Peasant by Birth, Soldier by Choice, and American by Destiny - Baron de Kalb (1780)

            Jean de Kalb (1721-1780) is the embodiment of what America promises to immigrants of every station, but especially the low born; a place where talent, demonstrated performance, perseverance, and force of will determine a man’s fate and character is the measure of one’s nobility. 

         A child of Bavarian peasants, de Kalb began his military career at age 16 in the harsh service of a Bavarian regiment, a French hireling. Serving with distinction in the War of Austrian Succession and Seven Year’s War, in just over a decade he rose to the rank of Major, in spite of birth and lack of formal education. Even in the old world, talent was grudgingly recognized when it appeared on the battlefield.

             Over six feet tall, handsome, with an intelligent face “that showed an expression of good nature mixed with shrewdness,” the successful soldier soon attracted the attention of the prominent de Broglie family while serving under Marshal Saxe. Affecting airs of nobility at an early age, he called himself “Jean de Kalb”, and soon was soon known as “Baron de Kalb.” Apparently, the deceit worked and in 1764 he married an heiress and retired to a life of leisure.

          Soon bored and craving excitement, he accepted an assignment from French Foreign Minister Choiseul as a secret agent. Kalb journeyed to America in 1768 to report on the Colonists’ attitudes toward England. Forced to return when his dispatches were intercepted, he was greatly impressed by what he saw, and in 1776 Kalb successfully negotiated a commission from American envoy Silas Deane  as a Major General in the Continental Army. 

          Traveling to America with the Marquis de Lafayette, the two men spent the terrible winter of 1777-8 at Valley Forge. Frustrated in his desire for an independent command, Kalb was picked to serve under his younger companion in another abortive invasion of Canada in 1778 and when the operation was cancelled, he remained with the northern army in idleness. Then, in April 1780 his moment of opportunity came, or so he thought.

              

          Ordered by Washington to take a brigade of Continental regulars to relieve Charlestown, S.C., he was abruptly assigned as deputy to newly appointed Southern Department commander General Horatio Gates, a man whose confidence in his own gifts was not matched by any objective evidence of their existence. Ignoring de Kalb’s sound professional advice, Gates decided to attack the British outpost at Camden, S.C. where General Sir Charles Cornwallis, who understood Gates well, was waiting.

Gates

          On August 16, de Kalb commanding the Continental infantry on the right wing, fought gallantly even after the militia broke and ran, with Gates, the Hero of Saratoga, fleeing as fast as any of his soldiers. Finally unhorsed and sustaining 11 wounds - including bayonet thrusts and a saber slash to the head – de Kalb refused to surrender and was captured while leading a last, desperate and hopeless charge. The remnants of his force were annihilated. Carried to Camden by the enemy, he succumbed three days later.

         A ‘soldier of fortune’ and spy when he first came to the colonies, he transformed into a sincere, selfless patriot. A man who started with nothing, he died in glory mourned by his adopted country as a great hero, an immortal symbol of freedom, often invoked as the quintessential lover of freedom who laid down his life for America. He was the only man in our history to fall in battle who held the rank of general in two armies – the Continental and French.