Baron Johann de Kalb, 1721 - 1780

Baron Johann de Kalb was a distinguished German soldier who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was a friend and mentor of the Marquis de Lafayette. De Kalb served at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78 and was assigned to lead a division of Maryland and Delaware troops during the southern campaign. At the Battle of Camden, South Carolina on August 16, 1780, his horse was shot from under him and he was shot and bayoneted by British troops. He died three days later, declaring, "...I die the death I always prayed for; the death of a soldier fighting for the rights of man." In October 1780, the Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for a monument to de Kalb to be built in Annapolis, in honor of his leadership and service with the Maryland Line. Although the Maryland General Assembly passed a similar resolution in 1817, it was not until 1886 that Ephraim Keyser's statue was erected there.

Annapolis, Maryland · United States