Karl Ludwig von Lecoq
Encyclopedia
Karl Ludwig von Lecoq or Karl Ludwig von Le Coq, born 23 September 1754 – died 14 February 1829, of French Huguenot
ancestry, first joined the army of the Electorate of Saxony
. He later tranferred his loyalty to the Kingdom of Prussia
and fought during the French Revolutionary Wars
, earning a coveted award for bravery. While serving variously as a staff officer and diplomat, he became renowned as an expert cartographer. In 1806 he was entrusted with command of the forces in northwest Germany. Cut off from the main body of the Prussian army after the disaster at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
, he concentrated his troops in the fortress of Hameln
. After a brief siege, he surrendered his troops to an inferior force of enemies. For this, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. However, he was later pardoned and continued his map-making until he went blind.
family in Eilenburg
in the Electorate of Saxony. His father Johann Ludwig Lecoq (1719–1789) was a Lieutenant General
in the Saxon army. Joining the Riedesel Infantry Regiment # 10 as a junior Leutnant
in 1770, he rose to the rank of Captain by 1779. He tranferred to the Prussian army in 1787. Promoted to Major
, he was appointed to lead the Legat Fusilier
battalion # 20, based in Magdeburg
.
In 1792 he joined the staff of Feldmarschall Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
and fought in the War of the First Coalition at the Battle of Valmy
and other actions. For his courageous actions during the Siege of Mainz from 14 April to 23 July 1793, Lecoq was awarded the Pour le Mérite
.
After the Peace of Basel
in 1795, Brunswick's army guarded the Prussian frontier in northwest Germany. Lecoq was promoted to Oberstleutnant
and appointed Brunswick's Quartermaster General, the equivalent of Chief of Staff
. While performing his military duties, he began mapping Westphalia
. Having earned the confidence of King Frederick William II
and his successor King Frederick William III, Lecoq was sent in 1801 on a diplomatic mission to Saint Petersburg
in the Russian Empire
. In 1802, he negotiated the transfer of Gerhard von Scharnhorst
from the Electorate of Hanover
to Prussian service.
Inspired by the French cartographer Dominique, comte de Cassini
, Lecoq completed his Große Karte von Westfalen (Great Map of Westphalia) between 1795 and 1805. Already celebrated as a talented map-maker in his own right, the king named him commander-in-chief of the Grenadier Garde Infantry Regiment # 6 in 1801. He was also appointed to a board to examine general staff officer candidates. In 1803, he received promotion to General-Major
and the following year founded the Junker
School.
, large Prussian forces were assembled in northwest Germany. Gebhard von Blücher
commanded 16 battalions and 17 squadrons in Westphalia, while 20 battalions and 28 squadrons deployed in the former Electorate of Hanover
. Around the beginning of October 1806, the bulk of these forces moved south under the orders of Lieutenant General Blücher and General of Infantry
Ernst von Rüchel
to take position near Eisenach
and Gotha
. At the time, Blücher left General-Major von Hagken and General-Major von Brusewitz near Münster
to defend Westphalia against a French incursion. Before the war started, Lecoq received command of all forces in the area. Together with the garrisons of Hameln and Nienburg
, about 12,000 Prussians defended Hanover and Westphalia.
Opposing them were King Louis Bonaparte
, leading the army of the Kingdom of Holland
, and Marshal
Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier
at the fortress of Mainz. Louis placed a strong garrison in the fortress of Wesel
with a body of about 6,000 troops hovering to the northeast. Another similar-sized unit was stationed at Utrecht
. Mortier's formation was named the VIII Corps and included one division under General of Division Louis Henri Loison
. Emperor Napoleon I of France
intended for Louis and Mortier's forces to observe the Prussians until he defeated their main army. Then they would overrun northwest Germany.
