What did Germans do in the American Civil War?

the American Civil War was a conflict that divided the nation into two halves the north versus the South the union versus the Confederacy but yet during this conflict things weren't quite as black and white or blue and gray as you might imagine and indeed people from many different nations around the world took part in the fighting rather than just Americans and in today's video I'd like to look particularly at what the German connection was with the American Civil War some 216,000 people who have been born in Germany fought for the North during the Civil War while a number around the low thousands fought for the South that means that around 10% of the Union's fighting force the North's fighting force had actually been born in what is today Germany now around 250,000 of those who fought for the north were second generation German immigrants and so that means that taking together first and second generation Germans fighting for the north made up around a quarter of the entire the North's fighting force during the American Civil War in fact for New York alone around 10 regiments were entirely ethnically German with many more being drawn from various areas around the country Germans saw Combat on all of the fronts of the American Civil War and fought on both sides and in various different roles and in today's video I'd like to take a bit of a closer look at what the German involvement in the American Civil War actually was it's worth looking a little bit at German immigration into the United States in the Years leading up to the war it's also important to note that there wasn't actually a country called Germany yet at this time although there was a concept of germanness basically anyone who spoke German could constitute and there were many different states in what is today Germany Austria and certain other countries in the surrounding areas an important event for the Germans in the American Civil War are the Revolutions of 1848 which sprang up through many countries in Europe at the time including the German speaking countes and which clamored for a German state to emerge however these revolutions were largely unsuccessful particularly in the German speaking countries and this prompted a wave of migrants fleeing from the authoritarian crackdowns on these liberal revolutionaries many of these between 1841 and 1860 would end up in the United States of America and between these years over a, 386,000 registered German speakers entered the United States these had a certain name they were called the akun figa or in English the 48ers those basically fleeing the repercussions of the 1848 revolutions and coming to America they came to certain parts of the United States in larger numbers than others almost all of them came through the port of New York and that's where a very large german-speaking community would remain others would go further into the interior particularly into areas of the Midwest where there still are many people of ger ger or ancestry and some who still speak German to this day this is very important this ideological background because it meant that those German immigrants coming to the United States had particular views on liberalism and the rights of man and one important early Advocate was Herman Rasta who is considered one of the 48ers who had arrived in the United States and in 1856 became a presidential elector being a very key component in what drove many German Americans to start supporting the Republican party of Abraham Lincoln German Americans being very likely indeed to vote Republican and are part of the reason why he was elected in the first place German T or in English gymnastics societies were organized societies of German men who became very Republican in their Outlook and who would form basis of the First Union militias indeed these Tong would be responsible for security both at the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln and 4 years later at his funeral these German political organizations often set up by 48ers were very involved in the politics leading up to the American Civil War and when civil war broke out they enlisted in large numbers in the Union Army already in 1861 at the very outbreak of War Germans were actively mobilizing across the country one place where this was rather controversial was the border state of Missouri which hadn't actually signed the secession of the South and also had not committed to the north but attempted to remain neutral nevertheless pro-union militia made up mostly of ethnic Germans was formed in St Louis and they attempted to take prisoners some 700 Pro secessionist militia that had been Gathering and attempted to steal Arms This was done successfully and they wanted to bring them back into the city but a largely pro- secessionist crowd gathered around them and started hurling insults at them such as damn the Dutch and the reason why they're talking about Dutch and not Germans I explain in this video it's a longstanding uh linguistic fa part in the english- speaking World confusing the Dutch and the Germans or the Deutsch but anyway they weren't just huling insults at one point one of the protesters pulled out a pistol and killed one of the militia men prompting the militia to fire into the crowd this resulted in the deaths of some 28 people and in the following days rioting would break loose in St Louis largely targeting the ethnic German community with a lot of interethnic violence occurring for more about this check out my video on Germans in the United States one of the most important figures in the German American community at the time was France seagull he had also been one of the 48ers and he was a strong supporter of President Abraham Lincoln that's why in 1861 Lincoln appointed him to the rank of Brigadier General and gave him a field command it's fair to say that seagull although he was a great organizer of men and important in bringing Germans to the cause of the Union was not a great General and he would fight in several engagements in 1861 losing almost all of them and that gave him somewhat of a reputation as being an inept General nevertheless in 1862 he was promoted to Major General this was probably a political decision because he was so good in bringing German Americans into the Union cause and having them sign up into