Greetings All
I wanted to share with you this interesting and rather intriguing CDV photograph which I purchased today at a local Antique Market while attending their monthly parking lot sale. By all rights I didn’t deserve to own this little piece of history as I had glanced at it last Summer, didn’t recognize it for what it was and passed on it thinking it was too expensive at 40 dollars. Since there wasn’t too much at the market today, I gave this little photo a closer look, realized what the medals were on his chest and decided to purchase the photo. I laid the money on the counter and put him in my pocket, I was lucky.
The image portrays a young Saxon Officer, seated, with his shako resting on a table next to his right arm, a saber rests against his leg and on his chest he wears three decorations, the Imperial Mexican Order of Guadalupe, an unknown medal and the French medal for the Campaign in Mexico.
I don’t intend to mislead here, the medals shown with the Saxon CDV are not the officer’s medals, rather type examples from our own collection. The French Mexican Campaign medal is fairly easy to come by with decent examples appearing on Ebay.Fr quite regularly. The Order of Guadalupe, especially in the military line, is quite a different matter. The Civil and Military versions are near identical, with the main difference being the motto on the reverse. The military version reads “Al Patriotismo Heroico” and the civil version “Al Merito Y Virtudes”. I count myself fortunate in having both a civil and military type in our collection at present. This, the military version, is produced in silver-gilt, displays delicate, beautiful quality enameling and its amazingly intact original ribbon. To be sure it shows scattered enamel chipping and minor damage from age and wear, but I think still displays a certain charm in spite of the damage.
The Order of Guadalupe was reinstituted by Emperor Ferdinand Maximilian I, younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, who was placed on the throne of Mexico by the forces of Napoleon III of France in 1864. It was awarded in several classes, in both civil and military versions. This officer wears the military order, Knight class, which was limited to only 500 recipients.
The French Intervention in Mexico is an amazing story and this little article will barely scratch the surface of it‘s telling. It’s dramatic ending resulted in the executions by firing squad of Emperor Maximilian and his loyal Generals Miramon & Mejia on the 19th of June 1867.
During Maximiliano’s brief reign, volunteer legions from Belgium, Austria and other European countries served in the Imperial Mexican Army while fighting the forces of the Mexican Republican Army under President Benito Juarez . Other individual European volunteers served as well, with one of the most famous being the former Union Army General, Prussian Prince Felix Salm-Salm and his American wife Agnes Leclerc Joy. She was a soldiers wife, brave as any man and saw service with her husband in three wars. Our young Saxon officer was certainly another of these volunteers, who evidently survived this experience and arrived back home in time for the 1870-71 war with France.
The image was taken by the C.Engelmann photographers studio, who operated photography studios in Dresden and Frieberg Saxony in the mid 19th century. The reverse of the image shows an elaborate photographers backmark, typical for the era and a dedication dated 2/3/69 written in a cursive script. At first go I was having difficulty in making out the names written in the dedication on the reverse of the cdv. After a bit of study, the name in the third line became clear to me as Von Munchhausen. The other name however still remains indecipherable to me.
Now with a name, I looked in my copy of the 1871 Rank List for the Royal Saxon Army for a Munchhausen. There were two, but the most important one appeared on page 29 which lists the officers for the 5th Saxon Infantry Regiment, Prince Friedrich-August Nr.104, there he was, Secondlieutenant Freiherr August Friedrich Christian von Munchhausen, who received his patent on the 24th of April 1867. Listed below his name were the abbreviations for the awards he had received thus far in his career; Akrd, MGR & PEK2 (Albert Order Knights Class with Swords, Imperial Mexican Order of Guadalupe Knight Grade and the Prussian Iron Cross 2nd Class).
Knowing that he had served in the Franco-Prussian War where he was awarded the Iron Cross, I once more turned to the library and pulled off the shelf Vols I &II of the German General Staff Report on the Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871. Each of the five volumes has an appendix which provides a wealth of information, orders of battle and the casualties incurred by every German unit engaged with the officers being listed by last name. During the 1870-71 War the Saxon contingent comprised the XIIth Corps of the II nd Army under the command of HRH Prince Friedrich Charles. In volume II the appendix lists the casualties for both the Prussian Ist and II nd armies during the Battle of Gravelotte-St..Privat on August 18 1870. In the column for the 104th Saxon Infantry, there was our young Baron von Munchhausen, listed as wounded in action. During this battle the 104th regiment took part in the assault and capture of the French village of St.Marie aux Chenes, perhaps it was here that he received his wound. He certainly fared better than another Mexican Intervention veteran and fellow recipient of the Order of Guadalupe, Prince Felix Salm-Salm, who was mortally wounded while leading the Fusilier Battalion of the 4th Guard Grenadiers during the Prussian Guard’s assault up the long slope before St.Privat.
Thanks for hanging in there with me on this guys, I apologize for the photo sizing issues. Had to start over a few times while trying to keep everything lined up right.