On 9 October, columns under Lecoq and Hagken began marching west, though progress was slow. Ten days later, news of the catastrophic Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
reached Lecoq and he immediately ordered a retreat. When he heard that the broken armies were retreating through the Harz Mountains, he directed his march toward the fortress of Hameln. His and Hagken's columns reached there on 23 October and went into camp. He issued orders to gather food into the city for a siege. The next day, he set out again to the east, hoping to get across the Elbe River and escape the onrushing French. Hearing a report that he was cut off from the Elbe, he gave up on the 27th and marched back to Hameln. However, he detached one infantry battalion and a dragoon
regiment under Oberst
von Osten in an attempt to get through to Blücher.
Meanwhile, Napoleon gave Louis and Mortier the signal to advance. First, he directed their columns on the neutral state of Hesse-Kassel
. Napoleon knew that William I, Elector of Hesse
, though officially neutral, was pro-Prussian and he determined to depose him. Mortier's 5,500 men and Louis' troops overran Hesse-Kassel, disarmed the Hessian army, and chased the elector into exile. On 9 November, Louis withdrew from the campaign in bad health, leaving Mortier in command of a 12,000-man corps. Starting on 7 October, French troops moved into the area of Hameln. By the 10th, a good part of Mortier's corps appeared before the city.
By this time, Lecoq put the fortifications into good repair and manned them with about 10,000 troops. The city and fortress were well stocked with food and supplies and ready to sustain a siege. Mortier left 6,000 men to maintain the Siege of Hameln
and continued his march on Hanover, which he occupied on 12 October. Jean Baptiste Dumonceau commanded the blockading force, which was organized into one cavalry and three infantry brigades with 12 artillery pieces. Mortier did his best to browbeat Lecoq into surrendering, but his initial attempts were unsuccessful.
Lecoq's 10,000 troops and 175 guns included a 3,058-strong garrison under the 75-year old General-Major von Schöler. These troops comprised the 3rd battalions of the Schenck Infantry Regiment # 9, Tschammer Infantry Regiment # 27, Hagken Infantry Regiment # 44, and Hessen Infantry Regiment # 48. Two battalions of the Oranien
Infantry Regiment # 19 rounded out the garrison. The remainder of Lecoq's force consisted of four Invalid companies from Schenck, Tschammer, Hagken, and Hessen regiments, 40 hussars, 181 artillerists, 1,000 fugitives from Jena-Auerstedt, and recruit drafts from the Treuenfels Infantry Regiment # 29 and the Strachwitz Infantry Regiment # 43.
While these operations were in progress, Napoleon signed an armistice with the king's envoy Girolamo Lucchesini
that specified that the remaining Prussian fortresses were to be surrendered. King Frederick William III later refused to sign the document, but that did not stop the French emperor from trying to exploit the tentative agreement. He sent Anne Jean Marie René Savary
to Hameln with the information in an attempt to coax the garrison into laying down its arms. On 19 November, Savary arrived at Hameln and was granted a parley with Lecoq and his generals. Putting his diplomatic talent to good use, he reminded the generals that there was no Prussian field army within 400 kilometers. After he revealed the conditions of the armistice, Lecoq decided to capitulate. The surrender terms were similar to those at the Capitulation of Prenzlau
in that officers were to be paroled and the enlisted men were to be made prisoners.
When Lecoq's rank and file found out about the capitulation, a mutiny broke out and the soldiers forced their way into wine-shops and soon became drunk. Robbery, looting and other disorders followed. For their part, the officers demanded that they be paid and that their troops be paroled. There are two versions of what happened next. In one account, Savary turned his cavalry loose in the streets to drive the Prussians out of the city. Once outside the city they were surrounded and disarmed. In the second account, 9,000 soldiers dispersed into the countryside in the confuson and only 600 were marched into captivity after the 22 November capitulation. On 26 November, the fortress of Nienburg
capitulated with its 2,911-man garrison.
Historian Digby Smith
called the surrender "shameful". Francis Loraine Petre
believed that Lecoq's situation was hopeless, but that it was his responsibility to hold out as long as possible. A long siege might have kept a substantial French force from being used in the winter campaign.
