immediate danger, the entire Mainz fortress was brought out of hibernation. In fact, Eickemeyer, together with hundreds of farmers and workers, managed to bring the fortress into a defensible state. Nevertheless, it became clear that Eickemeyer was clearly overwhelmed with his task. The extensive fortress required at least five times as many engineers and the long period of peace had contributed to the fact that there were no regulations or processes for preparing such a large fortress for the state of siege.

When the French arrived, the defense of the city of Mainz was in the hands of the fortress governor General Clemens August Freiherr von Gymnich . This based his decisions on two councils of war, one of which consisted of all senior officers and engineers of the fortress and another in which all Mainz generals were represented. Rudolf Eickemeyer, who had been a lieutenant colonel since May 1792, managed, against the recommendation of his own subordinates, to enforce the occupation of the outer works of the fortress. Nevertheless, he could not prevent the few days of the brief siege from being extremely chaotic from the point of view of the defenders. The discouraged General von Gymnich advocated the immediate surrender of the city in a war council of the generals on October 20. Eickemeyer had no vote in this council of war and only acted as secretary. When asked for his opinion, he is said to have advised perseverance, but his signature can also be found under the declaration of surrender.

Change from electoral to French military

General Custine, the conqueror of Mainz 1792

Eickemeyer was sent to the French camp together with an electoral councilor to conduct the surrender negotiations there in the spirit of the council of war. It was only afterwards that he noticed how poorly the French were actually prepared for a siege of Mainz. It is also not known exactly which conversations he had with Custine and which offers he made him. In any case, Eickemeyer, who had stayed behind after the garrison had withdrawn to carry out all the surrender formalities, then joined the French service as a Colonel . On his resignation on November 1, 1792, he wrote to the Elector:

“ My frequent ideas about the necessities of better maintenance of the Mainz fortress had to convince your electoral grace how much the defense of it was important to me. Even when this place was attacked by the enemy, I made every effort to preserve it, and only after the assembled generals had unanimously recognized the impossibility of resistance did I consent to the surrender. After performing these duties, I found it most useful to continue my lectures at the university. I therefore reported to the commanding French general for permission to stay here. He may have discovered in me some talent for military business and on that occasion offered me the position of French colonel. Since with this change there is no collision of interests which could prevent a man of honor from transferring from the service of a neutral prince to the service of a warring power, I believe the acceptance of this position, which noticeably improved my current fortune, and me the most favorable prospects for the episode promises to be owed to my personal best. "

This is said to have been very angry about the letter, because by no means would he have called himself a "neutral prince" at a time when the French were sitting in his royal seat. In electoral circles, Rudolf Eickemeyer was now regarded as a traitor and attempts were made to prove that he had been bribed by the French. However, this did not succeed. Judicial investigations revealed neither contacts between Eickemeyer and French circles before October 20, 1792, nor the payment of a bribe or any change in his financial position. In addition, there were allegations of the elector and those around him who tried to portray him, instead of Gymnich, as the main culprit in the surrender. To make matters worse, after Eickemeyer two more of his engineering officers defected to the French, including his cousin, Lieutenant Karl Eickemeyer. The Mainz engineering corps thus lost three out of five officers.

However, it is possible that predominantly private reasons were responsible for Eickemeyer's actions in October. For years he had lived with a divorced woman, with whom he also had a daughter since 1784. In Catholic Kurmainz he could not marry this woman, under the more liberal French rule this was possible without any problems. According to tradition, Eickemeyer is said to have said to his wife's brother:

“ Dear brother-in-law, everything I did was just to marry your sister. "

Rudolf Eickemeyer married Madame Zucki, née Appiano, in November 1792 and also joined the Jakobin Club in Mainz on November 6th . Although he was one of the few soldiers there, he was not supposed to play a major role there. Eickemeyer's future was to be found in the French army and in the wars that followed.

Military career in the French army

As early as October 22, 1792, Eickemeyer offered General Custine to enter French service. He accepted the offer and Rudolf Eickemeyer began his second military career as a colonel in the French army. He was able to distinguish himself in battles against Prussian troops in the Hunsrück and was promoted to the Général de brigade of the French Republic on March 15, 1793 with the benevolent assessment "Confident of his experience, vigilance, best leadership and loyalty" . In July 1793 Eickemeyer took over a brigade of the Upper Rhine Army under General Presgracier. On February 12, 1795, he switched to General Kuhn's army as a pioneer expert, which was now besieging Mainz , which was defended by Prussian troops . Despite Eickemeyer's precise knowledge of the fortifications, the French siege troops were unable to take the city. Years later, Eickemeyer described the catastrophic conditions among the French troops in his memoirs:

“While the soldier and officer, lying in poor earthen huts through a harsh winter, suffered extreme shortages and often received no bread or only inedible in a few days, the representatives and commissioners, including some general, lived in abundance. The most delicious items had to be brought in on requisition. They hunted, visited, gave balls and hired bacchantes. Merlin de Thionville , who was a member of the convention in the Blockade Corps, was not ashamed to organize splendid parties with a woman who had run away from her husband from Mainz and whom he had taken in as a sleeper. In order to give her an as yet unseen spectacle, he let howitzers bombard Mainz during one night. "

- Rudolf Eickemeyer : Memories of General Eickemeyer

When the French troops withdrew, Eickemeyer was given the task of covering the retreat. In June 1795 he was transferred to the army of General Taponier (later under the direction of General Fauconnet) in Germersheim , where he commanded the 1st Brigade. In the subsequent South German campaign against Austrian troops, Eickemeyer distinguished himself through his military skill as well as his humane attitude towards the civilian population. While defending the city of Kehl , Eickemeyer was seriously wounded on December 27, 1796 and initially retired from the war on German territory.

