Blenker's German Division
1st Brigade: (Stahel) 8th, 39th, 45th N.Y., 27th Penn. 2nd Brigade: (Steinwehr) 29th, 54th, 68th N.Y., 73rd Penn. 3rd Brigade: (Bohlen) 41st, 58th N.Y., 74th, 75th Penn., 4th N.Y. Cavalry with Schirmer's, Wiedrich's, Sturmfels' Artillery batteries.
The division was assigned to Fremont's corps in the Mountain department and the Shenandoah Valley. Command passed to Carl Schurtz. The division under Schurz was incorporated into Franz Sigel's corps of Pope's Army of Virginia. In September of 1862, shortly before Antietam, the army corps was reorganized and the German division now mixed with American regiments became the IX Corps of the Army of the Potomac, initially under Sigel, then entrusted to Oliver O. Howard just before the battle of Chancellorsville. Transferred to the Western army, the corps merged with the XII Corps to form the XX Corps in April 1864. The XX Corps served under Sherman in the West until the end of the war. By the time of the consolidation the German character of any unit larger than a regiment had been lost through field losses, muster out, conscripts and an admixture of Americans.
One unique regiment forming an original part of the Blenker division is noteworthy. The "Garibaldi Guards" (the 39th New York Volunteer Infantry) was composed mainly of Italians and Germans, but with a unique admixture of men included real Zouaves from Algiers, foreign legionnaires, Cossacks, Indian Sepoys, Turks, Slavs, Swiss, Spaniards and Austrians. Its commander, Colonel D'Utassy, was a Hungarian who had been a circus trick rider. He proved to be a rogue, however, later spending time in prison. The unit was uniformed in the distinctive green and plumes of the Italian Bersaglieri -- light Infantry.
On the Southern side, surely one of the most interesting German figures was JEB Stuart's aide, Major Johann August Heinrich Heros Von Borcke. A tall, handsome blond young man in the German ideal, Von Borcke came from an old Prussian military family of the titled nobility. Serving in the Second Brandenburg Regiment of Dragoons at the time the Civil War began, either from boredom with garrison duty or due to an argument with his father, young Heros departed for the Confederacy, landing in Charleston, South Carolina, in May 1862. Introduced to JEB Stuart by Confederate Secretary of War George Randolph, Von Borcke quickly became a dear friend of the equally young Confederate cavalier, and from then on the Prussian was rarely far from Stuart's side. Despite a regrettable tendency to ascribe to himself a number of exploits which were actually the actions of others, Von Borcke's writings about his year on Stuart's staff and subsequent adventures in Virginia following his near-fatal wounding in June 1863 are entertaining and fill in a number of historical gaps. He was beloved and admired by his Confederate comrades.
Von Borcke returned to Prussia and served his native land in a war with Austria in 1866; to his amusement and pleasure, the famous Austrian military genius Helmuth von Moltke greeted him with the words, "Are you not the American?" Forced to an early retirement in 1867 due to a Yankee bullet he still carried in his lung, Von Borcke married and had three sons. When he inherited a castle and estate at Giesenbrugge, it was his delight to fly the Confederate flag from its battlements. He died in 1895, reminiscing fondly about his days as a Confederate right up to the end.
Von Borcke returned to Prussia and served his native land in a war with Austria in 1866; to his amusement and pleasure, the famous Austrian military genius Helmuth von Moltke greeted him with the words, "Are you not the American?" Forced to an early retirement in 1867 due to a Yankee bullet he still carried in his lung, Von Borcke married and had three sons. When he inherited a castle and estate at Giesenbrugge, it was his delight to fly the Confederate flag from its battlements. He died in 1895, reminiscing fondly about his days as a Confederate right up to the end.
French-Americans in the Civil War
There have been settlers of French extraction in North America since the beginning of white colonization. Lured by the promise of life in the New World, however, French immigrants continued to arrive in America over many years; between the census of 1850 and that of 1860, the number of French arriving doubled to just over 100,000. Other than Canada, where the majority of French settlers had gone to live in the early days, it is difficult to pinpoint any one area of the United States where the newcomers headed-with the dramatic exception of Louisiana. So many French settled there that today the culture is indelibly marked by the presence of their language and other ethnic preferences.
