Major Schill
| Ferdinand Baptista von Schill | |
|---|---|
Ferdinand von Schill
|
|
| Born |
6 January 1776 Wilmsdorf / Bannewitz, Saxony |
| Died | 31 May 1809 (aged 33) Stralsund, Swedish Pomerania |
| Allegiance |
 Prussia
|
| Service/ |
Hussars |
| Years of service | 1788/90-1809 |
| Rank | Major |
| Commands held | Freikorps Schill |
| Battles/wars | Napoleonic Wars: Kolberg (1807); Stralsund (1809) |
Ferdinand Baptista von Schill (6 January 1776 – 31 May 1809) was a Prussian Major who revolted unsuccessfully against French domination of Prussia in May 1809.
Schill's rebellion ended at the Battle of Stralsund, a battle which also saw Schill's own death in action. Outnumbered 3 to 1, Schill's Prussian forces succame to a Napoleonic force supported by Dutch and Danish auxiliaries.
Schill was born at Wilmsdorf (now a part of Bannewitz, Saxony) and entered the Prussian Army's cavalry at the age of twelve or fourteen (sources differ). His father, Johann-Georg Schill, had been an ambitious commoner from Bohemia, who attained the aristocratic "von" for his services to Austria and Saxony during the Seven Years' War. J.G. von Schill had raised a "Freikorps", a small raiding party of cavalry and mounted infantry, operating behind enemy lines, and acquired some measure of fame and success. Many of Ferdinand von Schill's later biographers assumed that his father's example was an important influence on his subsequent career.
Ferdinand von Schill was a second-lieutenant of dragoons when he was wounded at the battle of Auerstadt. From that field he escaped to Kolberg, where he played a very prominent part in the celebrated siege of 1806–07, as the commander of a Freikorps, raiding behind the French lines. After the Treaty of Tilsit, he was promoted to major, awarded the Pour le Mérite, and given the command of a hussar regiment formed primarily from his Kolberg men.
...
Wikipedia