After his temporary recovery he became the brigade commander of the 96th Brigade in Lons-le-Saunier in the Jura department . A relapse in the healing of his severe wounds on his thigh resulted in another incapacity for work. Eickemeyer went to Wiesbaden for a cure , where he was treated by his friend, the doctor and leading Jacobin from Mainz, Georg von Wedekind . Eickemeyer was only able to take over a military command again in March 1799. As commander of the 2nd subdivision in Montbrison , he was involved in battles against royalist emigrants and revolutionaries in the Loire and Puy-de-Dôme departments . Due to an intrigue, he was accused of royalist activities despite his services in establishing civil order in his area of ​​responsibility. On September 28, 1799 he was dismissed from military service by the Minister of War Edmond Dubois-Crancé on the basis of these allegations . Eickemeyer then wrote an extensive rehabilitation paper, which he handed over to the Directory , and then returned to Mainz, which had been in French hands again since December 30, 1797 after the Peace of Campo Formio . A few weeks later he received the news that he had been rehabilitated on the basis of the good assessments from his superiors and employees. In particular, the head of the military supply administration, Haussmann, contributed to this by writing in Eickemeyer's assessment: "His name is well respected everywhere, his military service without blame, no doubt about his sincerity."

The coup d'état of 18th Brumaire VIII - Napoleon Bonaparte received Rudolf Eickemeyer as the first consul of the republic

Although still a French military with the rank of brigadier general, Rudolf Eickemeyer was also active in local politics for the first time. Due to the disorderly conditions in the areas on the left bank of the Rhine, which now belonged to the French Republic, Eickemeyer traveled to Paris to speak to Napoleon Bonaparte . Eickemeyer was supposed to represent the newly founded Département du Mont-Tonnerre (Donnersberg-Département). Representatives of the other departments on the left bank of the Rhine were also on their way to Paris; as represented Joseph Gorres , professor, journalist and known Jacobins , the de Rhin-et-Moselle department (Rhine-Moselle department). Eickemeyer left Mainz on November 9, 1799, the day of the coup d'état of the 18th Brumaire VIII . Due to the political turmoil that followed, all delegates traveled back to their home departments. However, Eickemeyer traveled on to Paris, where he was waiting for an audience with Napoleon. He received him some time later in the Palais des Tuileries , but expressly only in his function as general of the French army. During their conversation, Napoleon gave him command of the North Franconian Legion , a new military unit to be set up from the newly founded departments on the left bank of the Rhine. With the decree of December 16, 1799 Eickemeyer received his official appointment as commander. This was to be the last stop in his military career. The army never reached the intended level of 6,000 soldiers, of the 1,800 soldiers of the maximum crew level only a fraction came from the new departments on the left bank of the Rhine. The mercenaries recruited instead from almost all European countries quickly suffered mass desertions. Meanwhile, Eickemeyer was accused of embezzlement and embezzlement of funds in 1801, which in turn led to his discharge from military service. Here, too, he achieved his full rehabilitation: He found the culprits himself and presented the Minister of War with solid evidence. The latter apologized to Eickemeyer and promised a new command after the failed Northern Franconian Legion was dissolved. But it shouldn't come to that. Rudolf Eickemeyer was retired in 1803 at the age of 50 as the longest serving Général de brigade in the French army.

Mayor and Mayor of Gau-Algesheim

In the last years of his life, Eickemeyer was active in local politics in the Grand Duchy of Hesse

After his retirement, Eickemeyer and his family went to Gau-Algesheim in Rheinhessen in September 1803 . Here his parents had left him a small agricultural estate. In 1811, at the request of the Prefect of the Département du Mont-Tonnerre, Jeanbon St. André , he was elected mayor of the place. The community had been badly damaged by the chaos of war, billeting and charges to the French army, and Eickemeyer seemed to the prefect the right man to revitalize the place. Eickemeyer was able to distinguish himself as Maire shortly after his election. On September 6, 1811, 36 houses and stables burned down in a large fire. He immediately arranged for the aid to be organized by the neighboring communities and the department administration. Just two years later, all the buildings had been rebuilt. After this incident, Eickemeyer modernized the local fire department and ordered the purchase of a fire pump . Furthermore, he founded the first girls' school in town during his tenure and devoted himself to the control of the vine prick (Bytiscus betulae) , a measure which was very important in the wine-growing town and which significantly increased the income from viticulture. During his tenure, the late medieval fortifications were laid down and the entire village was modernized and expanded.

