Having been involved in revolutionary activities of 1848 in Germany, Schurz fled the conservative counterrevolution, arriving in the U.S. in 1852. Besides farming in Wisconsin, Schurz spoke out against slavery and became involved with the new Republican party. Despite supporting William Seward for the 1860 Republican nomination for president, Schurz fervently campaigned for the actual nominee Lincoln. According to Doris Kearns Goodwin, Schurz was responsible for mobilizing the German-American vote for Lincoln in the Midwest.
Chancellorsville
Schurz was rewarded for his campaign work with the Ambassadorship to Spain. After convincing the Spanish government not to support the Confederacy, Schurz resigned to fight for the Union cause, receiving a brigadier general's commission. He led a division at the Second Battle of Bull Run in 1862. After contending with Stonewall Jackson's corps, the division, along with the whole of General John Pope's Army of Virginia, retreated from Confederate General James Longstreet's flank attack.
The retreating would continue. At Chancellorsville in May 1863, Schurz's unit was attached to the mostly German Eleventh Corps. Corps morale was low due to the replacement of German Franz Sigel by Oliver Otis Howard as corps commander. With Army of the Potomac commander Joseph Hooker's flank attack stalled in the Wilderness west of Fredericksburg, the Eleventh Corps soldiers were left to sulk on the exposed right flank facing south.
Howard received warnings of an army moving west, including one from Schurz. Was a Confederate flank attack at hand? Howard ignored the warnings, but Schurz heeded them- he shifted some regiments to face west with accompanying rifle pits. Stonewall Jackson's flank attack from the west did come. Schurz's furious efforts only delayed the onrushing rebels a few minutes as the panicked Eleventh Corps fled for their lives. After the battle, New York newspapers condemned the flight of the German-American soldiers.
Gettysburg
Schurz continued to battle criticism of his troops after Gettysburg. On the first day of the battle, the Eleventh Corps retreated in a disorderly fashion. Schurz, who took temporary command of the Eleventh Corps after Howard took overall charge of the first Union forces at Gettysburg, would deny his unit succumbed to widespread panic, "in whatever shape the troops issued from the town, they were promptly reorganized, each was under the colors of his regiment."
Schurz also supplied the criticism. In late 1862, frustrated by Union progress, Schurz unloaded in one of his frequent letters to Lincoln. He criticized Lincoln's appointment of Democratic generals "whose hearts" were not "in the struggle." Lincoln responded tersely but later invited him to the White House. Arriving from camp in Centreville, Virginia, Schurz talked with Lincoln for an hour and he proclaimed "we parted as better friends than ever."
Helping his friend, Schurz left the battlefield to go on the stump to plead Lincoln's cause among the German-Americans for the 1864 election. Lincoln's secretary, John Hay, was impressed with Schurz, calling him the "eloquent Teuton" and observing a certain "vigor and animal arrogance" that helped him "bully his way through life." Schurz would emphasize Lincoln as "the living embodiment of the popular will," as well as his firm principles, incorruptible honesty, and common sense.
Whether it was on the battlefield or on the hustings, Schurz was devoted to the Union cause. Despite negative judgments of his command and his doubts about the Union war effort, Schurz's determination to defeat slavery and the Confederacy was a positive for Lincoln and the nation.
Sources
Goodwin, Doris Kearns, Team of Rivals, Simon and Schuster: New York, 2005.
Sears, Stephen, Chancellorsville, Mifflin: New York, 1996.
Trudeau, Noah Andre, Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage, HarperCollins: New York, 2002.
Waugh, John, Reelecting Lincoln, Crown: New York, 1997.
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