Johann Kalb

Johann Kalb , 1721-80, American general in the Revolution, known generally as Baron de Kalb, b. Hüttendorf, Germany. He assumed his title for military reasons and as Jean de Kalb served France in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War. He again served France in 1768 as a secret agent in the English colonies in America. Silas Deane offered (1776) commissions to Kalb, Lafayette, and other European soldiers of fortune, which the Continental Congress at first refused to honor. Finally Kalb was made general and was with Washington at Valley Forge. In 1780 he was made second in command to Horatio Gates in the Carolina campaign , and he died (Aug. 19, 1780) from wounds received in the battle of Camden.

Bibliography: See A. E. Zucker, General de Kalb, Lafayette's Mentor (1966).

Kalb, Johann (1721–80) Revolutionary war officer and mercenary, born in Hüttendorf, Bavaria. He was with George Washington during the winter encampment at Valley Forge (1777–78), was second in command to the Marquis de Lafayette in the aborted invasion of Canada (1778), and was mortally wounded at the battle of Camden (1780) when he persisted in assaults against superior British forces. Kalb had previously undertaken a secret mission to America on behalf of a French government minister hoping to enlist colonists in a war against the British (1767). Kalb had determined that despite their antipathy toward the British, colonists were too independent-minded to ally themselves with a foreign power. This independent-mindedness attracted him, and a decade later he returned to participate in their struggle.