MANTEUFFEL, EDWIN, FREIHERR VON (1809-1885 ) , Prussian general field marshal, son of the president of the superior court of Magdeburg, was born at Dresden on Feb. 24, 1809. He was brought up with his cousin, Otto von Manteuffel (1805 1882), the Prussian statesman, and entered the guard cavalry at Berlin in 1827. In 1848 he became aide-de-camp to Frederick William IV., whose confidence he had gained during the revolu tionary movement in Berlin. Promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1852, and colonel to command the 5th Uhlans in he was sent on important diplomatic missions to Vienna and St. Petersburg. In 1857 he became major-general and chief of the military cabinet. He supported the prince regent's plans for the reorganization of the army. He served in the Danish war of 1864, and at its con clusion was appointed civil and military governor of Schleswig. In the Austrian War of 1866 he occupied Holstein and afterwards commanded a division under Vogel von Falkenstein in the Hano verian campaign, and succeeded him, in July, in command of the Army of the Main (see SEVEN WEEKS' WAR) . His successful operations ended with the occupation of Wiirzburg, and he re ceived the order pour le merite. He then went on a diplomatic mission to St. Petersburg, where he was persona grata, and suc ceeded in gaining Russia's assent to the new position in north Germany. In the war of 1870-71 he led the I. corps under Stein
metz, distinguishing himself in the battle of Colombey-Neuilly, and in the repulse of Bazaine at Noisseville (see FRANCO-GERMAN WAR; and METZ). He succeeded Steinmetz in October in the corn mand of the I. army, won the battle of Amiens against General Farre, and occupied Rouen, but was less fortunate against Faid herbe at Pont Noyelles and Bapaume. In January 1871 he com manded the newly formed Army of the South, which he led, in spite of hard frost, through the COte d'Or and over the plateau of Langres, cut off Bourbaki's army of the east (8o,000 men), and, after the action of Pontarlier, compelled it to cross the Swiss frontier, where it was disarmed. When the Southern Army was disbanded Manteuffel commanded first the II. army, and, from June 1871 until 1873, the army of occupation left in France, showing great tact in a difficult position. He was rewarded by promotion to the rank of general field marshal and a large grant in money. He was employed on several diplomatic missions, was for a time governor of Berlin, and in 1879 was appointed governor general of Alsace-Lorraine ; and this office he filled until his death at Carlsbad, Bohemia, on June 17, 1885.
See lives by v. Collas (Berlin, 1874), and K. H. Keck (Bielefeld and Leipzig, 189o).