Johann Adolf of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

Johann Adolf of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (18 May 1721, Gotha – 29 April 1799, Friedrichstanneck, now a district of Eisenberg, Thuringia), was a German prince of the House of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and a Saxon lieutenant general. Life Johann Adolf was the youngest son of Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalene Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst. The prince was educated by Gottfried Christoph Sommer in Gotha and between 1735 and 1739 in Geneva. He joined the Danish military service in 1739. On his Grand Tour in 1741 he visited France als later his sister Augusta in the United Kingdom where he also obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford. In 1742 he started his service in the army of the Electorate of Saxony where he became holder of a regiment in 1744 that he commanded until 1746 on his own. He fought at the Battle of Hohenfriedberg. He became major general in 1746 and established his headquarter in Naumburg. In 1748 he obtained the Polish Order of the White Eagle and joined the Masonic lodge »Zu den drei Hammern« as »Chevalier de la Truelle d'Or« Master Masons in Naumburg. Johann Adolf became Saxon lieutenant general in 1753.