![BattleOfShortHills](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/BattleOfShortHills.jpg)
Friedrich Adam Julius von Wangenheim (8 February 1749
Sonneborn
Sonneborn is a municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and t ...
– 25 March 1800
Gumbinnen
Gusev (russian: Гу́сев; german: Gumbinnen; lt, Gumbinė; pl, Gąbin) is a town and the administrative center of Gusevsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Pissa and Krasnaya Rivers, near the border ...
) was a German
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
specializing in forestry, and was the citing authority for a number of described eastern North American plant species. He was also a
Hessian soldier
Hessians ( or ) were German soldiers who served as auxiliaries to the British Army during the American Revolutionary War. The term is an American synecdoche for all Germans who fought on the British side, since 65% came from the German states ...
, and during his service in the
thirteen colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...
devoted his leisure time to botanical studies of American forests. When he returned to
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, he wrote up his research and strongly advocated importing suitable American species of trees and shrubs for use in German forests.
Biography
He received his education at
Waltershausen
Waltershausen is a town in the south-western part of the district of Gotha in the state of Thuringia, Germany.
Geography
Geographic location
Located on the verge of the Thuringian Basin just before the Thuringian Forest, Waltershausen is so ...
, and in 1766 entered the service of the Duke of Coburg as lieutenant. He later entered the Prussian army and attained the rank of captain. He went to the United States in 1777 in the Hessian contingent in the British service, served with the Hesse-Kassel Feld Jaegerkorps in New York and Pennsylvania 1778-1783, and won a reputation for his successful raids. He participated in the battles of
Brandywine Brandywine may refer to:
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*Brandywine tomato, a variety of heirloom tomato
Geographic locations Canada
*Brandywine Falls Provincial Park, British Columbia
*Brandywine Mountain, British C ...
,
Charleston
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* Charleston, South Carolina
* Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital
* Charleston (dance)
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* Charleston, South Australia
Canada
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and attack on New London, Connecticut. On his return to Germany he was given the cross of the Hessian military order, and later re-entered the Prussian service.
While in North America, he had studied the natural history of the country, especially the trees and shrubs. In 1785, he wrote a memoir to the
Berlin Academy showing the immense advantages that would be derived from the naturalization of several species of American trees. On request of the academy, he was then sent to Gumbinnen as director general of the waters and forests of eastern Prussia, where he carried on experiments on a large scale and planted a great number of American trees.
Works
* ''Beschreibung einiger Arten von Bäumen die in Nordamerika wachsen, mit Bezug auf ihren Gebrauch in den deutschen Wäldern, nach den Beobachtungen in den nordamerikanischen Provinzen von 1778-1783'' (Description of some species of trees that grow in North America with regard to their use in German forests, based on observations in the North American colonies 1778-1783; Göttingen, 1781)
* ''Supplement zur Wälder-Kultur-Wissenschaft, mit Anwendung auf die Umpflanzung der Baumarten die in Nordamerika wachsen'' (Addendum to forestry science with application to the transplantation of North American tree species; 1787)
* ''Beschreibung der verschiedenen Holzarten die in Nordamerika wachsen'' (Description of various species of trees that grow in North America; 1788)
* ''Betrachtungen über die Tannen von Preussisch-Litthauen'' (Observations on firs of Prussian Lithuania; 1789)
* ''Betrachtungen über die Weichhölzer die in Nordamerika wachsen'' (Observations on softwoods that grow in North America; 1795)
He also published several memoirs in the ''Transactions'' of the
Berlin Academy of Sciences.
Notes
References
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wangenheim, Friedrich Adam Julius Von
1748 births
1800 deaths
18th-century German botanists
Personnel of German units of the American Revolutionary War
People from Gotha (district)
Military personnel from Thuringia