Johan August Meijerfeldt was born into a
Baltic-German family in
Oberpahlen,
Livonia (now
Estonia) and entered Swedish military service in 1684. He made a rapid military career and was promoted to
major general in 1704. During the
Battle of Helsingborg in 1710, he led the right flank of the Swedish troops. Later that year he was promoted to
lieutenant general and made commander of the Swedish troops in
Stettin. The following year he was assigned to the civilian administration as vice governor of
Swedish Pomerania, and two years later promoted to governor of the province and was also appointed member of the
Privy Council of Sweden. While in Pomerania he also became the
rector of the
University of Greifswald in 1715. He had to leave Pomerania briefly after the fall of
Stralsund to a
Prussian-
Saxonian-Danish army that same year but returned after the end of the war. He retired from public offices in 1747. He has been described as one of the most accomplished generals serving under King
Charles XII of Sweden, and as a successful civil servant. He became a Swedish
baron in 1705, and in 1714 was raised to the rank of
count. ==References==