Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich August of Prussia (19 September 1779-19 July 1843), known in English as Prince Augustus, was a Prussian general. Born at Friedrichsfelde

Friedrichsfelde

Friedrichsfelde is a German locality within the borough of Lichtenberg, Berlin.-History:The locality was first mentioned in a document of 1265 with the name of Rosenfelde. In 1699 it was renamed Friedrichsfelde after the Prince-Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg...

, he was the youngest son of Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia, the brother of King Frederick the Great, and Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt

Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt

Margravine Anna Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt was a Prussian princess. She was a daughter of Margrave Frederick William of Brandenburg-Schwedt and his wife Princess Sophia Dorothea of Prussia.-Family:...

.

Military career

Augustus joined the Prussian army as a young man. At the age of 18, he gained the rank of captain. In 1803, he became a major and was granted an infantry battalion of his own. Three years later, now a lieutenant colonel, he and his battalion took part in the Battle of 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...

. His brother, Prince Louis Ferdinand, had been killed by the French army under Napoleon I

Napoleon I

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...

 four days earlier. Augustus himself was captured and held by the French until 1807.

In March 1808, his cousin, King Frederick William III of Prussia

Frederick William III of Prussia

Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...

, made him brigadier general. The Prince spent the next five years reorganizing the Prussian artillery together with 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....

. Seven years after the failure of the Prussian army in Auerstedt, the Prince distinguished himself in the Battle of Leipzig

Battle of Leipzig

The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...

. He continued his campaign against Napoleon throughout 1814. In the winter 1814-1815, Augustus attended the Congress of Vienna

Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...

. He moved to the north of France in June 1818 and then back to Berlin after the war had ended.

He spent his last years inspecting artillery units in various garrison towns. He died suddenly in Bydgoszcz during one such trip, and was buried in Staats- und Domchor Berlin.

Relationships and issue

He was one of the richest landowners in Prussia. Since he never married or left any legitimate children, his estates reverted to the Crown. The mother of his eldest children was his first mistress, Karoline Friederike Wichmann, with whom he cohabited from 1805 until 1817. Their union produced four children. She was ennobled as Baroness von Waldenburg. His second extramarital relationship was with Auguste Arend, later ennobled as Baroness von Prillwitz. It began in 1818, lasted until his death and produced seven children.

Ancestry