regiments he was put in charge of largely ethnic German units and this led to a slogan which was I goes to fight M seagull which basically exemplified this idea that in the German community they often signed up explicitly because seagull was in such a high position and they wanted to serve with fellow German speakers another interesting character who was also a former 48 was KL schz KL schz had come over from the reinland and in 1862 he had enlisted and persuaded Abraham Lincoln to give him a commission as a brigadier general although later he would be promoted again to Major General Carl schz would lead the ex one Corp so the sixth Corp at various battles including the Battle of Chancellorsville which would be somewhat controversial because there is still a disagreement as to the outcome of the battle whether it was the fault of schz or his fellow officer Howard in any case the Union Army and the German units within it broke and ran from the field of battle something that occurred again under his command at the Battle of gettsburg which despite ending up as a union victory in one of the decisive points of the American Civil War still saw the German units under his command break and run not all ethnic Germans who served at the Battle of Chancellorsville would come away with such a bad reputation one of these was huba dilga dilga had been born in the German princely state of Baden and had served in the horse artillery of Bon coming over to the United States to become part of the first battery of the first Ohio light artillery he had experience in Europe and had had good training in artillery unlike many of the other off officers in these kinds of regiments so at the Battle of Chancellorsville while the Infantry was caught completely by surprise by Jackson's steady Advance he managed to limber up his artillery and to rain fire down upon the advancing Confederates stalling the advance for some time and driving the Confederates off the turnpike this had required quite a lot of personal bravery and in 1893 this was recognized by the state and dgo was awarded the Medal of Honor his citation quoted for his guns until the enemy were upon him then with one gun hold in the road by hand he formed the rear guard and kept the enemy at Bay by the rapidity of his fire and was the last man in the retreat this no doubt was a crucial moment in the battle which gave the union some time to form up and it's thought that if he hadn't had done this then the loss of the Union at the Battle of Chancellorsville may have been even greater this and other actions throughout the Civil War would lead to him getting the nickname of leather breaches nevertheless despite the fact that he had fought back and several other Germans and German units had fought with bravery at this battle and at gettsburg the reputation was sealed in 1863 and this actually led to some anti-german rioting particularly in the larger cities of New York because it was perceived that the Germans had behaved poorly at these battles and had broken and run so who were these German units that were being shamed after these battles and more broadly which units were fighting for the union that were largely made up of Germans well most Germans actually served sort of interspersed in units that weren't entirely ethnic German but had many Germans inside them there were some special units that were entirely German however the most famous being the 52nd New York the 9th Ohio the 74th Pennsylvania the 32nd Indiana the 107th Ohio volunteer infantry and the 9th Wisconsin there were many different attitudes that Union Soldiers their comrades had towards these ethnic Germans one thing that often came out was that they were 48ers and so they were more politically motivated perhaps than other soldiers fighting for the Union at the time many German Americans were Avid Republicans and supporters of Abraham Lincoln and so they saw this often times as a political Crusade the liberal values of course with the rights of man and their own struggle for liberalism back in Europe meant that they were largely opposed to the hierarchical south at the same time there were some similar motivations with other immigrant groups that fought in the American Civil War for the union such as many of the Irish who following a successful defeat of the South and a stronger United States hope that they might then influence the political situation back home this is something that many Germans particularly 48ers also hoped thinking that perhaps with United States backing they might be able to implement changes and have a more successful series of revolutions unlike in 1848 the German units were also very much famous for their ability in terms of their discipline and their drill of course the Prussian Army was very famous for this with their Prussian drill and indeed many of those Germans who were serving in units in the Union Army had before been in various armed services of the various German States including in various Prussian Army units too which was a great help for this drill and discipline what's interesting too is that many of their uh compatriots and many of their comrades in the Union Army noted the German troops as often being very Musical and often being those that went singing into battle some of these songs have been preserved like this one which is called I'm going to fight MIT seagull which is a kind of mix masch of German and English sort of in the idea that this was the um German soldiers who were explaining their reasoning for fighting fighting along with France seagull in their broken English it's quite interesting to read the text and have a listen to I'll put a link to that in the description below but anyway that c covers a little bit of the German contribution to the Union Army but let's take a look at some of those Germans that ended up fighting for the Confederates now as I already mentioned because of the nature and area in which German immigrants settled in the United States the vast vast majority of Germans would go on to fight for the Union in fact this isn't just a matter of geography but also a matter of the kind of ideology with many Germans being very fervently abolitionist anti-slavery and anti-oppression of any kind because of their experiences in Europe in the 1848 revolutions however there were some areas in the South where Germans