Читать книгу History Of German Immigration In The United States - George von Skal - Страница 11

THE CIVIL WAR AND THE YEARS FOLLOWING IT

The full story of what the Forty-eighters did for the United States has not been told because one chapter, and by no means the least important one, has to do with the Civil War. In recounting the part the Germans took in this struggle there will be occasion to complete the story. But before we mention the deeds of the adopted citizens let us glance at the behavior of the descendants of those Germans who came more than a century before the North and the South met on the battle-field. We remember how promptly the Pennsylvania Germans had responded to the call to arms when the Revolution broke out and how a company of Germans from York -County was the first troop to reach Washington after the battle of Lexington. The spirit of the fathers lived in the children, for when Abraham Lincoln needed protection in 1861 the first regiment to reach Washington was composed of five companies from Reading, Allentown, Pottsville and Lewiston, almost entirely composed of the descendants of the German patriots of Revolutionary days. Of the eight thousand soldiers furnished by Berks County, Pa., during the Civil War, fully eighty percent bore German names. As about nine-tenths of the inhabitants were of German descent, and many families had anglicized their names, there is no doubt that the descendants of the German immigrants of former times furnished their full ratio of fighters for the Union. It was the same all through Pennsylvania, and in fact throughout the North.

The Americans of German birth responded in the same way. They and their sons formed whole regiments and came to the front. From New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the East, from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and Michigan they marched forth, ready to die in order to save the country they had learned to love, from destruction. And the old Forty-eighters were in the lead everywhere. They became regimental commanders and generals, for most of them were versed in tactics and had fought before. The greatest of them all was the gallant Franz Sigel, who had led the revolutionary army in Baden and since then had taught school in the United States. At the outbreak of hostilities he was instrumental in saving Missouri to the Union cause. He and some others organized the German Turners of St. Louis into a regiment and offered their services to Frank Blair. Their example was quickly followed by others, and it is an historical fact that without the German troops thus quickly gotten ready the attempt of the secessionists to take pos session of St. Louis would have been successful. Sigel then took the field and prevented the confederate general Price from invading Missouri. After having shown his ability in several small engagements he decided the battle at Pea Ridge, the first real success the Union side achieved. He was made a corps commander and was the only general who held his position against the onslaught of the enemy in the second battle of Bull Run. When the Union army was compelled to retreat Sigel covered the movement and kept the pursuing enemy at bay. He was undoubtedly a general of exceptional ability but had little opportunity to show it. It cannot be left unsaid that the "German" was not much liked by many of the other commanders, and that he was repeatedly ordered to make attacks when the troops under his command were entirely insufficient. His failure in such cases was successfully used to keep him from getting the commands he was entitled to. Personally Sigel was one of the most lovable of men, filled with a vast store of knowledge, an idealist of the first flower, and of a modest and retiring nature.

All the Germans who reached the rank of general in the Civil War cannot be mentioned but to show how numerous they were the most important shall be named. Besides Sigel the following were made major-generals: Carl Schurz, who fought at Chattanooga and Gettysburg and commanded a corps at Chancellorsville; Joseph Peter Osterhaus, who took part in the campaigns of Vicksburg. Chattanooga, Atlanta and Savannah; Julius Stabel, who distinguished himself at Shiloh; August Kautz, one of the most daring cavalry leaders on the Union side; Gottfried Weitzel, who commanded on the James River and led the first troops into Richmond, and Friedrich Salomo, who had charge of Arkansas. Of brigadier-generals, Adolph Englemann was killed at Shiloh; August Willich saved Kentucky by his victory at Bowling Green; Ludwig Blenker saved the Union army from complete destruction after the first battle of Bull Run; Friedrich Hecker, Carl Eberhard Salomo, August Moor, Hugo Wangelin and Adolph von Steinwehr served with distinction; Alexander Schimmelpfennig was the first to enter Charleston, Heinrich Bohlen fell on the Rappahannock, and Max Weber was killed at Antietam at the very moment when he was ready to break through the enemy's center, an advantage that would have routed the Confederates but was lost through the death of the leader.