The French left quite a presence on the Civil War, too. The colorful, seemingly bizarre uniforms of Zouave units, in both the Confederate and Union armies, can be traced directly back to the garb of French soldiers in Algiers, adapted to that hot climate. Striped or red baggy trousers, bright waistcoats, cropped jackets with braided trim, fez-style hats, and sashes tied dramatically about the waist were, to say the least, unusual sights on Civil War battlefields-but woe be to the soldier who made fun of a Zouave comrade, for they were numbered among some of the fiercest fighting units. The Louisiana Tigers of the Confederate Army and the New York Fire Zouaves of the Union are but two of those fabled regiments, and their fame is spread across the history of the war.
Famous French Confederates included Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. Born in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, on May 28, 1818, he was the number two graduate of the West Point Class of 1838, and was a staff officer for Winfield Scott during the Mexican War, where he was a comrade of Robert E. Lee and George Meade. In January 1861, Beauregard was appointed superintendent of West Point-only to be relieved a mere few days later because of his Confederate sympathies. Beauregard can be said to have served as the Confederacy's midwife, bringing the infant nation into the world: he commanded the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861, then helped Joseph E. Johnston defeat the Federals in the Battle of First Manassas or First Bull Run). There is no theater of the war in which Beauregard did not fight; in addition to Virginia, he was also prominent in the West, taking command of the Army of Tennessee when Albert Sidney Johnston was killed at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. He assisted in the defense of Richmond in May 1864, and was again at Joe Johnston's side at the end in North Carolina. His fiery Creole temperament made him occasionally difficult to get along with, and he was in almost constant disagreement with President Jefferson Davis. But few others can be said to have had as much effect on the Confederacy's military legend, with the possible exception of Robert E. Lee.
Camille Armand Jules Marie, Prince de Polignac, was another colorful Confederate Frenchman-this time a true native of the old soil. Born in Seine-et-Oise, France, in 1832, Polignac had served gallantly in the French army in the Crimean War; in Central America at the outbreak of the war in America, Polignac offered his sword to the Confederate cause and served it well. He was a staff officer for Beauregard, and later saw service in Louisiana with General Richard Taylor; near the end of the war he became involved in a Confederate bid to win French support for their flagging cause.
Polignac ran the blockade in March 1865; he was in Spain, trying to secure passage to France, when news of Lee's surrender reached him. He was the last man holding the rank of Confederate major general to die, passing on in November 1913.
The Union, too, had their colorful Frenchmen. Prince Jerome Bonaparte served as an officer in the Federal forces, volunteering his services; one of the most important and gentlemanly services he rendered ' in addition to his bravery and sense of honor, was to leave behind a record in watercolors of the places and people with whom he served. It was considered a gentleman's pastime and hobby to be able to paint amusing little pictures for one's friends; Bonaparte's pictures give an accurate and discriminating view of life in the Union army from the brush of a royal admirer.
There have been settlers of French extraction in North America since the beginning of white colonization. Lured by the promise of life in the New World, however, French immigrants continued to arrive in America over many years; between the census of 1850 and that of 1860, the number of French arriving doubled to just over 100,000. Other than Canada, where the majority of French settlers had gone to live in the early days, it is difficult to pinpoint any one area of the United States where the newcomers headed-with the dramatic exception of Louisiana. So many French settled there that today the culture is indelibly marked by the presence of their language and other ethnic preferences.
The French left quite a presence on the Civil War, too. The colorful, seemingly bizarre uniforms of Zouave units, in both the Confederate and Union armies, can be traced directly back to the garb of French soldiers in Algiers, adapted to that hot climate. Striped or red baggy trousers, bright waistcoats, cropped jackets with braided trim, fez-style hats, and sashes tied dramatically about the waist were, to say the least, unusual sights on Civil War battlefields-but woe be to the soldier who made fun of a Zouave comrade, for they were numbered among some of the fiercest fighting units. The Louisiana Tigers of the Confederate Army and the New York Fire Zouaves of the Union are but two of those fabled regiments, and their fame is spread across the history of the war.
