Carl von Donop

Count Carl Emil Ulrich von Donop (1 January 1732 – 25 October 1777) was a Hessian colonel who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He died of wounds during the Battle of Red Bank.

Biography

Origins and ambitions The son of a noble family of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Donop was well connected in the European courts and served as personal adjutant to the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. He served with distinction in the Seven Years' War.

Wearing a veneer of civility, and deferential to his superiors, Donop was an able officer but was not well liked by his subordinates. To his inferiors he was short-tempered and harsh, and he had a take-no-prisoners policy that was enforced by severe beatings.

Early battles Donop's troops took part in the initial British landing on Long Island, New York, on 22 August 1776, and in the ensuing Battle of Long Island on 27 August. Fatally wounded in what would be known as the Battle of Red Bank, Donop died two days later on 25 October 1777. He said to a brother officer before he died: "It is finishing a noble career early; but I die the victim of my ambition, and of the avarice of my sovereign." He was buried on the Battlefield where he had been wounded.