He was the eldest of the sons of
Hans Christoph Ernst von Gagern. He was born at Weilburg on 24 October 1794. He entered the
University of Göttingen, but soon left, and, taking service in the Austrian army, took part in the
Russian campaign of 1812, and fought in the following year at
Dresden,
Kulm and
Leipzig. He then entered the Dutch service, took part in the
campaigns of 1815, and, after studying another year at
Heidelberg, was member for Luxembourg of the military commission of the German Federal Diet (1824, 1825). In 1830 and 1831 he took part in the
Dutch campaign in Belgium, and in 1844, after being promoted to the rank of general, was sent on an important mission to the
Dutch East Indies to inquire into the state of their military defences. In 1847, he was appointed governor at
The Hague, and commandant in South Holland. In the
spring of 1848 he was in Germany, and on the outbreak of the revolutionary troubles he accepted the invitation of the government of Baden to take the command against the insurgent "free companies" (Freischaaren) in the
Hecker Uprising led by
Friedrich Hecker. At Kandern, on 20 April, he made a vain effort to persuade the leaders to submit, and was about to order his troops to attack, when he was mortally wounded by the bullets of the insurgents. ==References==