Steinmetz was born at Eisenach on 27 December 1796 and was educated at the cadet school of Stolp in Pomerania from 1807 to 1811, in the midst of the misery and poverty caused by the French occupation.

After a vain attempt to transfer to the Blücher Hussars, a regiment he had an intense boyish admiration for when it was quartered at Stolp, he was ordered to report to General Ludwig von Yorck, who treated him and the other officers from Breslau with coldness, until Steinmetz asked about returning to the king who had sent him.

[2] Steinmetz's avoidance of youthful excesses helped him overcome bad health and become physically vigorous, which he was to the end of his military career.

General von Müffling reported that he was arrogant and resented encouragement, which he probably regarded as patronising, but that his ability would outdistance his comrades.

However, shortly after his marriage to his cousin Julie, the daughter of Lieutenant-General KKF von Steinmetz (1768–1837), gave him enough money to temper his resentment, since his father-in-law was generous to the young couple, and helped him get an appointment as captain at the Landwehr Guard at Potsdam.

At Magdeburg, as at Berlin, his reforming zeal made him many enemies, and in October his youngest and only surviving child died at twenty-six, which affected him deeply.

In 1863, learning that Adolf von Bonin, his senior by date of rank, but his junior in age and length of service, was to be appointed to the command of the I Corps, he considered retirement.

On 26 June 1866 Steinmetz and his reinforced corps were ready to enter Austrian territory as the advance guard of the army's left column.

Steinmetz, embittered by his lifelong struggle against the influences of wealth and position, saw an order to clear the roads for the prince's army as an attempt to crowd a humbler comrade out of the fighting, and various incidents.

[4] On 6 August he led the First Army south from his position on the Moselle and moved straight toward the town of Spicheren, cutting off Prince Frederick Charles from his forward cavalry units in the process.

[citation needed] At the Battle of Gravelotte he lost his temper and wasted his troops against a French superior position, nearly causing the defeat of the Prussian armies.

[4] As a commander in the Franco-Prussian War and the Battle of Gravelotte, Steinmetz was mentioned a few times in Chapter IV of anti-war short story entitled "Bartek The winner",[6] written by Polish Nobel-awarded writer Henryk Sienkiewicz.

In April 1871, he retired at his own request, but his great services were not forgotten when victory had softened animosities, and he was promoted to field marshal, given a pension of 2000 thalers and made a member of the upper chamber.