He was highly connected in the Army; his Mother had been a daughter of Feldmarschall Graf von Wartensleben,"-- a highest dignitary of the last generation.

Katte's Father, now a General of distinction, rose also to be Feldmarschall; Cousins too, sons of a Kammer-President von Katte at Magdeburg, rose to Army rank in time coming; but not this poor Katte,--whom let the reader note! "General Katte his Father," continues Wilhelmina, "had sent him to the Universities, and afterwards to travel, desiring he should be a Lawyer.
But as there was no favor to expect out of the Army, the young man found himself at last placed there, contrary to his expectation.

He continued to apply himself to studies; he had wit, book-culture, acquaintance with the world; the good company which he continued to frequent had given him polite manners, to a degree then rare in Berlin.

His physiognomy was rather disagreeable than otherwise.

A pair of thick black eyebrows almost covered the eyes of him; his look had in it something ominous, presage of the fate he met with: a tawny skin, torn by small-pox, increased his ugliness.