Famous French Confederates included Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. Born in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, on May 28, 1818, he was the number two graduate of the West Point Class of 1838, and was a staff officer for Winfield Scott during the Mexican War, where he was a comrade of Robert E. Lee and George Meade. In January 1861, Beauregard was appointed superintendent of West Point-only to be relieved a mere few days later because of his Confederate sympathies. Beauregard can be said to have served as the Confederacy's midwife, bringing the infant nation into the world: he commanded the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861, then helped Joseph E. Johnston defeat the Federals in the Battle of First Manassas or First Bull Run). There is no theater of the war in which Beauregard did not fight; in addition to Virginia, he was also prominent in the West, taking command of the Army of Tennessee when Albert Sidney Johnston was killed at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. He assisted in the defense of Richmond in May 1864, and was again at Joe Johnston's side at the end in North Carolina. His fiery Creole temperament made him occasionally difficult to get along with, and he was in almost constant disagreement with President Jefferson Davis. But few others can be said to have had as much effect on the Confederacy's military legend, with the possible exception of Robert E. Lee.
Camille Armand Jules Marie, Prince de Polignac, was another colorful Confederate Frenchman-this time a true native of the old soil. Born in Seine-et-Oise, France, in 1832, Polignac had served gallantly in the French army in the Crimean War; in Central America at the outbreak of the war in America, Polignac offered his sword to the Confederate cause and served it well. He was a staff officer for Beauregard, and later saw service in Louisiana with General Richard Taylor; near the end of the war he became involved in a Confederate bid to win French support for their flagging cause.
Polignac ran the blockade in March 1865; he was in Spain, trying to secure passage to France, when news of Lee's surrender reached him. He was the last man holding the rank of Confederate major general to die, passing on in November 1913.
The Union, too, had their colorful Frenchmen. Prince Jerome Bonaparte served as an officer in the Federal forces, volunteering his services; one of the most important and gentlemanly services he rendered ' in addition to his bravery and sense of honor, was to leave behind a record in watercolors of the places and people with whom he served. It was considered a gentleman's pastime and hobby to be able to paint amusing little pictures for one's friends; Bonaparte's pictures give an accurate and discriminating view of life in the Union army from the brush of a royal admirer.
Italian-Americans in the Civil War
Between the Census of 1850 and the Census of 1860, the number of Italians emigrating to America jumped by 7,000, so that on the eve of the Civil War just over 11,000 Americans listed themselves as having been born in Italy. Many of them came to escape from stifling poverty, only to find it pursued them to the crowded cities of the East Coast of the United States; still others came to find freedom from the oppression of the Roman Catholic Church, which was trying to enforce orthodoxy upon its believers. Most Italians were simply looking for peace, for their homeland was torn by wars of its own.
New York City was the destination of the majority of Italian immigrants. There, they found many of their own people already established; the language was familiar and, despite the opposition of the Catholic Church in America, the old religious practices were still being observed. They had their own schools, when they could afford them, and their own newspapers; Francesco Secchi de Casale, a political activist who escaped from Italian authorities just in time, found refuge in New York and funded the publication of L'Europee-Americano, the first periodical to be printed both in English and Italian, the purpose of which was to keep people informed of events in Italy and Europe-and to make written attacks on the Church authorities, which got Casale in trouble. He felt so strongly about keeping his people informed, however, that when the first publication failed, he pawned his watch and some of his wife's jewelry to fund what is said to be the first important Italian language weekly published in the United States, L'Eco d'Italia, which remained in circulation until the end of the century.
Italians in New York had to deal with a number of social issues, including poor housing and schools, medical difficulties, and poverty. Again, their hero was Casale; he raised money to start an evening school for Italians in the Five Points slum, seeing to it the children were taught to read, write, do mathematics, and study the history of Italy and America. Casale failed to get widespread backing for a project dear to his heart, however; he very much wanted to find a way to move Italian immigrants out to the farmlands beyond the cities, since farming was what they had done in the Old Country. When he could not get the governments of Italy or the United States to back his plans, he turned to private businesses; finally by the 1880s Italian farmers were back on the land in a sense, when American businessman Charles Landis donated land near Vineland, New Jersey, to start a farming cooperative.
