Wilhelm von Schwerin (Colonel)
Wilhelm Werner Otto Graf von Schwerin (born March 16, 1773 in Wolfshagen ; ⚔ June 18, 1815 in Lasne ) was a Prussian colonel who died in the battle of Waterloo .
Life
Wilhelm Graf von Schwerin came from the branch Schwerin Wolfshagen of noble family Schwerin . He was the eldest son of Otto Alexander von Schwerin (* March 20, 1737; † March 17, 1819) and his wife Sophie Dorothee, born von Bissing (* November 18, 1733; † January 31, 1801). The later General Herrmann von Schwerin was his younger brother.
At the age of 13, Schwerin joined the Prussian Army's Leib-Karabinier-Regiment in 1786 . From there he moved to the regiment of the Gens d'Armes and on February 6, 1803 in the regiment of the Gardes du Corps . During the fourth coalition war against Napoleon Bonaparte , Schwerin fought as a major in the battle of Jena and Auerstedt and was wounded in the leg. He succeeded the Prussian royal couple Friedrich Wilhelm III. and Luise to Koenigsberg and Memel .
In 1808 he had to say goodbye and withdrew to his father's property. After the appeal to My People in 1813, Schwerin was reactivated. He served on the staff of General von Tauentzien, who was related to him by marriage . For his service in the battle of Großgörschen on May 2, 1813, he was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Gardes du Corps and made wing adjutant to the king. He was at the Prussian headquarters until the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig .
He then took part in the campaign to France in the wake of Blücher . Schwerin fought in the battles of Brienne , La Rothière and Mont-Martre and moved on March 31, 1814 in the entourage of King Friedrich Wilhelm III. in Paris . Schwerin received the Iron Cross First Class and the promotion to colonel as well as the order to deliver the news of the entry into Paris as a messenger of victory to Berlin . On April 10, 1814, he arrived in Berlin with great celebrations. He also received the Order of St. Vladimir III. Class and the Knight's Cross of the Austrian Leopold Order .
After a short stay, Schwerin returned to France and then traveled with Friedrich Wilhelm III. and Blücher to England. He also accompanied Friedrich Wilhelm III. to Vienna for the Congress of Vienna .
After the return of Napoleon ( hundred days ) Schwerin took over in the summer campaign of 1815 a Cavalry - Brigade in the 4th Army Corps at Dennewitz .
In the afternoon of June 18, 1815 , his brigade stood at the Battle of Waterloo about five kilometers east of the main battlefield near the village of Lasne, not far from the Chapelle St. Lambert. So he was one of the troops Wellington was hoping for and with the famous quote I wish it would be night or the Prussians would come! implored. Schwerin was at the head of the 2nd Silesian Hussar Regiment No. 6 when it came into the field of fire of French artillery, which was located on the eastern edge of the Bois de Paris ( Pariser wood on German maps ). Around 16 o'clock a hit howitzers - grenade directly in front of him, injuring him fatally in the head. Schwerin was buried under a beech tree not far from the village.
family
Since June 8, 1805 he was married to his niece Amalia Sophie Countess Dönhoff (* July 16, 1785, † January 27, 1863). She did not remarry after his death. During her 48-year widowhood, she maintained a literary salon in the Dönhoffschen Palais at Wilhelmstrasse 63 in Berlin and was also a writer herself.
Commemoration
Wolfshagen and the surrounding area
Hermann Graf von Schwerin inherited Wolfshagen. In and around Wolfshagen he created a total work of art that was entirely dedicated to the memory of the wars of liberation. He had seven new farms laid out with names that refer to the Wars of Liberation, including Bülowssiege , Schillsversteck, Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, Hornshurrah (Neu Hornshagen, after Heinrich Wilhelm von Horn ) and Carlslust ( Mildenitz , after Karl zu Mecklenburg ), Blüchers-Vorwärts and in memory of Wilhelm von Schwerin Wilhelmshayn .
In the park of Wolfshagen, which he redesigned according to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné , he had a monument erected in 1828, "To commemorate those who stayed ." The neo-Gothic brick monument has the shape of an octagonal, eyelash-studded pinnacle with an iron cross at the top and thus follows (somewhat simplified) the prototype developed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the National Monument for the Wars of Liberation on the Berlin Kreuzberg as well as the network of Schinkel tabernacles like that Schinkel tabernacle from Belle Alliance .
Monument in Kreckow
Immediately after receiving the news of her death, the widow Sophie von Schwerin contacted the pastor of Lasne. She asked him to look after her husband's grave and made an annual donation to the local poor, the payment of which she guaranteed in her will even after her own death. In 1818 she commissioned the Berlin architect Lowe for a memorial in cast iron ( Fer de Berlin ). It should be placed at the grave, but proved to be too heavy to transport and therefore was in 1821 at the entrance to the church Kreckow in Kreckow erected.
The base consists of three levels. Above it rises a cube, on the front of which you can read in gilded letters: “Wilhelm, R.-Gr. v. Schwerin a. d. Wolfshagen house, Preuss. Obrist, Brigadegführer u. Knight, who fell on the victory of June 18, 1815. ” On the left side it reads: “ Faraway love for the dead ” , right: “ The sleep of the pure and righteous is soft ” . There are war emblems at the top.
Monument in Lasne
The monument is on the corner of a field under a large oak tree. It consists of a column of the Tuscan order made of bluestone , the octagonal base of which rests on a cube-shaped pedestal .
A memorial plaque in honor of the count is attached to the north side of the base:
Wilhelm Count of Schwerin
Koenigl. Preus. Colonel and Knight
Pleased
to Victory on June
1815
In a Foreign For Home
literature
- Oskar Schwebel: The Lords and Counts of Schwerin. Sheets from Prussian history. Abenheim, Berlin 1885, pp. 404-416.
- Kerrin Countess von Schwerin: Wilhelmstrasse 63: fateful years of a Prussian family. Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86650-632-9 .
Web links
- Entry in FamilienWIKI - Family von Schwerin , accessed on April 1, 2016
Individual evidence
- ^ Kurd Wolfgang von Schöning : History of the Royal Prussian Regiment Garde du Corps for its centenary celebrations. Digitized , p. 312.
- ^ Daniel Zander : Material for regional studies of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Barnewitz, Neustrelitz 1889, p. 234.
- ↑ Illustration at www.kreckow.de
- ↑ Le monument au Colonel von Schwerin , accessed on April 1, 2016
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schwerin, Wilhelm von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Schwerin, Wilhelm Werner Otto Graf von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Prussian colonel |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 16, 1773 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wolf Hagen |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 18, 1815 |
| Place of death | Lasne |