Germans in Civil War.—Four authors have dealt exhaustively with the subject of the German-born soldiers in the Union army. They are Wilhelm Kaufmann in his valuable work, “The Germans in the AmericanCivil War” (R. Oldenbourg, Berlin and Munich, 1911), J. G. Rosengarten, “The German Soldier in the Wars of the United States” (J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1890), Frederic Phister, “Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States” (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1883) and B. A. Gould, “Investigations in the Statistics of American Soldiers” (New York, 1869).

The first three are more or less founded on the latter, but in Kaufmann, particularly, many errors of computation on the part of Gould are shown up which increase the number credited to the German participants in the Civil War. Rosengarten is particularly valuable as reference in regard to the share of the Germans in the Revolutionary War. According to Gould, more Germans served in the Union army than any other foreigners. This is substantiated by all the writers. Kaufmann proves that the colossal total of 216,000 native-born Germans fought in the Union army. In addition the army included 300,000 sons of German-born parents and 234,000 Germans of remoter extraction. Besides the Germans fighting in the ranks, Kaufmann holds that the roster of generals and other high officers of the Union army contained more names of German than of any foreign nationality. He also calls attention to the fact that a large number of German aristocrats, including such eminent names as von Steuben, Count Zeppelin, von Sedlitz, von Wedel, von Schwerin, and one German prince (Prinz zu Salm-Salm) took the field in behalf of the Union. Prince Salm-Salm was accompanied by his wife who performed valuable service as a nurse.

Professor Burgess writes: “The German and German American contingent in our armies amounted, first and last, to some 500,000 soldiers. They were led by such men as Heintzelmann, Rosecrans, Schurz, Sigel, Osterhaus, Willich, Hartranft, Steinwehr, Wagner, Hecker and a thousand others. Mrs. Jefferson Davis, the wife of the Confederate President has often said to me that without the Germans the North could never have overcome the armies of the Confederacy; and unless that had been accomplished then, this continent would have been, since then, the theatre of continuous war instead of the home of peace.”

Gould’s figures of the relative number of foreign-born soldiers in the Union army are as follows:

Germans 187,858
British Americans 53,532
English 45,508
Irish 144,221
Other foreigners 48,410
Foreigners not otherwise
designated		 26,145

According to these figures, the Germans constituted upward of 37% of the foreign-born soldiers in the Union army, while the English numbered less than 8%. The Anglo-Saxon, therefore, is not representedin a critical stage of the nation’s struggle for survival in proportion to the importance assigned him in our affairs at the present day.

Kaufmann, in analyzing these figures, shows that the number was understated as regards the Germans and overstated as regards the Canadians. More than 36 per cent. of the Union troops furnished by the State of Missouri were born in Germany, and the Germans furnished more troops pro rata, according to the census of 1860, than any other racial element, including native born Americans.It is interesting to note that the States in which the Germans were largely represented made the largest response to President Lincoln’s first call for volunteers. The call, issued April 15, 1861, was for 75,000 volunteers to serve three months. New England was the center of the agitation and the hot-bed of the abolition movement. Lincoln’s call was responded to by 91,816 men.

New England was represented
by only		 11,987
New York 12,357
Pennsylvania 20,175
Ohio 12,357
Missouri 10,591