Yankee Dutchman: The Life of Franz Sigel (review)

book reviews179 South, or the study of patriotism and nationalism should read The Romance of Reunion. Gaines M. Foster Louisiana State University Yankee Dutchman: The Life of Franz Sigel. By Stephen D. Engle. (Fayetteville : University of Arkansas Press, 1993. Pp. xix, 333. $36.00.) This first full-length biography of Franz Sigel fills an important gap in Civil War and immigrant studies. Among the three Germans and half-dozen immigrants to attain the rank of major general in the Union Army, Sigel was the first, the most widely publicized, and certainly the most controversial. Two-thirds of the text is devoted to the Civil War years, supplemented by a treatment of Sigel's experiences in Germany, particularly during the 1848 revolution, and a briefer summary of his postwar career. Sigel was probably the Forty-eighter with the most military training and battlefield experience in Germany. His military qualifications and devotion to the revolutionary cause won him a place in the hearts of German Americans and assured him a position of command at the outbreak of the Civil War. He spent the first year of the war in the Missouri campaign as a brigade and division commander, punctuated, as was his whole career, by quarrels with superiors and threatened and actual resignations. As the author confirms, the political lobbying of German Americans as much as any military achievements led to Sigel's promotion to major general and transfer to the eastern theater. Like other Yankees, he was no match for Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. When he proved equally unsuccessful against Jubal Early, he was removed from command in July 1864. Engle establishes that Sigel was a good administrator and a master of the orderly retreat; but despite personal bravery in battle, he showed timidity of leadership and proved to be neither a competent and dependable subordinate nor someone capable of independent command. While a map of each of Sigel's major engagements is included, the author seldom succeeds in making a battlefield come alive. He also has a fondness for the adverb "fortunately " without indicating whether it refers to Sigel, the Union cause, or cosmic justice. Occasionally, a broader perspective would have helped to assess the degree to which Sigel himself was to blame for his misfortunes. Why did the oftcited nativism of Gen. Henry Halleck and the prejudice ofWest Pointers have less impact on German generals such as Carl Schurz or Peter Osterhaus? What besides better leadership explains the successes of Philip Sheridan (a name absent from the index) in the Shenandoah Valley just three months after replacing Sigel? In the end, Engle adds little besides detail to the interpretations of Wilhelm Kaufmann and Ella Lonn and provides no better explanation than they of why 1 8oCIVIL WAR HISTORY German Americans continued to idolize Sigel above other, more worthy, military figures among their compatriots. That would have required a broader reading in the ethnic press, but German newspapers are more prominent in the bibliography than in footnotes. Moreover, serious misspellings and misclassifications ofGerman sources do not speak well for the author's language facility or the press's editorial work. Engle has done a good job of tracking down material in a wide array of manuscript collections on two continents, but it will require someone with a broader set of questions, and more at home in the German language, to speak the final word on Franz Sigel. Walter D. Kamphoefner Texas A&M University *'¿ /v^C ...