10 May 1895: death of Johann August Heinrich Heros von Borcke, | Forteresse Europe

10 May 1895: death of Johann August Heinrich Heros von Borcke, the most Southern of the Prussians

Johann August Heinrich Heros von Borcke (23 July 1835 - 10 May 1895) was a Prussian cavalry officer ("rittmeister") and an officer in the Confederate States Army. His presence and courage made him a historical figure in both Prussia and the Confederacy.

He was born into a family of Pomeranian junkers documented as early as the 13th century, whose members included many high-ranking men of war (including generals and a "Generalfeldmarschall"), as well as a noblewoman convicted of witchcraft ("Sidonia von Borcke", burned in 1620).

Theodor von Borcke (1805-1878), who was an infantry lieutenant in the Prussian army and then left the ranks (one year after the birth of his son) to make use of his estates as a "Gutbesitzer" (traditional landowner), gave the child a predestined name: "Hero".

The young man completed his studies at a renowned "gymnasium" near Berlin. He was a natural (he was 1.98 m tall and weighed 115 kg) and joined the cuirassiers of the King of Prussia's bodyguard. He then moved to the dragoons and was appointed lieutenant in 1862.

He then asked to be discharged from the Prussian army to put his sword at the service of the young Southern Confederacy across the Atlantic.

This commitment was motivated by the first setbacks (capture of Fort Henry, Tennessee, by Ulysses S. Grant - Battle of Hampton Road). Grant's capture of Fort Henry, Tennessee - Battle of Hampton Roads) that the South suffered in 1862 after their triumphant march of 1861, which had been marked by the Confederate victories at Fort Sumter, the First Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Seven Days and the Battle of Ball's Bluff.

It was thus becoming clear that the setting in motion of the Northern industrial war machine threatened to annihilate a Southern culture based almost entirely on rootedness and paternalistic agricultural tradition.

Moreover, the cultures of the Prussian aristocracy and the Southern landowners had similarities.

Moreover, the Confederates had a reputation in Europe for being more 'ritterlich' or 'chivalrous' than the 'Yankees', which could not fail to appeal to a cavalier from an old landed aristocratic lineage.

It is therefore not surprising that a scion of the junker caste (a caste that supported the Prussian monarchy and defended the traditional nationalist and military values of the "vaterland" over the centuries) should have found it normal to join the ranks of the Confederate fighters.

Finally, Alexander de Humboldt's travels to America were very important in the memories of young Prussians and created a fascination for the New World: immigrants of German origin were extremely numerous in North America.

Having asked to be discharged from the Prussian army, the young giant disembarked in May 1862 in Charleston from a blockade-runner, arrived in Richmond, capital of the Confederacy, reported to the Southern staff and eventually obtained from the Secretary of War George W. Randolph the assignment (with the rank of captain-aide-de-camp) to follow the flamboyant Major General of the Cavalry James Ewell Brown Stuart. Jeb Stuart tested the Prussian, who quickly became his close friend and accompanied him to the battlefields: Northern Virginia Campaign, Maryland Campaign, "Bypassing McClellan's Army" Raid, Battle of Fredericksburg, Battle of Chancellorsville, Battle of Kelly's Ford.

Von Bocke, in addition to his stature, courage and physical strength, impresses by the ease with which he wields a large straight sword (worthy successor to those of the Teutonic Knights).

He brought his "pallasch", his Model 1816 cavalry straight sword, with him and wears it at his side, both as a symbol of his chivalric heritage and to respect his cuirassier training: it had taught him the importance of kinetic energy and the superiority of the estoc strike during a charge.