This was a fun little project for me and I hope that you found it entertaining.
Just goes to show the secrets which are there for us to unlock
with a little digging.
Cheers
Larry
I wanted to share with you this interesting and rather intriguing CDV photograph which I purchased today at a local Antique Market while attending their monthly parking lot sale. By all rights I didn’t deserve to own this little piece of history as I had glanced at it last Summer, didn’t recognize it for what it was and passed on it thinking it was too expensive at 40 dollars. Since there wasn’t too much at the market today, I gave this little photo a closer look, realized what the medals were on his chest and decided to purchase the photo. I laid the money on the counter and put him in my pocket, I was lucky.
The image portrays a young Saxon Officer, seated, with his shako resting on a table next to his right arm, a saber rests against his leg and on his chest he wears three decorations, the Imperial Mexican Order of Guadalupe, an unknown medal and the French medal for the Campaign in Mexico.
I don’t intend to mislead here, the medals shown with the Saxon CDV are not the officer’s medals, rather type examples from our own collection. The French Mexican Campaign medal is fairly easy to come by with decent examples appearing on Ebay.Fr quite regularly. The Order of Guadalupe, especially in the military line, is quite a different matter. The Civil and Military versions are near identical, with the main difference being the motto on the reverse. The military version reads “Al Patriotismo Heroico” and the civil version “Al Merito Y Virtudes”. I count myself fortunate in having both a civil and military type in our collection at present. This, the military version, is produced in silver-gilt, displays delicate, beautiful quality enameling and its amazingly intact original ribbon. To be sure it shows scattered enamel chipping and minor damage from age and wear, but I think still displays a certain charm in spite of the damage.
The Order of Guadalupe was reinstituted by Emperor Ferdinand Maximilian I, younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, who was placed on the throne of Mexico by the forces of Napoleon III of France in 1864. It was awarded in several classes, in both civil and military versions. This officer wears the military order, Knight class, which was limited to only 500 recipients.
Emperor Maximilian, his wife Empress Carlota (Princess Charlote of Belgium) his brother Emperor Franz-Joseph and Napoleon III of France
The site of the execution, Quertero Mexico, postcard circa 1900
Prince Felix Salm-Salm, shown here in the uniform of a Union Army Colonel during the American Civil War
The image was taken by the C.Engelmann photographers studio, who operated photography studios in Dresden and Frieberg Saxony in the mid 19th century. The reverse of the image shows an elaborate photographers backmark, typical for the era and a dedication dated 2/3/69 written in a cursive script. At first go I was having difficulty in making out the names written in the dedication on the reverse of the cdv. After a bit of study, the name in the third line became clear to me as Von Munchhausen. The other name however still remains indecipherable to me.
Now with a name, I looked in my copy of the 1871 Rank List for the Royal Saxon Army for a Munchhausen. There were two, but the most important one appeared on page 29 which lists the officers for the 5th Saxon Infantry Regiment, Prince Friedrich-August Nr.104, there he was, Secondlieutenant Freiherr August Friedrich Christian von Munchhausen, who received his patent on the 24th of April 1867. Listed below his name were the abbreviations for the awards he had received thus far in his career; Akrd, MGR & PEK2 (Albert Order Knights Class with Swords, Imperial Mexican Order of Guadalupe Knight Grade and the Prussian Iron Cross 2nd Class).
Knowing that he had served in the Franco-Prussian War where he was awarded the Iron Cross, I once more turned to the library and pulled off the shelf Vols I &II of the German General Staff Report on the Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871. Each of the five volumes has an appendix which provides a wealth of information, orders of battle and the casualties incurred by every German unit engaged with the officers being listed by last name. During the 1870-71 War the Saxon contingent comprised the XIIth Corps of the II nd Army under the command of HRH Prince Friedrich Charles. In volume II the appendix lists the casualties for both the Prussian Ist and II nd armies during the Battle of Gravelotte-St..Privat on August 18 1870. In the column for the 104th Saxon Infantry, there was our young Baron von Munchhausen, listed as wounded in action. During this battle the 104th regiment took part in the assault and capture of the French village of St.Marie aux Chenes, perhaps it was here that he received his wound. He certainly fared better than another Mexican Intervention veteran and fellow recipient of the Order of Guadalupe, Prince Felix Salm-Salm, who was mortally wounded while leading the Fusilier Battalion of the 4th Guard Grenadiers during the Prussian Guard’s assault up the long slope before St.Privat.
The assault on St.Privat by the Guard Corps, Saxon XII Corps Monument at St.Privat
Typical Saxon Infantryman circa 1870, Prince Friedrich-Charles Commander of the 2nd Army in 1870, the image dates from 1864 during the war with Denmark, note the cannonball beneath his foot
This was a fun little project for me and I hope that you found it entertaining. Just goes to show the secrets which are there for us to unlock
with a little digging.
Cheers
Larry
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