. However, he was allowed to live mostly in the city rather than in a prison cell. In 1812, the king refused his request for clemency, though he was permitted to visit his estate in Pichelsdorf
near Berlin. After Prussia joined the War of the Sixth Coalition
in 1813, he was allowed to live in Oranienburg
. In 1814 he was finally pardoned and took up residence in Berlin where he continued work on his beloved maps as his eyesight faded away. Lecoq's wife Marie Charlotte Lautier (b. 1760) died in 1826. The couple had four children, of whom two daughters survived until adulthood. Completely blind, Lecoq died in Berlin on 14 February 1829 and was buried in the French cemetery.
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
ancestry, first joined the army of the Electorate of Saxony
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
. He later tranferred his loyalty to the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
and fought during the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, earning a coveted award for bravery. While serving variously as a staff officer and diplomat, he became renowned as an expert cartographer. In 1806 he was entrusted with command of the forces in northwest Germany. Cut off from the main body of the Prussian army after the disaster at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...
, he concentrated his troops in the fortress of Hameln
Hamelin
Hamelin is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont and has a population of 58,696 ....
. After a brief siege, he surrendered his troops to an inferior force of enemies. For this, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. However, he was later pardoned and continued his map-making until he went blind.
Early career
Lecoq was born on 23 September 1754 to a French HuguenotHuguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
family in Eilenburg
Eilenburg
Eilenburg is a town in Germany. It lies in the district of Nordsachsen in the Free State of Saxony, approximately 20 km northeast of the city of Leipzig.- Geography :...
in the Electorate of Saxony. His father Johann Ludwig Lecoq (1719–1789) was a Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
in the Saxon army. Joining the Riedesel Infantry Regiment # 10 as a junior Leutnant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
in 1770, he rose to the rank of Captain by 1779. He tranferred to the Prussian army in 1787. Promoted to Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
, he was appointed to lead the Legat Fusilier
Fusilier
Fusilier was originally the name of a soldier armed with a light flintlock musket called the fusil. The word was first used around 1680, and has later developed into a regimental designation.-History:...
battalion # 20, based in Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
.
In 1792 he joined the staff of Feldmarschall Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
Charles William Ferdinand , Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, was a sovereign prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and a professional soldier who served as a Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia...
and fought in the War of the First Coalition at the Battle of Valmy
Battle of Valmy
The Battle of Valmy was the first major victory by the army of France during the French Revolution. The action took place on 20 September 1792 as Prussian troops commanded by the Duke of Brunswick attempted to march on Paris...
and other actions. For his courageous actions during the Siege of Mainz from 14 April to 23 July 1793, Lecoq was awarded the Pour le Mérite
Pour le Mérite
The Pour le Mérite, known informally as the Blue Max , was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order for German soldiers until the end of World War I....
.
After the Peace of Basel
Peace of Basel
The Peace of Basel of 1795 consists of three peace treaties involving France .* The first of the three treaties of 1795, France made peace with Prussia on 5 April; , * The Second was with Spain on 22 July, ending the War of the Pyrenees; and*...
in 1795, Brunswick's army guarded the Prussian frontier in northwest Germany. Lecoq was promoted to Oberstleutnant
Oberstleutnant
Oberstleutnant is a German Army and Air Force rank equal to Lieutenant Colonel, above Major, and below Oberst.There are two paygrade associated to the rank of Oberstleutnant...
and appointed Brunswick's Quartermaster General, the equivalent of Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
. While performing his military duties, he began mapping Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
. Having earned the confidence of King Frederick William II
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
and his successor King Frederick William III, Lecoq was sent in 1801 on a diplomatic mission to Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
in the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. In 1802, he negotiated the transfer of Gerhard von Scharnhorst
Gerhard von Scharnhorst
Gerhard Johann David Waitz von Scharnhorst was a general in Prussian service, Chief of the Prussian General Staff, noted for both his writings, his reforms of the Prussian army, and his leadership during the Napoleonic Wars....
from the Electorate of Hanover
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
to Prussian service.
