German-Americans in the Civil War

German-Americans in the American Civil War were the largest ethnic contingent to fight for the Union. More than 200,000 native Germans served in the Union Army, with New York and Ohio each providing ten divisions dominated by German-born men. [ [http://www.answers.com/topic/union-army-2 answers.com] ]

German-American army units

Approximately 516,000 (23.4% of all Union soldiers) were German Americans; about 216,000 of these were born in Germany. New York provided the plurality of these native-born Germans with 36,000. Behind the Empire State came Missouri with 30,000 and Ohio with 20,000. [Faust, page 523. Quoting from an 1869 ethnicity study by B. A. Gould of the United States Sanitary Commission.]

Scores of individual regiments, such as the 8th Ohio, 74th Pennsylvania and the 9th Wisconsin Infantry, consisted entirely of German Americans. Major recruiting efforts aimed at German Americans were conducted in Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Milwaukee, among many other cities.

Commonly referred to as "Dutchmen" among other Union soldiers, German-American units in general earned a reputation for discipline and ruthlessness. Many of the Germans who fought for the Union during the Civil War had been professional soldiers in Germany, and had since came to America, many to escape persecution. Europe was at peace, for the most part, in the early 1860s. Professional soldiers were out of work or stuck in the same rank for a long time. The American Civil War offered them a new venue.

German-American commanders of note

A popular Union commander and native German, Major General Franz Sigel was the highest ranking German-American officer in the Union Army, with many Germans enlisting to "fight mit Sigel." Sigel was a political appointment of President Abraham Lincoln, who hoped that Sigel's immense popularity would help deliver the votes of the increasingly important German segment of the populationFact|date=May 2008. He was a member of the Forty-Eighters, a political movement of the revolutions in German states that led to thousands of Germans immigrating to the United States. These included such future Civil War officers such as Carl Schurz, August Willich, Louis Blenker, Max Weber, and Alexander Schimmelfennig.

Schurz was part of the politico-social movement in America known as the Turners, who contributed to getting Lincoln elected as President. The Turners provided the bodyguard at Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, and also at Lincoln's funeral in April 1865.

Other prominent German-born generals included Godfrey Weitzel, Adolph von Steinwehr, Edward S. Salomon, Frederick C. Salomon, and August Kautz. Hundreds of German-born officers both led regiments during the war, including Col. Gustav Tafel, Col. Paul A. Frank, Col. Friedrich Hecker, Col. Leopold von Gilsa, and Maj. Jurgen Wilson. Among the very best Union artillerists was German-born Capt. Hubert Dilger, who had been trained at the Karlsruhe Military Academy.

Veteran Prussian military officer Heros von Borcke slipped through the Union blockade into [{Charleston Harbor] and eventually became one of Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's closest confidants and his Chief of Staff and Adjutant. In 1866, he became one of the few former Confederate officers to fight in the [Austro-Prussian War] .

Medal of Honor winners

Lt. Theodore Schwan was among those German immigrants who received the Medal of Honor for valor during the war.

Noted incidents

*"St. Louis massacre" – In neutral Missouri on May 10, 1861, Union Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, a Radical Republican known for his brazenness, marched a large contingent of pro-southern Missouri militia prisoners-of-war through the streets of St. Louis. They were guarded by two lines of German-American Union soldiers. The Germans were unpopular with many native-born Missourians, who resented their anti-slavery and anti-secessionist political views, and some people in St. Louis had southern sympathies.

Tensions quickly mounted on the streets as civilians hurled fruit, rocks, paving stones, and insults at Lyon's Germans. Some of the soldiers returned the favor. Shots rang out, killing three militiamen. The soldiers fired into the nearby crowd of bystanders, injuring or killing numerous men, women, and children. Angry mobs rioted throughout the city for the next two days, burning a number of buildings. At least seven more civilians were shot by Federal troops patrolling the streets. The final death toll was 28.

*"Nueces Massacre" – In the spring of 1862, German Texans from Central Texas and the Texas Hill Country, mostly Unionist or neutral in their political views, were drafted into the Confederate Army over their strong objections. Confederate authorities took their reluctance to serve as a sign of rebellion and sent in troops. A violent confrontation between Confederate soldiers and civilians took place on August 10, 1862, in Kinney County, Texas, leading to the deaths of 34 German Texans who were fleeing to Mexico to avoid the draft.

ee also

*List of famous German Americans
*German Texan

References

* Faust, Albert Bernhardt, "The German Element in the United States." Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1909.
*Linedecker, Clifford L., ed. "Civil War, A-Z: The Complete Handbook of America's Bloodiest Conflict". New York: Ballantine Books, 2002. ISBN 0-89141-878-4
* [http://texashistory.unt.edu/permalink/meta-pth-2409 R. H. Williams and John W. Sansom, "The Massacre on the Nueces River; story of a Civil War tragedy"] , Portal to Texas History, University of North Texas Libraries

Notes

Further reading

*Öfele, Martin W., "German Speaking-Officers in the U.S. Colored Troops, 1863-1867", University Press of Florida (April 2004), ISBN 978-0813026923
*Valuska, David and Keller, Christian, "Damn Dutch: Pennsylvania Germans at Gettysburg". Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2004. ISBN 0-8117-0074-7.
*Rosengarten, Joseph George, "The German Soldier in the Wars of the United States." Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1890.
*Lonn, Ella, "Foreigners in the Confederacy". First published in 1940, reprinted February 2002.
*Kroehnke, John O., 1810- . "Diaries, 1884-1885". Milwaukee Manuscript Collection 107
*Munk, Emanuel, 1806-1899. "Letters, 1861-1893". Milwaukee Micro Collection 2

External links

* [http://www.civilwarhome.com/german.htm German-Americans in the Civil War]
* [http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/civilwar.htm German-American Soldiers in the US Civil War]
* [http://www.gahfusa.org/ German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA, Washington, DC]
* [http://www.geocities.com/inkyger/ Indiana and Kentucky's German-Americans in the Civil War]