JEB Stuart’s Prussian Compatriot: Heros Von Borcke

This is the second extract from my book, “Civil War Immigrant Leaders,” about a Confederate cavalryman, Heros Von Borcke. The book can be purchased at: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gene-Schmiel/author/B00HV4SSWK

Heros von Borcke,

       In June 1862, as he set out for his first major command outside Richmond, Jeb Stuart was accompanied by a solitary aide.  His companion was a formidable man indeed, a huge Prussian officer turned soldier-of-fortune named Heros von Borcke, recently arrived to serve the Southern cause.  Von Borcke stood 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighed 250 pounds, and spoke English with great difficulty…von Borcke completed his retinue of ‘freaks’ – the aristocratic Prussian shared his love of laughter and his disdain for danger. In later life he wrote a memoir of Stuart in which he himself was the hero.   As von Borcke wrote in his memoir, “Stuart became one of truest and best friends I have had in this world.” 

       Born to an aristocratic Prussian family in 1835, von Borcke joined that country’s military forces in 1855.  In 1862, because of financial difficulties, he decided to go to the U.S. and volunteer for the Confederate forces.  After a difficult journey through the Union blockade, he made his way to Richmond, where he first met Stuart.  The latter was impressed with the Prussian giant and made him a Captain.  During the Peninsular campaign, von Borcke joined Stuart on the ride around George McClellan’s forces.  Stuart reported later that his new friend “joined in the charge of the First Squadron in gallant style, and subsequently, by his energy, skill, and activity, won the praise and admiration of all”

       In June 1863 von Borcke was seriously wounded during the Battle of Middleburg, Virginia, and was hors de combat for the rest of that year.  He returned to Stuart’s staff in 1864 and was present in May 1864 at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, where Stuart was killed.  Early in 1865, Von Borcke was sent to England to aid the effort to gain British recognition of the Confederacy.  When the war ended, he returned to Prussia, where he again joined that country’s forces.  He retired in 1867 because of the effects of his wounds.  Von Borcke returned to Virginia in 1884 to attend a reunion with other Confederate officers.  He died in 1895, and in 2008 the Sons of Confederate Veterans purchased a new headstone for his grave, which had previously been destroyed during World War II.