Inspired by the French cartographer Dominique, comte de Cassini
Dominique, comte de Cassini
This article is about the French astronomer. For his Italian-born great-grandfather, see Giovanni Domenico Cassini.Jean-Dominique, comte de Cassini was a French astronomer, son of César-François Cassini de Thury....
, Lecoq completed his Große Karte von Westfalen (Great Map of Westphalia) between 1795 and 1805. Already celebrated as a talented map-maker in his own right, the king named him commander-in-chief of the Grenadier Garde Infantry Regiment # 6 in 1801. He was also appointed to a board to examine general staff officer candidates. In 1803, he received promotion to General-Major
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
and the following year founded the Junker
Junker
A Junker was a member of the landed nobility of Prussia and eastern Germany. These families were mostly part of the German Uradel and carried on the colonization and Christianization of the northeastern European territories during the medieval Ostsiedlung. The abbreviation of Junker is Jkr...
School.
1806
Before the War of the Fourth CoalitionWar of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition against Napoleon's French Empire was defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. Coalition partners included Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and the United Kingdom....
, large Prussian forces were assembled in northwest Germany. Gebhard von Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt , Graf , later elevated to Fürst von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall who led his army against Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington.He is...
commanded 16 battalions and 17 squadrons in Westphalia, while 20 battalions and 28 squadrons deployed in the former Electorate of Hanover
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
. Around the beginning of October 1806, the bulk of these forces moved south under the orders of Lieutenant General Blücher and General of Infantry
General of the Infantry (Germany)
General of the Infantry is a rank of general in the Imperial Army, Reichswehr or Wehrmacht - the second-highest regular rank. The same rank spread to the Imperial Russian Army and the Defence forces of Finland between the world wars...
Ernst von Rüchel
Ernst von Rüchel
Ernst von Rüchel, born 21 July 1754 – died 14 January 1823, fought in the army of the Kingdom of Prussia during the French Revolutionary Wars. Afterward he held various appointments as a diplomat and a military inspector. In 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars he held an important army command...
to take position near Eisenach
Eisenach
Eisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...
and Gotha
Gotha (town)
Gotha is a town in Thuringia, within the central core of Germany. It is the capital of the district of Gotha.- History :The town has existed at least since the 8th century, when it was mentioned in a document signed by Charlemagne as Villa Gotaha . Its importance derives from having been chosen in...
. At the time, Blücher left General-Major von Hagken and General-Major von Brusewitz near Münster
Münster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
to defend Westphalia against a French incursion. Before the war started, Lecoq received command of all forces in the area. Together with the garrisons of Hameln and Nienburg
Nienburg, Lower Saxony
Nienburg is a town and capital of the district Nienburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany.-Geography:Situated on the scenic German Framework Road, Nienburg lies on the river Weser, approximately southeast of Bremen, and northwest of Hanover...
, about 12,000 Prussians defended Hanover and Westphalia.
Opposing them were King Louis Bonaparte
Louis Bonaparte
Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...
, leading the army of the Kingdom of Holland
Kingdom of Holland
The Kingdom of Holland 1806–1810 was set up by Napoleon Bonaparte as a puppet kingdom for his third brother, Louis Bonaparte, in order to better control the Netherlands. The name of the leading province, Holland, was now taken for the whole country...
, and Marshal
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier
Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier
Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, 1st Duc de Trévise was a French general and Marshal of France under Napoleon I.-Biography:...
at the fortress of Mainz. Louis placed a strong garrison in the fortress of Wesel
Wesel
Wesel is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district.-Division of the town:Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighoven, Ginderich, Feldmark,Fusternberg, Büderich, Flüren and Blumenkamp.-History:...
with a body of about 6,000 troops hovering to the northeast. Another similar-sized unit was stationed at Utrecht
Utrecht
Utrecht is a city in the Netherlands.The name may also refer to:* Utrecht , of which Utrecht is the capital* Utrecht , including the city of Utrecht* Bishopric of Utrecht* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht...