Italian involvement in the Civil War was intense and passionate. Their militant hero back home, Giuseppe Garibaldi, was their inspiration; his republican views led many Italians to back the Union cause, though they were represented in the Southern armies as well. Francesco Casale spearheaded the formation of an Italian Legion, and later the founding of the Italian Garibaldi Guard, and was joined by many like-minded Italians: Luigi Tinelli, a former consul to Portugal and an industrialist, had experience as a militia commander; Francesco Spinola recruited four regiments in New York, and was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to be their general; and Count Luigi Palma di Cesnola, a veteran of the Crimean War, established a military academy in New York City, where many young Italians learned the art of war and later served in the Union army. Their stories are fascinating and colorful. Cesnola, for instance, was left wounded and pinned under his horse after fighting JEB Stuart's cavalry at Aldie, Virginia, in June 1863; while a prisoner of war, he agitated for better treatment for prisoners, to the point that his captors put him in charge of the prison commissary at Belle Isle. Spinola, finding his men of the Spinola Empire Brigade outnumbered six to one in a battle, ordered them to fix bayonets-and they charged, scattering the amazed Southerners before them in disorder.
The Garibaldi Guard
The Garibaldi Guard was the nickname of the 39th New York Infantry, a regiment of Italian-Americans recruited mostly from New York City under the auspices of Francesco Casale and other Italian leaders in the North. Most of the members of this regiment were men who had fought under Giuseppe Garibaldi, the freedom fighter and republican agitator; they wore a distinctively styled red shirt as part of their uniform to show their connection to their countryman, whose partisans had worn such a shirt in Italy. Other Italian nationals joined the guard as well, however, out of a feeling that the Union's cause matched their own ideals of freedom and equal justice. They also viewed the Northern ideology as closely- allied with the aims of Garibaldi and felt such alliance lent credence to the great patriot's ideas, since they were clearly being adopted by other nations.
Between the Census of 1850 and the Census of 1860, the number of Italians emigrating to America jumped by 7,000, so that on the eve of the Civil War just over 11,000 Americans listed themselves as having been born in Italy. Many of them came to escape from stifling poverty, only to find it pursued them to the crowded cities of the East Coast of the United States; still others came to find freedom from the oppression of the Roman Catholic Church, which was trying to enforce orthodoxy upon its believers. Most Italians were simply looking for peace, for their homeland was torn by wars of its own.
New York City was the destination of the majority of Italian immigrants. There, they found many of their own people already established; the language was familiar and, despite the opposition of the Catholic Church in America, the old religious practices were still being observed. They had their own schools, when they could afford them, and their own newspapers; Francesco Secchi de Casale, a political activist who escaped from Italian authorities just in time, found refuge in New York and funded the publication of L'Europee-Americano, the first periodical to be printed both in English and Italian, the purpose of which was to keep people informed of events in Italy and Europe-and to make written attacks on the Church authorities, which got Casale in trouble. He felt so strongly about keeping his people informed, however, that when the first publication failed, he pawned his watch and some of his wife's jewelry to fund what is said to be the first important Italian language weekly published in the United States, L'Eco d'Italia, which remained in circulation until the end of the century.
Italians in New York had to deal with a number of social issues, including poor housing and schools, medical difficulties, and poverty. Again, their hero was Casale; he raised money to start an evening school for Italians in the Five Points slum, seeing to it the children were taught to read, write, do mathematics, and study the history of Italy and America. Casale failed to get widespread backing for a project dear to his heart, however; he very much wanted to find a way to move Italian immigrants out to the farmlands beyond the cities, since farming was what they had done in the Old Country. When he could not get the governments of Italy or the United States to back his plans, he turned to private businesses; finally by the 1880s Italian farmers were back on the land in a sense, when American businessman Charles Landis donated land near Vineland, New Jersey, to start a farming cooperative.
