German Speaking-Officers in the U.S. Colored Troops, 1863-1867 (review)

In his general history of the role played by German-Americans in the Civil War, Wilhelm Kaufmann wrote in his Die Deutschen im amerikanischen Bürgerkriege (1911), which appeared in a translated edition as The German in the American Civil War, With a Biographical Directory (1999), that "the history of the Germans in the Civil War is territory as yet completely untrod." Regarding previous work, Kaufmann observed that "several notable researchers had busied themselves with the topic," but "none of these plans advanced beyond the first stages" (1). Much still remains to be done. Öfele's work, appearing in the series New Perspectives on the History of the South, edited by John David Smith, illuminates a hitherto unexplored aspect of the role played by German-Americans in the Civil War, and thereby renders a valuable contribution to the topic.

Öfele, an assistant professor of American history at the University of Munich, who has published four books about the Civil War, focuses on the 265 German-speaking officers who served in the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT). His work, based on extensive use of primary and secondary sources, aims to tell "the story of those 'Dutch captains' from diverse national and ethnic origins, who decided to cast their lot with the black Union soldiers." It does not attempt to reiterate the story of the USCT in its entirety, nor does it aim at giving comprehensive accounts of the battles black regiments fought. Rather, "for the purpose of illustration," the author "has selected some key battles and minor engagements in which German-speaking officers and their troops participated. Instead of implying an evaluation of the individual actions' importance, the exemplary cases shall serve to emphasize how immigrant officers felt and acted during their service with black troops" (xv).

By the end of the war, Öfele concludes that these German-American officers had fought in most of the major battles fought by the USCT and that, moreover, they had served "creditably and efficiently" (xi). He notes that "many brought with them a European sense of military professionality that probably accepted blacks as soldiers more readily than the general American public opinion" (x). These officers served for a variety of reasons, including a range of patriotic and political factors, but most did so for pragmatic and often economic reasons. He writes that race was not "the principal issue for most Germans to enter the war on the side of the Union. As was the case with most Anglo-American applicants, dedication to the abolitionist cause did not constitute the primary reason for immigrants to lead black soldiers. If German-Americans took up arms against slavery, it was because they usually wanted to prevent further expansion of an institution endangering their ofin economic freedom. Immigrants fought for a nation guaranteeing this freedom and for their homes that they had to protest" (x). A diverse group, the German officers with the USCT consisted of a veritable kaleidoscope, including "racists, careerists, and adventurers as well as dedicated abolitionists and philanthropists," but all shared in common the notion that military service would advance their lot in American society.

In an epilogue, Öfele explores the topic of "War and the Black Troops in German-American Memory" and discusses how the postwar era witnessed "the transformation of the war's legacy into a romantic national drama," which for German-Americans translated into "accounts in accordance with the myth of German Unionism" that "almost exclusively tell of the unmitigated identification with the new home country as the foremost motivation for entering the war" (229). He argues that "the majority of German-Americans developed a selective public memory that fitted both the American understanding of a war to save the Union find their ofin needs of ethnic distinction" (231). Moreover, "none of the several German-speaking USCT officers who became active in politics and publishing after the war contributed to a more balanced historiography...