. Mortier's formation was named the VIII Corps and included one division under General of Division Louis Henri Loison
Louis Henri Loison
Louis Henri Loison briefly joined the French Army in 1787 and after the French Revolution became a junior officer. Blessed with military talent and courage, he rapidly rose to general officer rank during the French Revolutionary Wars. He also got into difficulties because of his fondness for...
. Emperor Napoleon I of France
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
intended for Louis and Mortier's forces to observe the Prussians until he defeated their main army. Then they would overrun northwest Germany.
On 9 October, columns under Lecoq and Hagken began marching west, though progress was slow. Ten days later, news of the catastrophic Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...
reached Lecoq and he immediately ordered a retreat. When he heard that the broken armies were retreating through the Harz Mountains, he directed his march toward the fortress of Hameln. His and Hagken's columns reached there on 23 October and went into camp. He issued orders to gather food into the city for a siege. The next day, he set out again to the east, hoping to get across the Elbe River and escape the onrushing French. Hearing a report that he was cut off from the Elbe, he gave up on the 27th and marched back to Hameln. However, he detached one infantry battalion and a dragoon
Dragoon
The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...
regiment under Oberst
Oberst
Oberst is a military rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. The Swedish rank överste is a direct translation, as are the Finnish rank eversti...
von Osten in an attempt to get through to Blücher.
Hesse-Kassel
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire under Imperial immediacy that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
. Napoleon knew that William I, Elector of Hesse
William I, Elector of Hesse
William I, Elector of Hesse was the eldest surviving son of Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Mary of Great Britain, the daughter of George II.-Early life:...
, though officially neutral, was pro-Prussian and he determined to depose him. Mortier's 5,500 men and Louis' troops overran Hesse-Kassel, disarmed the Hessian army, and chased the elector into exile. On 9 November, Louis withdrew from the campaign in bad health, leaving Mortier in command of a 12,000-man corps. Starting on 7 October, French troops moved into the area of Hameln. By the 10th, a good part of Mortier's corps appeared before the city.
By this time, Lecoq put the fortifications into good repair and manned them with about 10,000 troops. The city and fortress were well stocked with food and supplies and ready to sustain a siege. Mortier left 6,000 men to maintain the Siege of Hameln
Siege of Hameln
In the Siege of Hameln, which began around 7 November 1806 and ended 22 November 1806, First French Empire forces captured the fortress of Hamelin from its garrison composed of troops from the Kingdom of Prussia. The siege was begun by the French Marshal Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier....
and continued his march on Hanover, which he occupied on 12 October. Jean Baptiste Dumonceau commanded the blockading force, which was organized into one cavalry and three infantry brigades with 12 artillery pieces. Mortier did his best to browbeat Lecoq into surrendering, but his initial attempts were unsuccessful.
William I of the Netherlands
William I Frederick, born Willem Frederik Prins van Oranje-Nassau , was a Prince of Orange and the first King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg....
Infantry Regiment # 19 rounded out the garrison. The remainder of Lecoq's force consisted of four Invalid companies from Schenck, Tschammer, Hagken, and Hessen regiments, 40 hussars, 181 artillerists, 1,000 fugitives from Jena-Auerstedt, and recruit drafts from the Treuenfels Infantry Regiment # 29 and the Strachwitz Infantry Regiment # 43.