did settle and did play a role for example Texas had a large German speaking community and slightly further north in the disputed Missouri area there were also Germans most of the Germans that would end up making a name for themselves fighting for the South however would be those that actually came specifically from Germany at the start of the Civil War to take part in the fighting it's worth noting then that the type of men that signed up from German backgrounds to fight for the Confederacy was often quite different to those fighting for the union and certainly the most famous accounts are those adventurers often that came over from Prussia to fight in the Cavalry members of the old aristocracy who you might describe as Soldiers of Fortune This is a description of what one of them looked like in the frey this is of Baron von maso who was described in 1861 as having a long Redline Cape was thrown back from his shoulders exposing his glittering uniform from his hat waved a big ostrich plume and he dashed into the frey with an old German saber flashing in the light one exception to this is Johan Andreas Vagner who would immigrate to South Carolina and found the aptly named town of Valhalla in South Carolina interesting to note about Johan Andreas Vagner is that after living in the United States for several years he changed his first name to John to make it sound more American you'll note that this is similar to what several Dutch soldiers did after fighting for the Union forces uh in the American Civil War in that they made their Dutch names sound more Americanized because of this shared experience now Vaga would go on to lead the first South Carolina artillery which is important because they took part in the very first engagement of the American Civil War at the uh taking of Fort Suter by Southern troops following the Civil War he would be made a brigadier general and in 1871 he would become the mayor of Charles toown another German was adulfos hman who had come from serving in the Prussian Army he had fought for several different armies following this in 1846 he made his way to the United States to fight on the American side in the Mexican American War in 1862 he enlisted to fight for the Confederates Ian joined with the provisional Army of Tennessee and would fight under Brigadier General Foster fighting in the western campaign at the Battle of Fort Henry he would however be wounded and taken prisoner by Union forces and he would be intered in a prisoner of war camp in the north where he became Gravely ill and would die several months later being released just before his death a fellow Prussian and perhaps the most famous German to fight on the side of the Confederacy was Heros Von borka Von borka who had been born in the Rin Province immigrated to the United States after after a long and distinguished career in the Prussian military serving first in the Prussian Cavalry in the god kuras later on he would also fight in the second war of Italian Independence again with the Cavalry in 1862 he crossed over and ran the union blockade to join Confederate forces and was assigned to fight under the Cavalry commander GB Stewart he became known by the nickname of the giant in Gray partially because he stood around 6 foot five in height and had a huge Cavalry sword or singan sword which made him famous on the battlefield he soon impressed his commanding officers GB Stewart writing about his Prussian officer that Captain Heros v borka a Prussian Cavalry officer who lately ran the blockade assigned Me by The Honorable Secretary of War joined in the charge of the first Squadron in Gallant style and subsequently by his energy skill and activity won the praise and admiration of all interestingly enough this describes his actions at the Battle of Chancellorsville so he stood on the other side where the union fighting German troops were seen to have done poorly this Prussian officer was seen to have done well he would be wounded in action later in the war at the Battle of middleberg a few months after having been made a major in 1863 and he would be out of action until 1864 when he would resume his service fighting under Jeb Stewart until his Commander's death at the Battle of yellow Tavern following the war he would return to Europe and return to the Prussian Cavalry fighting with distinction in the ostr Prussian War starting the year after the end of the American Civil War in 1866 the last of these Germans I'd like to look at is Augustus Buel who himself had a very long and distinguished military career having taken him across the world before fighting in the American Civil War despite being a Prussian he had actually been educated in the French way of fighting at the French military academy in Paris he then signed up to the French Foreign Legion where he fought during the carlist wars in the monarchic conflicts there following this he would take a sabatical over in the Ottoman Empire training ottoman soldiers for alipasha however because he was a Christian the highest rank he could attain there was Colonel and so he left again this time to the United States to sign up to fight during the Mexican American War he briefly returned to Europe in the 1850s to fight in the Crimean War I couldn't find on which side he was fighting but I think he was probably fighting against his former Masters against the Ottomans but he would return to the United States in 1861 where he joined the Texas militia eventually he would end up leading the first Texas Cavalry Regiment taking them into battle where in 1864 during the Battle of Pleasant Hill he would be mortally wounded and die 4 days later in nearby town in Louisiana several decades after his death there was supposed to be a county in Texas named buul County after him but this never materialized and you can see where this County would have been if this had been brought forward so for most Germans fighting for the Confederacy the most famous ones are these Aristocrats that came over particularly from areas of Prussia to fight in the Cavalry there were of course others who had immigrated certainly to places like Texas and some other smaller German communities but generally their stories are less wellknown and they didn't really serve in ethnic German units they served interspersed in other units too however there were quite a lot of Germans