George Pomutz

George Pomutz (English version of Gheorghe Pomuţ; May 31, 1818—October 12, 1882) was an ethnic Romanian General of United States in the Civil War, and a diplomat.

Life

George Pomutz was born in the Habsburg Empire in Gyula, Békés county, a town with a strong ethnic Romanian population at that time. After the 1848 revolution in which Pomutz took an active part he migrated to America.At the beginning of the American Civil War, Pomutz enrolled in the Unionist Army as lieutenant of the 15th Infantry regiment of Iowa. He was wounded sat the Battle of Shiloh. In May 1864 Pomutz was appointed Provost Marshal of the 17th regiment. In August 1864, he returned to the 15th regiment, which he commanded in the Battle of Atlanta. He was promoted to Major General on March 13, 1865.

After the end of the Civil War, Pomutz returned to Keokuk. On February 16, 1866, he was appointed Consul of the United States in Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia, serving in that capacity till September 30, 1870. During that period, he was involved in the negotiations for the Alaska Purchase. Later he became the American Consul general in Saint Petersburg, serving from June 17, 1874 until his death there, in 1882. He was buried in Smolensk, Russia. [ [http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Pa-Sp/Romanian-Americans.html The first Romanians in America by Vladimir F. Wertsman] ]

Tributes

*The Liberty ship was named after him. Launched August 3, 1944, the ship served till 1970.

*On August 14, 2004, a statue of Pomutz was unveiled at the Falling Asleep of the Ever-Virgin Mary Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio.

Quotation

From the [http://clerk.house.gov/histHigh/Congressional_History/Joint_Meetings/emil.html address] by Emil Constantinescu, President of Romania, at a Joint Meeting of the United States Congress, July 15, 1998:

I would like to close with a true story. One hundred and fifty years ago, a young Romanian who had fought for freedom in the 1848 revolution, emigrated to America. His name was George Pomutz, which in Romanian means ‘little tree.’ Once on American soil, he volunteered for Lincoln’s Army and fought in some of the key battles of the Civil War including Vicksburg and Atlanta. Our ‘little tree’ went on to become a general in your army and later an American diplomat, serving in Russia where he helped negotiate the American purchase of Alaska. In 1944, long after his death, the Romanian community in the United States donated money to build a battleship, named for Romanian-American General George Pomutz. The ship named for the ‘little tree’ served in peace and war, always a symbol of strength and vigilance.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.romanul.hu/indexro/cultura/manifestari/Gen%20G%20Pomutz%20(short)%5B1%5D.html Biography]
* [http://iagenweb.org/civilwar/regiment/infantry/15th/hist15thinf.htm History of Iowa's 15th Volunteer Regiment]
* [ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ia/state/military/civilwar/15rost-b.txt 15th Iowa Infantry Roster - Civil War]
*Demetrius Dvoichenko-Markov, "A Rumanian Priest in Colonial America", American Slavic and East European Review, Vol. 14, No. 3. (Oct., 1955), pp. 383-389. doi|10.2307/3000947
* [http://www.orthodoxnews.netfirms.com/134/Parish.htm "Oldest Romanian Orthodox Parish in US Marks 100 Years of Ministry"] , Orthodox News, Vol. 6, No. 34, August 24, 2004

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