The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-29
BARON DE KALB


 lution the thirteen colonies which were destined to form the, nucleus of the great republic had not yet become a melting pot of nationalities, and the revolution was largely fought by men of English blood and traditions. with considerable Scotch, Irish and Dutch minorities, aided by the French There were few Germans in the armies of Washington, but among them were two generals of Teutonic birth and descent who were of great assistance to the revolutionary cause-Baron von Steuben, a Prussian, and Baron de Kalb, Bavarian.
 This is the ,195th anniversary of the birth of Johann de Kalb, and prepara- tions are alrehdy being made for an observance Of the bi-centenary five years hence. He was born in Hut tendorf. Bavaria, but he early settled in Alsace and in 1743 entered the mill ftary service of the French monarch Within four years, at the age of twen- ty1six. he attaiHed the rank of bri- gadier general in the French army. He first visited America in 1762 as a secret agent of the French govern ment. to inquire into the political tenn
 
 Tn 1776, four months after the Declar- ation of Independence, Baron de Kalb was induced by the persuasions of Benjamin Franklin and SiIas Deane to resign from the French army aHd take service with the Continental army. He accompanied Lafayette to America in 1777, and in September of that year Congress appointed him a i<,v- erAr S,I, l. the main army under Washington, and delphia, which preceded the encamp- ment at Valley Forge. After the evac- uation of Philadelphia in June, 177S, he served in New Jersey and Maryland | until April, 17S0, when he was dis patched to the relief of Gen. Lincoln, besieged at Charleston, but arrived too late. De Kalb then became chief commander in the South, but was soon succeeded by Gen. Gates, when he became second In command. In the battle at Sanders ACreek, near lCamden, S. C., de Kalb was in com mand of the Maryland and Delaware troops, and maintained his ground un- til Cornwallis concentrated his whole force against his division. He fell, pierced with eleven wounds, in the charge upon his regiments before they way. The brave Bavarian died three days later, on Aug. 19, 17S0. A mon ument in his honor was erected in the vicinity of the battlefield and was dedicated by Lafayette wh{n the great Frenchman revisited America in 1925. Several other memorials have since been erected in various cities.
 like Ilafavetfe Baron do Ko11~ x.,oe animated by a true devotion to liberty and democracy. and he gave his ser vices to the rebellious colonies not as an adventurer or soldier of fortune, but as "a warrior in a cause which he believed to be right Shortly before !, his death he turned to British offic- I CT who had sought to make him com fortalble in his last hours, and said: q thank you for your generous sympa- thy, but am not afraid to die. I die the death of a soldier fighting for the rights of man" A professional warrior, his lnilitarism was illumined by moral determination to fight only in the cause he deemed just. His sword was not bought and paid for. Fl e the weapons of the German mer- l cenaries he opposed, but was un- sheathed for "the rights of man." Although of Bavarian birth, Baron de Kalb was French in language. learning and habits, as he had spent Che greater part of his life under tna Gallic influence. His political views were deeply influenced by the writ | ings of the French philosophers and free-thinkers who were the prophets of democracy.