Klausthal

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

the chief mining town of the Northern Harz Mountains, Germany; on a bleak plateau (1,985 feet), 25 miles N. E. of Göttingen. The ore miles are silver, lead, copper, and zinc. There is a good mining academy, with library, museum, and laboratory. Zellerfeld, divided from Klausthal by a brook, is also a mining center. The mines are the property of the Prussian government. Pop. 8,000. The men are almost exclusively employed in the mines and smelting works. KLÉBER, JEAN BAPTISTE, a French general; born in Strassburg in 1754. He was originally an architect, but chose the military profession, and en- JEAN BAPTISTE KLÉBER tered the Austrian service, (1776 to 1783). When the French revolutionary war broke out, he entered as a grenadier into a volunteer regiment, and rose rapidly into command. He displayed great skill and bravery at the siege of Mentz, after which he was employed in La Vendée; but the sanguinary scenes there so disgusted him, that he obtained his recall, and was engaged in the army of the North, defeated the Austrians, took Mons, and drove the enemy from Louvain. He also captured Maestricht, and contributed to the splendid successes of 1795 and 1796 on the Rhine. The Directory gave him command of the army of the Sambre and Meuse, which he resigned to Hoche, and retired. Napoleon I., however, who valued his talents, nts, prevailed upon him to join the expedition to Egypt. He was wounded at the battle of Alexandria, but he marched into Syria, where he commanded the corps of observation during the siege of Acre, and defeated the Turks in several actions. When Napoleon left Egypt, he appointed Kleber commander-in-chief of the army. He captured the City of Cairo, and made an alliance with Murad Bey. He was assassinated by an Arab, June 14, 1800.