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Krause 195 Waiting to drown for twelve long hours, or at least until the water reached the bedridden—it is hard to imagine a more horrible death for these soldiers. Only a handful were saved. The fact that there were only eight lifeboats may not have been unusual, but it is scandalous that the sixty-two persons who were saved included forty-two of the crew, all of the passengers, and even the surgeon who had been assigned to supervise the transfer of the patients. Apart from two sailors, all of the 197 victims were wounded or invalid soldiers, Keppler among them. Contemporaries, of course, also noticed this imbalance. The surgeon general demanded that the assistant surgeon be given a dishonorable discharge or at least that the case be investigated. On orders from the president, the Adjutant General’s Office appointed a four-member military court of inquiry in March 1865; three of the judges held the rank of general, and the hearing was to be held in Trenton, New Jersey. Both of these investigations were apparently quashed, however, as were so many others after the end of the war. After the confusion and the horrors of war, attention now became focused on making a fresh start. There is no trace in the National Archives of any results of an investigation or trial. Many questions have remained open ever since, and it is unlikely that they will ever be answered.10 10. RG 92, 8w2A, Box 3, 1403, NatA; Enlisted Branch Letters Received, 130-100-1865, Box 290 (Steamer North America), RG 94, 9w3, R23, c. 31, pp. 13, 409, NatA. 22. Sergeant Albert Krause In the early 1840s Albert’s father August Krause came into possession of PolnischKonopath , a large manor in the Prussian district of Schwedt, near the Vistula River, now part of Poland. His son attended grammar school in the provincial capital of Bromberg and then probably studied at a trade school in Berlin to become a draftsman. When Albert left Germany in the early summer of 1861, he was twenty years old. He may well have emigrated to avoid serving in the Prussian army, but economic reasons probably also played a role: his father’s estate was in financial source note: For a graduate of a Prussian secondary school, Krause’s written German is quite unexceptional. Spelling or punctuation errors are very rare, his grammar is impeccable, there is no influence of his local dialect, and his vocabulary is extensive. He handles the language with great ease, and his descriptions are almost as precise as his drawings, but he is not one to use flowery or particularly colorful expressions. Except for the letters of July 27, 1861, October 9, 1862, May 10, 1863, May 26, 1864, and four pages of the letter of February 27, 1863, for which handwritten copies have been used, this series is based on typed copies. A comparison of the copies with the original letters that have been preserved, however, indicates that they are highly reliable. Not included here are the letters in the series from the time after 1865 (four) and some of the letters from 1863 (two) and 1864 (two). 196 Krause difficulties and would soon be lost. His relations with his father also seem to have been somewhat strained; one year after he left, he wrote, ‘‘you see, dear father, that at least I haven’t been a disgrace to you here in America.’’1 Krause sailed from Hamburg on the Gellert and arrived in mid-July 1861 at the immigration center on Grosse Isle in the St. Lawrence River. After spending a week in quarantine due to an outbreak of smallpox on board, he went to Quebec and then took a train to Ottawa the following day. In late 1861 he turned his back on neutral Canada and settled across the border in Buffalo, New York.2 Quebeck, Wednesday the 27th of July, 1861. Dear parents and brothers and sisters, [259 ll.: embarkation; sea voyage; arrival; quarantine; train trip to Ottawa; job plans] On Saturday night an English* farmer came by and really wanted to have me, and I didn’t want to at first. But he coaxed me into it and I signed a Contract with him. I get free room and board, laundry, and 10 dollars for the first month, and in return I’m supposed to help him in his fields. You see, I have a plan that I intend to...

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