Edvard Emile Langberg

Early military career

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1810 to Knud Engelbreth Langberg and Birgette Jacobsen, Edvard was both a notable violinist and a law student. His brother Ludvig, already living in Mexico, invited him to emigrate, and in 1835 he traveled from Hamburg through New Orleans to reach Mexico City. There he quickly entered the capital's social and political circles, and General Antonio López de Santa Anna gave him a captain's commission in the Mexican Army.

By late 1841 he was on the faculty of the Military College of Chapultepec, commanding a company of students. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1845, he declared for General Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga in San Luis Potosí that December. In mid-1846 he joined General Mariano Salas's coup, then fought in the Mexican-American War at Buena Vista and the Valley of Mexico, earning a promotion to colonel. Under General Gabriel Valencia he served in Ciudad Tula and Ciudad Victoria, and under General José de Urrea he took part in guerrilla raids at Marín, Agua Negra, and Cerralvo in Nuevo León—operations meant to cut American supply lines and aid Santa Anna against General Zachary Taylor in 1847.

Near Mexico City he saw combat at Contreras and Churubusco, receiving a decoration for his efforts. In 1848 he became Political Chief of Paso del Norte and later that year was named commissioner to Chihuahua as inspector of Military Colonies, acting as second chief of the general command. He organized the new boundary line per the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and returned to the interior in early 1854. On April 19, 1855, he married Elizabeth Seraphine Trepagnier, daughter of Laurent and Louise Reine Trepagnier, in New Orleans; they had no children.

Family

He also fathered an illegitimate daughter, Helena María de la Luz, with Agustina Pareda. Returning to Mexico in 1855, he settled in Coahuila, where he sought backing against Santa Anna, fought Native Americans, and assisted Texan filibusters in recovering escaped slaves. He served as a military commander in the state. He joined the Plan of Ayutla as a member of President Comonfort's chief of staff, accompanying him in operations against Conservatives occupying Puebla, and was promoted to general.

Plan of Ayutla

He backed Comonfort's December 1857 coup, and when Comonfort reversed course in January 1858, Langberg ignored General Zuloaga as president and fought on the liberal side in the Reform War, rising to brigadier general. In February 1860, Governor Muñoz, sent by General Degollado, arrived in Chihuahua seeking resources for the constitutional cause; Langberg then went to Sonora to present the same request to Governor Pesqueira, also receiving support from Manuel María Gándara.

Second French Intervention in Mexico

He moved to Sinaloa, became second-in-command to General Plácido Vega, took part in the Action of Espinal where conservative chief Domingo Cajén was defeated, and joined the pursuit of Antonio Esteves in Sonora. In 1864 he switched to the Second Mexican Empire and was appointed commanding general of Sinaloa. He tried without success to win over General Trías, Colonel Angulo, and other republican leaders to Emperor Maximilian I's cause, receiving harsh refusals.

On October 5, 1865, he was given the same post in Sonora. He mobilized energetically against forces under García Morales and later General Martínez, but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Guadalupe on September 4, 1866. He was not a French general nor did he arrive with the French, a common error. Since 1850 he had been a member of the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics, and the boundary maps of Chihuahua and Coahuila with Texas prepared by him and his engineers remain in the society's cartographic collections.