For some who know me, you already know that I have a deep interest in Johann de Kalb, Major-General of the Continental Army who died from his wounds at Camden, South Carolina in 1780. For nigh a decade I have been encountering some rather interesting and mysterious moments. Some of them were profound enough to strike me so deep to the soul yet left me utterly baffled. I wondered endlessly what it all meant, and why I was feeling intense moments and emotions in regards to de Kalb.
The more I dove into this nearly forgotten hero of the American Revolution, the more he intrigued me to no end. And... the more I felt a deeper, mysterious bond with this long dead man.
I shall indeed be discussing more about how I became interested in the good Baron. For it was he who captured my interest first and has held me enthralled since I learned of him. I knew nothing about Johann de Kalb before my second venture to South Carolina. But most assuredly, after the first encounters with de Kalb, I soon learned about him and instantly became mesmerized by this fascinating foreigner.
To this day I still have encounters and sensations related to him. I dare say, I now definitely believe in Past Lives. I never did before and thought reincarnation to be pure rubbish. But now, there is no doubt at all that I have lived before and the good General was most likely at the center of my past life.
The painting here is one of the two paintings he had commissioned by Charles Wilson Peale just before he was sent to the south by General Washington. This painting was sent back to France as a gift to his family. To my understanding (as of November 2011), the painting currently resides at the the van Robais estate, Chateau de Bagatelle near Abbeville in France.
For now, let's start with how the good General de Kalb captured my interest.
In April 2002, I attended a symposium in Camden, South Carolina about Banastre Tarleton, commanding Officer of the infamous British Legion. I was incredibly excited to return to South Carolina as well as meet people whom I had only conversed with online via a couple chat lists about Tarleton. I knew this symposium would be exciting but little did I know that something amazing, and profound, was about to happen.
The day before the symposium, I arrived in Camden a little after noon and checked into a hotel. After a short nap, I explored Camden and also explored north of town. I arrived at the battlefield location which, at that time, was no more than a very small roadside spot less than an acre. Curious about this little location, and knew absolutely nothing about it, I walked about in absolute wonder and completely oblivious about what had taken place there. That is... until I stepped into a spot just a few paces to the south of the great granite marker that stated the location where de Kalb was mortally wounded. I froze in that spot completely in a trance as everything seemed to fog up around my sight as if not seeing a thing. However, I certainly felt something! The sensations of breathlessness as my legs were so weak. I felt as if I was going to collapse and faint. I felt pinches and dull aches throughout my body at the same time with a mixture of liquid heat, yet the threat of chills setting in. Add to that head pressure, trembling and shaking. Yet the one sensation I did NOT feel, as if I was not allowed to feel or spared from... was the pain. I never felt any pain.
I don't know how long I was locked in that trance, but it certainly felt as if hours had passed yet only seconds; either way, it seemed timeless. Eventually I stumbled out of the trance quite dazed for a while. It took me a moment to gather my bearings and realize that I had experienced something profoundly unusual. Never had I felt something like that ever in my life but it was indeed mighty powerful. It was then that I truly took notice of the name on the granite marker: DE KALB.
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