living in the South who ideologically opposed the South's Mission this was particularly true for those Germans living in Texas the Texas Germans who several decades earlier had created a significant community in different parts of the state as mentioned because of their ideological background they were often opposed to the South this meant that they were largely distrusted and many in the South thought they may form a kind of fifth column this came to a head in 186 62 when the Confederacy needed to draft men and several Texas Germans decided to try to escape with their people to Mexico across the border they made out across the desert but then they were caught up by a Confederate militia and depending on which version of what happens next either the noesis massacre or the noesis battle took place in any case only two of the Confederate militi men would be killed whereas anywhere from 37 to 30 to9 of the Texas Germans who were attempting to flee were killed in the ensuing firefight and the ensuing Pursuit across the desert for several days they were Remembered in the north as being Martyrs for the union cause as they had resisted joining the southern Army for a cause they disagreed with and actually those that did get away several of those would go on to form and join the Texas Cavalry that would fight on the union side following the union seizure of New Orleans in Louisiana a monument was actually res erected for the dead or erected rather they didn't sort of make a zombie army out of the Dead um for those who had been killed in the noesis battle called the toy de Union so looking at the the loyalty to the union it might also be interesting to note the sort of Prussian role in fighting techniques and how prussians were engaged with the American Civil War as a way to learn lessons of warfare the mlen saddle which was developed uh by General mlen was based on the Prussian saddle that was used by their Cavalry and indeed the South would also go on to have a slightly uh different version of the saddle that they used the prussians were actively interested in following the developments of the American Civil War and sent ustus shet as a specific correspondent and observer of the war so that they could learn particular lessons about Modern Warfare in the United States much has been made about what the prussians actually thought of the American Civil War and there is a quote that's attributed to helmet Von malka one of these very important generals Prussian generals that said of the American Civil War in general but particularly about Sherman's campaign uh in Georgia that it was like two armed mobs chasing each other around the country and allegedly he also called Sherman an ass this has been brought into question however and Sherman doesn't seem to think that mka actually said this saying later on M was never fool enough to say that I have seen m in person I did not presume to ask him the question because I did not presume he was such an ass to say that the Prussian Army learned many a lesson and profited from them by our war and their officers were prompt to acknowledge it well Sherman doesn't think that mka said this and indeed I haven't been able to track down any kind of accurate quote of mulas when he would have said this it does seem that most of the Prussian observers of the American Civil War weren't too impressed with what they saw mean there's a source attributed to Baron V maso who I mentioned mentioned at the beginning with his ostrich feather plume riding off into battle about the difference between Prussian and American tactics he so that is M musel was riding by the side of Captain William Chapman on a midnight raid Into the Heart of a Cavalry camp near Fairfax Courthouse which was surrounded by thousands of Union soldiers in a whisper Chapman explained to the baron what they were doing and how to do it artistically incidentally stressing the boldness and danger the baron proved an app pupil but after a Time whisper quietly to Chapman this isn't fighting this is horse stealing this is the case that from 1864 the prussians would win the Dano Prussian war in 1866 they would defeat the austrians in the austo Prussian war and in 1871 they would defeat the French in the Franco Prussian War resulting in the creation of a German Empire these were so-called short Wars not the grinding kind of campaigns that were seen in the American Civil War where towards the end Union thrusts were made into Confederate territory in an attempt to destroy the means of Waging War in this case it was Army against army with short decisive encounters that sealed the deal there's an interesting PhD project that's been done about this which I'll link in the description below it's open access to read which is why the German states didn't actually think too highly of the American Civil War and why they didn't go on to use certain lessons that had been learned in the American Civil War in their own military strategic planning in the end of his pH PhD the Brigadier General KY Brinkman concludes the US Civil War at its time produced a number of lessons which the Germans did not recognize many of these lessons the German Army had to learn through its own experience costing valuable lives and eventually leading to a fatal War World War I anyway I thought that was more than enough to finish off this video about Germans in the American Civil War so let me know in the comments below did you enjoy this video did you already know about some of the characters that I mentioned in this video and what they got up to in the American Civil War let me know what other uh Nations nationalities groups would you like me to look at during the American Civil War perhaps something on uh various Native American groups Nations why they joined one side or the other or what their role was would be interesting or maybe some more about the history of various other linguistic communities in the United States still got to return to looking at some of the Fran speaking areas in the United States which I started uh with frand Wisconsin so let me know if you'd like to see anything about that anyway any interesting information on this topic in the description below I always try and read the comments so I'd be interested to see what you have anyway until the next time I have been Hilbert and this has been the history Alfie dis