While these operations were in progress, Napoleon signed an armistice with the king's envoy Girolamo Lucchesini
Girolamo Lucchesini
Girolamo Lucchesini was a diplomat of the Kingdom of Prussia.Lucchesini was born at Lucca, the eldest son of Marquis Lucchesini....
that specified that the remaining Prussian fortresses were to be surrendered. King Frederick William III later refused to sign the document, but that did not stop the French emperor from trying to exploit the tentative agreement. He sent Anne Jean Marie René Savary
Anne Jean Marie René Savary
Anne Jean Marie René Savary, 1st Duc de Rovigo , French general and diplomat, was born at Marcq in the Ardennes.-Biography:...
to Hameln with the information in an attempt to coax the garrison into laying down its arms. On 19 November, Savary arrived at Hameln and was granted a parley with Lecoq and his generals. Putting his diplomatic talent to good use, he reminded the generals that there was no Prussian field army within 400 kilometers. After he revealed the conditions of the armistice, Lecoq decided to capitulate. The surrender terms were similar to those at the Capitulation of Prenzlau
Battle of Prenzlau
In the Battle of Prenzlau or Capitulation of Prenzlau on 28 October 1806 two divisions of French cavalry and some infantry led by Marshal Joachim Murat intercepted a retreating Prussian corps led by Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen. In this action from the War of the Fourth...
in that officers were to be paroled and the enlisted men were to be made prisoners.
When Lecoq's rank and file found out about the capitulation, a mutiny broke out and the soldiers forced their way into wine-shops and soon became drunk. Robbery, looting and other disorders followed. For their part, the officers demanded that they be paid and that their troops be paroled. There are two versions of what happened next. In one account, Savary turned his cavalry loose in the streets to drive the Prussians out of the city. Once outside the city they were surrounded and disarmed. In the second account, 9,000 soldiers dispersed into the countryside in the confuson and only 600 were marched into captivity after the 22 November capitulation. On 26 November, the fortress of Nienburg
Nienburg, Lower Saxony
Nienburg is a town and capital of the district Nienburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany.-Geography:Situated on the scenic German Framework Road, Nienburg lies on the river Weser, approximately southeast of Bremen, and northwest of Hanover...
capitulated with its 2,911-man garrison.
Historian Digby Smith
Digby Smith
Digby Smith is a British military historian. The son of a British career soldier, he was born in Hampshire, England, but spent several years in India and Pakistan as a child and youth. As a "boy soldier," he entered training in the British Army at the age of 16...
called the surrender "shameful". Francis Loraine Petre
Francis Loraine Petre
Francis Loraine Petre OBE was a British civil servant in India and a military historian upon his retirement. He wrote a two-volume regimental history of the Norfolk Regiment, but is best known for his works on the Napoleonic Wars. The grandson of the 11th Baron Petre, he was educated at Oscott...
believed that Lecoq's situation was hopeless, but that it was his responsibility to hold out as long as possible. A long siege might have kept a substantial French force from being used in the winter campaign.
Later career
In 1809, Lecoq faced an inquiry into the surrender of the fortress. Sentenced to life in prison, he was sent to SpandauSpandau
Spandau is the fifth of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is the fourth largest and westernmost borough, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and along the western bank of the Havel, but the least populated.-Overview:...
. However, he was allowed to live mostly in the city rather than in a prison cell. In 1812, the king refused his request for clemency, though he was permitted to visit his estate in Pichelsdorf
Wilhelmstadt
Wilhelmstadt is a German locality of Berlin in the borough of Spandau.-History:In the year 1945 the allied armed forces from the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom accomplished an exchange of territory, among the area of Seeburg in Spandau...
near Berlin. After Prussia joined the War of the Sixth Coalition
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...
in 1813, he was allowed to live in Oranienburg
Oranienburg
Oranienburg is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.- Geography :Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.- Division of the town :...
. In 1814 he was finally pardoned and took up residence in Berlin where he continued work on his beloved maps as his eyesight faded away. Lecoq's wife Marie Charlotte Lautier (b. 1760) died in 1826. The couple had four children, of whom two daughters survived until adulthood. Completely blind, Lecoq died in Berlin on 14 February 1829 and was buried in the French cemetery.