Chancellorsville and the Germans: Nativism, Ethnicity, and Civil War Memory

Introduction

Introduction General after Union general appeared before the stern-faced and forthright politicians comprising the powerful Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War and nervously took their seat, not knowing if they would suddenly find their careers at an end. These were some of the most important men in the Federal army: Sickles, Pleasonton, Birney, Warren, Hancock, Butterfield, Devens—even Joseph Hooker himself. Led by Republican Senators Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio and Zachariah Chandler of Michigan, the Committee was bent on finding a scapegoat for the miscarried Chancellorsville campaign of the past spring. Someone had to officially take the fall for the disaster that befell the Union Army of the Potomac, then led by Major General Joseph Hooker. There were a plethora of candidates to choose from: Brigadier General Charles Devens, former commander of the Eleventh Corps’ First Division; Major General Carl Schurz, then in charge of the Third Division; Major General Oliver O. Howard, commander of the Eleventh Corps; and even Hooker himself. But no single man would end up being blamed for the defeat in the Virginia wilderness. Instead, an entire corps would be, and by proxy, an entire ethnic group. The questions from the committee members came fast and furious, and inbetween self-glorifying or exculpating rhetoric uttered by the various generals, a common theme quickly developed. Major General Dan Sickles thought the Eleventh Corps ‘‘might have fought very well; yet very few in the army believed it would.’’ Major General Winfield Scott Hancock claimed that the Confederate attack ‘‘overthrew the 11th Corps almost immediately. I have no doubt that proper precautions had not been taken.’’ Major General Daniel Butterfield testified , ‘‘several officers of rank in the army’’ urged Hooker to break up the Eleventh Corps after the battle. Benjamin Wade asked Major General Alfred Pleasonton, ‘‘Can you tell what produced the panic in the 11th Corps?’’ Response: ‘‘The combined effect upon their imagination of the sound of the musketry and the increasing yells of the rebels, and their increasing artillery fire. . . . I would have preferred to have sent the 11th Corps to Spotsylvania Court House. That was an open country there, and Europeans are accustomed to an open country; they will fight better in an open country than in the woods.’’ PAGE 1 ................. 16469$ INTR 05-07-07 14:32:25 PS 2 Chancellorsville and the Germans Question: ‘‘This 11th corps being principally foreigners?’’ Answer: ‘‘Yes, sir; they were in circumstances disadvantageous to themselves.’’ To Major General David B. Birney: ‘‘Do you know the cause of the giving way of the 11th corps, and whether it made any reasonable resistance?’’ Response: ‘‘I think the 11th corps, through disregard of rules of warfare, had its pickets too close to the main body, and was surprised by the sudden massed attack of the enemy on its right flank and rear, and fled in instant confusion. Portions of it may have fought, but the flight, stampede of artillery, transportation , officers and men, has been described to me, by officers who saw it, as disgraceful in the extreme.’’ In reply to a later question: ‘‘The 11th corps suffered no loss as it fled, except in prisoners.’’ To Major General Gouvernor K. Warren: ‘‘The fact was that [the Eleventh Corps] made no resistance to speak of?’’ Response: ‘‘Not where I was, they did not. It began, probably, on the right of the line, but there was no resistance made to speak of by their infantry at all.’’ Hooker then testified, ‘‘The 11th corps had been completely surprised and disgracefully routed. . . . No disposition had been made to receive an attack, and there were no pickets on the alert to advise of the approach of an enemy. I only know that my instructions were utterly and criminally disregarded.’’ The questions and answers recorded during the Joint Committee’s investigation reflected the many errors in fact, misconceptions and prejudices that arose in the aftermath of the Chancellorsville campaign. They also indicated that a scapegoat had already been found. Those questioned could rest easy, especially Joseph Hooker. The Eleventh Corps, believed to contain a majority of Germanborn troops, remained the fall guy. It had been presumed the guilty party from the beginning. Carl Schurz had applied to testify before the Committee, but his request was turned down. He feared ‘‘that there was in all the official circles concerned, a powerful influence systematically seeking to prevent the disclosure of the truth.’’ Indeed, someone had to be blamed, and ‘‘the ‘Dutch corps’, which had few...