With the approach of the coalition troops and the imminent end of French rule, he gave up his office with the approval of the prefect to his adjunct and went to Mainz. After a break of several months, at the request of the new Austro-Bavarian administration, he again took over the office of local mayor. Eickemeyer would now hold this without further interruption until 1822. Due to his universally respected integrity, he remained active in local politics even after the end of the Napoleonic Empire and the addition of Gau-Algesheim to the Grand Duchy of Hesse . In 1818 he was elected to the Provincial Council of the new Province of Rheinhessen and in 1820 to the Second Hessian Chamber of Deputies . Due to his health condition, he took up the office of parliament, but could no longer be politically active and asked for the election of a successor.

In the last years of his life, Eickemeyer became increasingly active as an author. Most of his works were created in the last ten years of his life. Eickemeyer wrote on a variety of subjects such as mathematics he studied and taught, the arts of war, and general socio-political issues.

Rudolf Eickemeyer died on September 9, 1825 in Gau-Algesheim. His grave in the local cemetery is no longer preserved. The park at the “Old Cemetery” has been called “Eickemeyer Park” since 2011.

Literary works by Rudolf Eickemeyer

• On the benefits of studying mathematics , Mainz 1784
• Treatise on subjects of political and military science , 2 volumes, Frankfurt 1817
• On the moral and artistic value of public monuments , Leipzig 1820
• The art of war architecture according to principles that are different from those that have been followed up to now , Leipzig 1821
• About the development of the villages , Frankfurt 1797 near Varrentrapp and Wenner
• On the inclusion of the country towns and other open places , Mainz 1792, university bookstore
• Memories of General Eickemeyer , autobiography, edited and supplemented by Heinrich Josef König in Frankfurt / Main in 1845
• On the construction of roads in sandy areas where there is a lack of stones, a treatise which the Kgl. Societät der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen awarded the prize in Julius 1787 , Frankfurt / Mainz 1787

literature

• Wolfgang Balzer: Mainz: personalities of the city history. Kügler Verlag, Ingelheim 1985-1993
  • Volume 1: Honorary citizens of Mainz, princes of Mainz, military figures, Mayors of Mainz ISBN 3-924124-01-9
• Eckart Schneider-Reuter: Much reviled, but also admired. About Rudolf Eickemeyer (1753–1825). In: Mainz. Quarterly issues for culture, politics, economics, history . Issue 3, 4th year 1984. Verlag H. Schmidt Mainz, pp. 103-109, ISSN  0720-5945
• Erich Hinkel: Mayor and General Rudolf Eickemeyer. Contributions to the history of the Gau-Algesheim area. Verlag Carl-Brilmayer-Gesellschaft, 1982. ( PDF version )
• Karl Klein : History of Mainz during the first French occupation 1792 - 1793 Verlag Victor von Zabern, Mainz, 1861
• Emanuel readers:  Eickemeyer, Rudolf . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, pp. 743-746.
• Carl-Brilmayer-Gesellschaft Gau-Algesheim, Ed .: Memories of General Eickemeyer . Reprint with explanations and additions by Norbert Diehl and Erich Hinkel. Contributions to the history of the Gau-Algesheim area, Volume 53. Verlag Carl-Brilmayer-Gesellschaft, 2011.
• Jules Joachim: Patriotes Mayençais dans le Mont-Terrible en 1793 . In: Actes de la société jurassienne d'émulation - année 1953, vol. 57 (pp. 137-156). Le Jura, Porrentruy, 1954.
• Rudolf Eickemeyer in New Nekrolog der Deutschen , 3rd year 1825, 2nd issue. Ilmenau 1827. pp. 910-937; Addendum to the Neue Nekrolog der Deutschen 1827, 5th year, 1st part. Ilmenau 1829. p. 32 f.

Web links

• Literature by and about Rudolf Eickemeyer in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Erich Hinkel, p. 2
2. ^ Lübcke, Christian: Kurmainzer military and Landsturm in the 1st and 2nd coalition war . Ed .: RWM-Verlag. Paderborn 216, p. 246-253 .
3. ↑ quoted from: Eckart Schneider-Reuter: Much reviled, but also revered. About Rudolf Eickemeyer (1753–1825) , p. 106
4. ^ Lübcke, Christian: Kurmainzer military and Landsturm in the 1st and 2nd coalition war . Ed .: RWM-Verlag. Paderborn 2016, p. 257 .
5. ↑ quoted from: Eckart Schneider-Reuter: Much reviled, but also revered. About Rudolf Eickemeyer (1753–1825) , p. 106
6. ^ Friedrich August Schmidt, Bernhardt Friedrich Voigt: New Nekrolog der Deutschen ... , Volume 5, Part 1, 1829, p. 35
7. ↑ quoted from: Eckart Schneider-Reuter: Much reviled, but also revered. About Rudolf Eickemeyer (1753–1825), p. 108
8. ^ History of Mainz during the first French occupation 1792 - 1793

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on May 5, 2010 .