Italian involvement in the Civil War was intense and passionate. Their militant hero back home, Giuseppe Garibaldi, was their inspiration; his republican views led many Italians to back the Union cause, though they were represented in the Southern armies as well. Francesco Casale spearheaded the formation of an Italian Legion, and later the founding of the Italian Garibaldi Guard, and was joined by many like-minded Italians: Luigi Tinelli, a former consul to Portugal and an industrialist, had experience as a militia commander; Francesco Spinola recruited four regiments in New York, and was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to be their general; and Count Luigi Palma di Cesnola, a veteran of the Crimean War, established a military academy in New York City, where many young Italians learned the art of war and later served in the Union army. Their stories are fascinating and colorful. Cesnola, for instance, was left wounded and pinned under his horse after fighting JEB Stuart's cavalry at Aldie, Virginia, in June 1863; while a prisoner of war, he agitated for better treatment for prisoners, to the point that his captors put him in charge of the prison commissary at Belle Isle. Spinola, finding his men of the Spinola Empire Brigade outnumbered six to one in a battle, ordered them to fix bayonets-and they charged, scattering the amazed Southerners before them in disorder.
The Garibaldi Guard
The Garibaldi Guard was the nickname of the 39th New York Infantry, a regiment of Italian-Americans recruited mostly from New York City under the auspices of Francesco Casale and other Italian leaders in the North. Most of the members of this regiment were men who had fought under Giuseppe Garibaldi, the freedom fighter and republican agitator; they wore a distinctively styled red shirt as part of their uniform to show their connection to their countryman, whose partisans had worn such a shirt in Italy. Other Italian nationals joined the guard as well, however, out of a feeling that the Union's cause matched their own ideals of freedom and equal justice. They also viewed the Northern ideology as closely- allied with the aims of Garibaldi and felt such alliance lent credence to the great patriot's ideas, since they were clearly being adopted by other nations.
Jewish-Americans in the Civil War
Most Jews living in the United States in the years preceding the Civil War came from Western Europe, perhaps the bulk of them from Germany. They brought with them a rich heritage in religion, art, folklore, and food. For the first time in their long history, the Jews found themselves in a land where they were not required to live in separate sections of the city (known as ghettos in Europe), or be forced to wear distinctive clothing to mark them as different. They were treated on an equal footing with their fellow immigrants and were some of the first white settlers to arrive in the New World. They founded synagogues for their worship, filling them with the rich religious treasures so carefully brought from their homelands; they built schools, or their children attended local schools and academies as any other children did.
Some of the oldest synagogues in North America were founded in the South, in coastal cities such as Alexandria, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina. Whether farmers, businessmen, politicians, or religious leaders, the Jews were determined not to lose the heritage they had maintained over so many difficult centuries. During the Civil War, Jewish men fought in both the armies of the North and of the South, and the women and children they left behind raised money, tended the sick and wounded, and worked for the relief of widows and orphans on both sides.
Perhaps the most prominent Jewish-American in the Civil War period was Judah R. Benjamin. Born on the island of St. Croix while his parents were attempting to get through a British blockade to emigrate to New Orleans in August 1811, Benjamin was a U.S. senator from Louisiana at the beginning of the Civil War; he had the interesting honor of having almost duelled then-Senator Jefferson Davis, later President of the Confederacy, owing to some argument between them. Benjamin believed in the legality of slavery, which led Senator Wade of Ohio to comment that Benjamin was a "Hebrew with Egyptian principles." Upon Louisiana's secession, Benjamin and his fellow senator (who had also been his law partner) James Slidell withdrew from the U.S. Senate on February 4, 186 1. Benjamin was named the first attorney general of the provisional government of the Confederate States, and by late summer he had replaced the Secretary of War, Leroy Walker. Accused of incompetence, Benjamin resigned in anger-and was immediately given the post of Secretary of State, which he held until the collapse of his government in 1865. Known as the "Brains of the Confederacy," Benjamin's tireless intellect led him to absorb the duties left undone by other sections of the administration; Jefferson Davis relied on him heavily.
