Friedrich August Peter von Colomb (19 June 1775 – 12 November 1854) was a

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n general.

Biography

Colomb was born in

Aurich Aurich (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Auerk'', West Frisian: ''Auwerk'', stq, Aurk) is a town in the East Frisian region of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both i ...

Eastern Frisia East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...

as a son of the highranking Prussian public official (Geheimer Ober-Finanzrat und Kammerpräsidenten von Aurich) Pierre Colomb (1719–1797; after 1786 Peter von Colomb). His brother Ludwig Christoph von Colomb (1768–1831) was the Royal Prussian President of Breslau, his sister Amalie (1772–1850) married

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt (; 21 December 1742 – 12 September 1819), ''Graf'' (count), later elevated to ''Fürst'' (sovereign prince) von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian '' Generalfeldmarschall'' (field marshal). He earne ...

in 1795.

Colomb joined the

Zieten Hussars The Zieten Hussars,Also known as the Ziethen Hussars (both spellings are used in sources on military history) (german: Husaren-Regiment "von Zieten"), last designation: "Hussars Regiment 'von Zieten' (Brandenburg) No. 3" (''Husaren-Regiment von Zie ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in 1792 and became a second lieutenant of the King's own Hussarregiment ''von Rudorff'' in 1797. He took part in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

of 1806 under the command of Blücher in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

and the defense of

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

. Colomb was promoted to a

Rittmeister __NOTOC__ (German and Scandinavian for "riding master" or "cavalry master") is or was a military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in the armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia, and some other countries. A ''Rittmeister'' is typic ...

in 1811 and fought against French troops in 1813/14. On 20 May 1813 he commanded a unit of 90 volunteers, who managed to conquer 20 French cannons and take 400 prisoners near

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ...

. A memorial reminds of this event still today. In 1815 he became a Lieutenant Colonel and the commanding officer of the and was promoted to a Colonel in 1818. On 20 October 1823 he joined the Prussian War Département and became the commander of the 12th Cavalry-Brigade in Neiße, now a Majorgeneral. 1838 Colomb became the military commander of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, 1839 Lieutenantgeneral, 1841 military commander of Berlin and head of the Prussian Gendarms. In 1843 he became the commanding general of the V Army Corps in Posen. Bastion colomb poznań

Colomb commanded the Prussian forces throughout the Greater Poland Uprising (1848) and was retired on 7 July 1849 with the promotion to a General der Kavallerie. The "Bastion Colomb", a part of the Fortification of Posen was named after him. He died on 12 November 1854 in Königsberg, where he had lived after his retirement. Colomb married Wilhelmine Luise Stosch (1784–1822) in 1808 and Maria Henriette Stosch (1791–1857) in 1824. He had 4 sons (later Prussian generals Enno and Otto Gebhard von Colomb) and a daughter with Wilhelmine and two sons with Maria (later Prussian general Karl Ernst Georg von Colomb).

Notes

References

Peter von Colomb
in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie {{DEFAULTSORT:Colomb, Friedrich August Peter Von 1775 births 1854 deaths People from Aurich Prussian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars German untitled nobility Generals of Cavalry (Prussia) Military personnel from Lower Saxony