Not Germans alone who lived in the United States at the outbreak of the war fought for the Union. Untold thousands came over the ocean to join the ranks. It is true that many of them were adventurers who did not care very much what cause they fought for, but even these rendered valuable help and became good and loyal American citizens after peace had been restored. Many others came because they felt a deep sympathy with the cause, as was natural, for the German people took a very decided stand for the North. The Union had no truer and stancher friend than Germany, and this fact was so well-known that the recognition of the Confederacy by France and England was delayed until it became impossible by the position of the Prussian Government. Two reasons may be found for this, one of a practical nature, and the other a more idealistic one. There were already several millions of Germans living in the United States and the vast majority of them was in the northern states; many of them were Democrats in politics, but all were Unionists. The German people naturally took sides with that section in which almost all their friends and relations lived. But not less strong was the feeling that the North fought for humanity and for that liberty that is dear to every sentimental German heart. For though the statement may appear strange and almost ridiculous to Americans, it is nevertheless a fact that the vast majority of the German people, though monarchists at home and always ready to submit to the will of the Government, at heart loves liberty and is always ready to assist other peoples to gain freedom. More Germans have volunteered and died in the wars other nations have waged for freedom than in fights against oppression at home. This is one of the reasons why Germans so quickly learn to love American institutions.

It may be mentioned here that there were a few Germans who took a prominent part in the Civil War on the other side. They were without exception Unionists at heart and opposed to secession, but felt constrained to follow their states when the Confederacy was established. Among them was General Johann Andreas Wagener, who defended Charleston against the Union army. Karl Gustav Memminger became secretary of the treasury of the Confederate Government.

We have seen that over ninety-five thousand German immigrants had annually come to the United States between 1850 and 1860. In the following decade the average was nearly as high, reaching eighty-two thousand. Thus not much less than two millions of Germans came within twenty years. Most of them were farmers, and they spread all over the West and the North west. The German element in the western states, which we have repeatedly mentioned, became more numerous and much stronger. Many immigrants went farther west and when the great overland railroads had been completed they swarmed to the Pacific Coast. Oregon and Washington were largely peopled by Germans who, like their forerunners nearly two hundred years before them, introduced horticulture in that region so well adapted to this purpose, and there by laid the foundation for one of the greatest industries of the present day.

But other elements arrived in ever larger numbers. Germany began to emerge slowly from the conditions under which it had suffered since the Napoleonic wars. Although the people themselves were perhaps not fully aware of it, the trend towards national unity and greatness became apparent. It still required a violent convulsion to bring it about, but it was in the air and the German people became more active, self-reliant and enterprising, and also more practical. The immigrants who were highly educated were no longer composed of those who had been persecuted, who had failed for some reason or other or who were dissatisfied with their surroundings, but among them were many who knew that America offered them better opportunities for the use of the knowledge they had acquired, and who emigrated for this reason alone. In the United States progress had been rapid, and the sciences and arts were receiving the attention they deserved. Commerce between the two countries was increasing rapidly. The number of German merchants and bankers grew and their enterprises became more and more important. While German universities were at tended by American students, German professors and teachers came to America. For the American had also gone through an awakening and learned the lesson that practical knowledge acquired in the course of every-day work is not sufficient to solve the great problems of modern life. He saw the need of the higher education based upon the sum of the experience gathered by others. He began to build up gigantic industries and perceived that the rule of thumb worked well enough where every man produced his own necessities or those of his immediate neighbors, but that more was required for large enterprises. The money he needed for his railroads and other enterprises had been readily furnished by foreigners, and a large part of it by Germans, and the goods he wanted could easily be bought. But now that he desired to make them at home he was compelled to look for men who had been specially educated for producing them. The American began to found schools and colleges that would in time produce what he wanted, but he could not wait for them. In looking around he found that Germany, above all other countries, was in position to supply what he needed, and he made quick use of it. But the arrival of large numbers of graduates of German universities and technical colleges really belongs in the next chapter, even though it began about this time, as likewise the immigration of trained minds of other professions in large numbers.