One of the darkest tales of Jews during the Civil War bespeaks the prejudice this religious and ethnic group has historically faced. On December 17, 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant issued an order from his headquarters in Holly Springs, Mississippi, ordering all Jews out of the area over which he had command. Known as General Order No. 11, it read, in part as follows:
The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the department within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order.
Ordered by General Henry Halleck and President Abraham Lincoln to rescind the order on January 4, 1863, Grant immediately obeyed; but no apologies were forthcoming, and in any case would not have been accepted. Grant was attempting to expel from the area a group of illegal speculators who were trying to take advantage of his soldiers, and he chose to target the local Jews as the cause of that speculation. No Jews were actually sent away, but it was an embarrassing and humiliating moment the Jewish community never forgot, a stain upon their freedom and equality in the New World.
Most Jews living in the United States in the years preceding the Civil War came from Western Europe, perhaps the bulk of them from Germany. They brought with them a rich heritage in religion, art, folklore, and food. For the first time in their long history, the Jews found themselves in a land where they were not required to live in separate sections of the city (known as ghettos in Europe), or be forced to wear distinctive clothing to mark them as different. They were treated on an equal footing with their fellow immigrants and were some of the first white settlers to arrive in the New World. They founded synagogues for their worship, filling them with the rich religious treasures so carefully brought from their homelands; they built schools, or their children attended local schools and academies as any other children did.
Some of the oldest synagogues in North America were founded in the South, in coastal cities such as Alexandria, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina. Whether farmers, businessmen, politicians, or religious leaders, the Jews were determined not to lose the heritage they had maintained over so many difficult centuries. During the Civil War, Jewish men fought in both the armies of the North and of the South, and the women and children they left behind raised money, tended the sick and wounded, and worked for the relief of widows and orphans on both sides.
Perhaps the most prominent Jewish-American in the Civil War period was Judah R. Benjamin. Born on the island of St. Croix while his parents were attempting to get through a British blockade to emigrate to New Orleans in August 1811, Benjamin was a U.S. senator from Louisiana at the beginning of the Civil War; he had the interesting honor of having almost duelled then-Senator Jefferson Davis, later President of the Confederacy, owing to some argument between them. Benjamin believed in the legality of slavery, which led Senator Wade of Ohio to comment that Benjamin was a "Hebrew with Egyptian principles." Upon Louisiana's secession, Benjamin and his fellow senator (who had also been his law partner) James Slidell withdrew from the U.S. Senate on February 4, 186 1. Benjamin was named the first attorney general of the provisional government of the Confederate States, and by late summer he had replaced the Secretary of War, Leroy Walker. Accused of incompetence, Benjamin resigned in anger-and was immediately given the post of Secretary of State, which he held until the collapse of his government in 1865. Known as the "Brains of the Confederacy," Benjamin's tireless intellect led him to absorb the duties left undone by other sections of the administration; Jefferson Davis relied on him heavily.
One of the darkest tales of Jews during the Civil War bespeaks the prejudice this religious and ethnic group has historically faced. On December 17, 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant issued an order from his headquarters in Holly Springs, Mississippi, ordering all Jews out of the area over which he had command. Known as General Order No. 11, it read, in part as follows:
The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the department within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order.
Ordered by General Henry Halleck and President Abraham Lincoln to rescind the order on January 4, 1863, Grant immediately obeyed; but no apologies were forthcoming, and in any case would not have been accepted. Grant was attempting to expel from the area a group of illegal speculators who were trying to take advantage of his soldiers, and he chose to target the local Jews as the cause of that speculation. No Jews were actually sent away, but it was an embarrassing and humiliating moment the Jewish community never forgot, a stain upon their freedom and equality in the New World.
Would y'all like to know more...I can post pictures of some places here in SC...I am close to savannah, Charleston etc......One of the best Civil War Museums I have seen is in Charleston, Daughters of the Confederacy Building, They have Ungodly research materials, actual flags, cannons etc....very worth the 5.00 donation to go in
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