Juergen Heinrich Christoph Backhaus was killed on the battlefield at Saarbruecken on Aug. 6, 1870. There is a monument in the cemetery in Natendorf honoring him and another young man from the community who were killed.
I recently met with a cousin who has a medal that she believes was received by Juergen's mother. I found a medal like it on the internet, called a Franco/Prussian War 1870 War service medal, combatants issue. The medal has always been kept with a picture of Kaiser Wilhelm II and his family.
Could Jueergen have been part of the Prussian Third Army that was commanded by then Crown Prince Frederich Wilhelm? Are the Battle of Worth and the Battle of Spicheren the same? Were there other battles fought on August 6?
We're wondering if any of the historians out there can give us some thoughts/ideas.
A note about meeting my cousin (her grandfather and my great grandmother were sister and brother) -- I was given her name many years ago as someone who had some Backhaus history. I put the note with her address in a box with my genealogy information, as I wasn't doing any research at that time. I came across the name again this winter, sent her a letter and had a great meeting last weekend. So, as mentioned in the Ottenstein and Jürgen Ritter posts last week, be sure to contact everyone you can find out about in your family!
Lila
Lila,
The battle of Spicheren is the battle that was fought in the vincinity of
Saarbruecken on 6 Aug 1870. This battle was fought by elements of the 1st
German army that was commanded by General Carl Friedrich von Steinmetz from
Prussia and the 2nd German army that was commanded by Prince Friedrich Carl,
the nephew of King Wilhelm of Prussia.
An advanced contingent of the French army had occupied the hills on the
south bank across the Saar River from Saarbruecken on 1 Aug. On 5 Aug.
these troops were pulled back to a somewhat more defensible position on the
next ridge to the south, just north of the French town of Spicheren. The
next day this position was attacked by the leading division of the 1st
German army, which was advancing south from the city of Trier on the Mosel
River. The attack was later joined by other divisions of the 1st German
army and also by division from the 2nd German army, which was advancing
southwest from Mainz and Bingen on the Rhine River. The French troops
outfought the Germans during the day of 6 Aug, inflicting 4,500 causalities
while only receiving 2,000, but eventually were forced to retreat that night
because they did not receive reinforcements.
As you stated in your posting, the 3rd German army was commanded by Crown
Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia. This army consisted of mostly soldiers
from Bavaria, Wuerttemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt in southern Germany
and had mobilized in and around the towns of Speyer and Landau in the
Pfalz, then a province of Bavaria. The army advanced south from Landau into
the French Alsace on 4 Aug and on 6 Aug made contact with elements of the
French 1st Corps commanded by General Patrice MacMahon near the Alsace towns
of Woerth and Froeschwiller. The Germans were ultimately successful,
inflicting about 11,000 casualities on the French and capturing another
9,000 prisoners.
The battles of Spicheren and Woerth/Froeschwiller were the first major
battles of the Franco-Prussian War.
My best regards,
Fred Buck
Cincinnati, Ohio