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Having entered the Prussian Army in 1795, Lützow served at Auerstädit and Colberg but retired as a major in 1808, disgusted by the terms extracted from Prussia after the defeat. He took part in the revolt of his old commanding officer Schill in 1809 but was wounded, rejoined the army in 1811 and in February 1813 organized a Freikorps, bearing his name, recruited initially from the territories west of the Elbe lost by Prussia in 1807. On 17 June, at Kitzen, the corps was all but annihilated (not aware of the armistice, they were caught in French territory), but Lützow escaped (though wounded) and began recruiting anew until the corps (infantry, cavalry and artillery) numbered some 3,600 men. Subsequently the unit served with distinction at Gohrde (where he as again wounded) and against Denmark, he himself being captured in 1814. Lützow's Freikorps attracted much attention by virtue of the patriotic motives that prompted its raising, and because of the presence in its ranks of many intellectuals and upper-class volunteers, including the poets Theodore Körner and Joseph von Eichendorff, and the philosopher and educational reformer Friedrich Froebel. In March 1815 the unit was broken up, its elements going to form parts of the 25th Hussars. During the Hundred
Days, Lützow led the 6th Uhlans, was captured at Ligny but escaped two days later; he challenged Blucher over a perceived slight in his dispatch, but nothing came of it. Promoted to colonel in 1815, Lützow became Generalmajor
in 1822 and Generalleutnant upon his retirement in 1830.