biography
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1721–80)
|
| biography:
| Soldier of fortune, born in Hüttendorf, Germany. Of peasant ancestry, he became a French infantry lieutenant by age 22, and styled himself Jean de Kalb or Baron de Kalb. After serving with distinction in the Seven Years War, his search for glory led him on a secret mission to America for the French government (1768). He returned to America with his friend the Marquis de Lafayette (1777) and served under him before wintering as a revolutionary major general under General George Washington at Valley Forge (1777–8). While serving under General Horatio Gates in South Carolina, he was mortally wounded near Camden in a battle against Cornwallis' troops. |
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