Interesting facts about the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg as well as some notes on the contribution of immigrants to the war effort: It was the bloodiest day of the battle with an estimated 15,000 killed or wounded. This day’s battle was notable in that the defenders (the Union) suffered more casualties than the attackers (the Confederacy). Catherine Horn, wife of the Evergreen Cemetery caretaker, provided many services to the Union forces during the battle while her husband was away serving the Union army. She baked loaves of bread, served dinner to Union generals, pumped water for thirsty troops, tended to injured soldiers in her basement, identified local landmarks, and dodged a projectile that flew through the upstairs of her house. And she happened to be six months pregnant at the time. Union General Daniel Sickles made what could have been a fatal mistake by moving his corps against orders off his position along the Cemetery Ridge into the Peach Orchard. Though Confederate General James Longstreet’s forces were able to take the Peach Orchard, a stout defense by the Union forces on Little Round Top prevented the Confederacy from fully capitalizing on Sickles’ error. Timing is everything. Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s plan was to have all his forces proceed in attack from Longstreet’s forces hitting the Union along its left flank to General Richard Ewell’s forces attacking the Union right flank. However, Ewell’s forces didn’t begin their attack until Longstreet’s attack had mostly subsided. Much like today, immigrants were distrusted and treated with prejudice during the Civil War era. Immigrants made up a sizable portion of the Union forces in the Civil War (approximately 24 to 25%). Of this number, roughly half were natives of German speaking countries. A primary reason for so many of them choosing to fight for the Union was thought to be their opposition to slavery. They were often referred to as “Dutch” by many English speakers who mistook the sound of the German term “Deutsch” to mean the same thing. In reality, the Dutch came from the Netherlands and the Deutsch came from the German states, Austria, and Switzerland. German Americans were also the largest ethnic contingent to fight for the Union forces during the Civil War. This fact is largely omitted in popular history and media due to the prejudices towards immigrants by the elite of New England and the aristocrats of the South that existed during that time. The Germans spoke English in a way that was thought comical, drank too much beer for some, and they were considered incapable of soldiering as well as those of English and Scotch-Irish descent. Whenever something went wrong during a battle, it was conveniently blamed on the Germans despite the errors often resting with their commanding officers, especially in the Union. As to their true effectiveness, Confederate General Robert E. Lee once remarked, “Take the Dutch out of the Union army and we could whip the Yankees easily.” During the Battle of Gettysburg, a notable German immigrant and later U.S. Senator, Union General Carl Schurz, took part in the fighting. He served in General Oliver O. Howard’s XI Corps during an especially brutal hand to hand fight along the East Cemetery Hill on the evening of July 2. In his words, here is a detail from that struggle: “We did our best, sword in hand, to drive back as we went. Arrived at the batteries, we found an indescribable scene of melee. Some rebel infantry had scaled the breastworks and were taking possession of the guns. But the cannoneers defended themselves desperately. With rammers and fence rails, hand spikes, and stones, they knocked down the intruders. In Wiedrich’s battery, manned by Germans from Buffalo, a rebel officer, brandishing his sword, cried out:”This battery is ours!” Whereupon a sturdy artilleryman responded:”No dis battery is unser,” and felled him to the ground with a sponge-staff.” Not all Germans fought for the Union, though. General J.E.B. Stuart’s Chief of Staff and Adjutant, Prussian Heros von Borcke, slipped through the Union naval blockade and became one of Stuart’s closest confidants. About 2,000 Germans served voluntarily with another 3,000 served against their will or with neutral status in the Confederate Army. Almost all of these came from Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, or, Virginia. The German Fusilier was arguably the famous German unit of the South hailing from Charleston, South Carolina.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 05:26:02 +0000
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