Germans in the Civil War: The Letters They Wrote Home

Glossary

GLOSSARY Banks, Nathaniel P. (1816- -94): Without any military training when appointed a major general of volunteers by President Lincoln in January 1861, Banks had little success as a commander, but as an influential politician at the state and national levels he contributed considerably in terms of money, recruiting , and beating the drum for the Union cause. Blair, Francis P., Jr. (1821- -75): A lawyer and politician in St. Louis, Blair was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1856 as a Free Soil candidate with strong German support. Although a slave owner, he opposed the expansion of slavery and played an important role, with the cooperation of local Germans, in keeping Missouri in the Union. He became one of the more competent ‘‘political generals.’’ Blenker, Ludwig (Louis) (1812- -63): Born inWorms, Hesse, Blenker fled Germany due to his involvement in the 1848 revolution and settled in New York as a farmer. His reputation as a revolutionary helped him raise a German American regiment under his command (8th New York Infantry). In August 1861 he was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers, and he commanded a brigade and then a division at the first battle of Manassas. His headquarters was best known for its pomp and luxury. After the battle of Cross Keys, he received his honorable discharge and died six months later. Butler, Benjamin F. (1818- -93): A successful Boston lawyer, Butler served as a Democrat in the Massachusetts state legislature. As a delegate to the Democratic national convention in 1860 he voted for Jefferson Davis and John C. Breckinridge, but in the course of the war he became a Republican. Five days after the fall of Fort Sumter, his 8th Massachusetts Infantry relieved the almost defenseless capital city of Washington, and shortly thereafter, he was the first to receive the rank of major general of volunteers. From May to December 1862 he was military governor of New Orleans. As an administrator he was quite effective, if highly controversial: he and his family and friends made large amounts of money. Despite a series of failures as a commander, he continued to serve in the east until January 1865. Chancellorsville, Virginia, battle of (May 1- -6, 1863): General Joseph Hooker, commander of the Army of the Potomac (some 134,000 strong), halted his advance at Chancellorsville to wait and see whether the 482 Glossary Confederate Army of Northern Virginia (a force of 61,000 led by General Robert E. Lee) would advance or withdraw. In a daring maneuver, Lee left only 15,000 men to confront Hooker’s main force and sent 30,000 men under ‘‘Stonewall’’ Jackson on a twelve-mile march through a seemingly impenetrable wilderness of woods and underbrush. These troops surrounded Hooker’s right flank and attacked O. O. Howard’s XI Corps from the west. Most of these regiments were facing south at the time, unprepared, and as evening approached, many of the men were relaxing or cooking supper. They were so thoroughly routed that it was impossible to bring up reinforcements for several hours.The fact that this corps consisted primarilyof German regiments , already regarded as mediocre, dealt a crushing blow to their reputation . After two days of continued fighting, Hooker finally retreated. He had lost 17,000 men, and the Confederates suffered 13,000 casualties. This clear defeat was a shock to the northerners, and their morale plunged. And southerners mourned the loss of Jackson, who had been fatally wounded. Copperheads: This pejorative term was first used in July 1861 by the New York Tribune to refer to members of the ‘‘Peace’’ faction of the Democratic Party who advocated the immediate negotiation of a settlement with the South. The term was created by their political opponents; referring to a poisonous snake that hides and strikes without warning, it was used to accuse the ‘‘peace Democrats’’ of disloyalty. Criminalzeitung: This German-language weekly newspaper appeared from 1852 to 1911 under titles that changed frequently and were often variations on ‘‘New Yorker Criminal-Zeitung’’ or ‘‘Belletristisches Journal’’ or some combination of the two. The publication was widely read by Germans throughout the country, had a wartime circulation of approximately 4,000, and was known for its quality journalism. Letter-writer Albert Krause (no. 22) wrote some war reports for the paper. draft riots, New York (July 13- -16, 1863): Four days of escalating mob violence in New York City, set off by protests against conscription, amounted to the worst riot in...