Prussian Heros von Borcke

diane

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That's a good synopsis, JGG - thanks. I found more but it's mostly in German:

Heros von Borcke | AustriaWiki im Austria-Forum

austria-forum.org austria-forum.org

I understand he had inherited a castle along with his dad's estate in Giesenbrugge - and the castle is where he was flying the Confederate flag. That must have been a sight!
 
rittmeister

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diane

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rittmeister said:
not a castle but a rittergut - that's a rip-off of the german wiki
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Thanks! Looks like you found some good stuff on who he is. He's been one of the famous foreign actors in the CW, and it's always so hard to find out who these folks really are and why they wanted to take up for us! Looking at your information, it seems he was a restless young man looking for his place in life, then he fell out with the old man. That's interesting, because Jeb Stuart also had a bumpy relationship with his father - the two were simpatico in a lot of ways.
 
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diane said:
Thanks! Looks like you found some good stuff on who he is. He's been one of the famous foreign actors in the CW, and it's always so hard to find out who these folks really are and why they wanted to take up for us! Looking at your information, it seems he was a restless young man looking for his place in life, then he fell out with the old man. That's interesting, because Jeb Stuart also had a bumpy relationship with his father - the two were simpatico in a lot of ways.
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let me do some (not so) wilde speculation:

wiki says he had to leave the prussian army for financial issues. in those times you couldn't survive on a junior officer's pay and needed additional funds (especially in the cav) which either meant marriage to a good dowry (ugly and/or old bride) for which he was too subaltern (they needed a permission) or tapping into the family. the fact that he could still afford fancy dressing and expensive gifts (that revolver) probably means he got a fixed income from sth already inherrited (like the proceeds of sth he fully inherited at a certain age or military rank, may be that rittergut he later had before his dead hung up the spoon) but managed to accumulate too much debt for an officer and gentleman. when he went to the csa (that might even have been a condition) some relative probably paid up for that debt.

he certainly made a name for himself in the csa cav - he even managed to get spectacularily wounded (that's always honourable). that they lost was not his fault. fortunately when he came back there soon was a war on and as to the prussian army all was forgotten (that was always the same with every disgraced officer who kinda redeemed himself)

i can prove none of that but we had cases like that (they didn't go over the pond for redemption, though)
 
diane

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It sounds in keeping with the bits we've found on him, and with his personality. That all makes sense - and Stuart could relate to all of it, strange to say. He had a nice estate he wasn't going to inherit, being younger brother, fancy taste and no money. That's the type of young feller who takes off on adventure like this!

Indeed, getting shot (especially shot dead) does boost your legend... Must have helped back home. He really adopted Virginia, and that's another aspect of his writings that makes them interesting. He didn't see it through American eyes and consequently noticed things we would not. One of his daughters was named after Virginia, I think. But, of course, after the war a lot of Confederates headed for Europe - sure uncertain what was going to happen to them here.
 
5fish

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5fish said:
I could not read the text but the family's mausoleum are in bad shape and the family head stones are just a bunch of jagged broken stones... I beat our VA would replace Heroes headstone with one from them...
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It was replaced...

A military tombstone was provided by the U.S. Government to replace the historic one destroyed by the Soviets after WW II. It was placed, with full military honors, by the Sons of Confederate Veterans in August 2008.
 
rittmeister

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5fish said:
I could not read the text but the family's mausoleum are in bad shape and the family head stones are just a bunch of jagged broken stones... I beat our VA would replace Heroes headstone with one from them...
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no need to - the sons of the confederacy did that in 2008 already. the red army scrapped the place and it is in poland now.
 
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rittmeister said:
let me do some (not so) wilde speculation:
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Here a link about Heroes others Germans that served in the CSA...

Heros von Borcke and other Stepsons of the South

Heros von Borcke and other Stepsons of the South, Cuiraisser Regiment of Guards, Confederate Army, Major General J.E.B. Stuart, President Jefferson Davis, 'Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine', "Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence", 1877
www.exulanten.com
 
rittmeister

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5fish said:
Here a link about Heroes others Germans that served in the CSA...

Heros von Borcke and other Stepsons of the South

Heros von Borcke and other Stepsons of the South, Cuiraisser Regiment of Guards, Confederate Army, Major General J.E.B. Stuart, President Jefferson Davis, 'Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine', "Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence", 1877
www.exulanten.com
Click to expand...
they made it a castle but it was a rittergut (military nobility usually didn't have castles)
 
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