The American Civil War and Race in Transatlantic Perspective

Martin W. Oefele. German-Speaking Officers in the U.S. Colored Troops, 1863-1867. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004. xviii + 320 pp. $55.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8130-2692-3. Reviewed by Timothy Schroer Published on H-GAGCS (December, 2004) This book sets out to describe how German- ranging from ardent white supremacists to propo‐ speaking officers "felt and acted during their ser‐ nents of radical racial egalitarianism. Oefele effec‐ vice" with African-American troops during the tively conveys a description of German ethnics American Civil War (p. xvi). Martin Oefele under‐ that is more complex than the conventional story took exhaustive research in more than forty ar‐ that reduces the group to a few well-known par‐ chives in the United States, Germany, Austria, and ticipants in the revolutions of 1848. Switzerland to answer the question. The impres‐ During the American Civil War, the Union siveness of the research is matched by his careful moved haltingly to draw on the manpower re‐ interpretation of the evidence. serves of African Americans in what became a It is difficult to generalize about the people at war of attrition against the Confederacy. Follow‐ the center of the inquiry. Oefele convincingly ing the Emancipation Proclamation, the Union shows that German-speakers in the United States eventually formed the USCT in the spring of 1863. and in the officer corps of the U.S. Colored Troops Army commanders held the conviction that black (USCT) represented a diverse group. They emi‐ troops required leadership by white officers. The grated from European states that would be en‐ War Department decided to select officers for the compassed in the unified German Reich of 1871, USCT on the basis of an examination system but also from the Habsburg Empire and Switzer‐ rather than permitting state officials to appoint land. They included German-speaking Danes, commanders and allowing enlisted men to elect Poles, and Hungarians. In the United States, both lower-ranking officers. The meritocratic system the Democratic and Republican parties found sup‐ offered a unique opportunity for advancement in porters among German-speaking immigrants, the officer corps of the USCT to German ethnics, who divided on the question of the abolition of who often faced obstacles from Anglo-Americans slavery. A similar diversity existed in German in white units. On the other hand, service with Americans' attitudes toward African Americans, African Americans carried a powerful stigma in H-Net Reviews white Northern society, which generally remained man-speaking officers "did not feel obligated to convinced of its racial superiority. Oefele has continue the fght for black freedom" (p. 227). Few found that 265 German-speaking immigrants German-speaking veterans broadcast their service served as officers in the USCT during the war and in the USCT after the war. Over the long term, Reconstruction. German-Americans successfully assimilated in the The sources ultimately prove frustratingly United States as they embraced the privileges of meager in illuminating these men's experiences in inclusion in white America. The memory of Ger‐ the USCT. Oefele, a careful historian, acknowl‐ man immigrant service with African American edges gaps in the evidence. "Few sources," he troops was generally downplayed as irrelevant to writes, "reveal anything about wartime interac‐ the more potent story of German American sacri‐ tions between black soldiers and Germans" (p. fice in the white Union Army. 29). Elsewhere he notes that "unfortunately not Oefele's book places the American Civil War much evidence exists that tells about everyday re‐ in a transatlantic context. At the most basic level, lations between the immigrants and the black sol‐ he uses evidence from European archives to tell diers" (p. 159). Oefele wisely eschews speculation his story. More significantly, the study contextual‐ to fll the gaps, but effectively makes the most of izes the events of the 1860s in the United States his material in describing the outlooks of partici‐ within the history of the growth of European na‐ pants in this encounter. tionalism, the revolutions of 1848, and circulating While the reader may at times wish that the ideas about race. These long-term historical cur‐ subjects of the history had left more revealing evi‐ rents shaped, and were reflected in, the biogra‐ dence, Oefele's account of the service of German- phies of a few remarkable men who became offi‐ speaking officers in the USCT illuminates at least cers in the USCT. Ladislas Zsulavszki, for example, two broad questions. First, what does that service the nephew of the Hungarian national patriot La‐ tell us about the way German Americans came to jos Kossuth, fought in Italy as a member of find a place within American society? Second, Giuseppe Garibaldi's forces before becoming an does the story of German speakers usefully ex‐ officer commanding a regiment of African Ameri‐ pand the inquiry beyond national boundaries to a cans. Zsulavszki seemed to regard the war as a ro‐ transatlantic history? mantic adventure and an opportunity for African Americans to prove their dignity. Edelmiro Mayer The German-speaking immigrant officers, Oe‐ was born in Argentina of German immigrant par‐ fele shows, like their men in the USCT, generally ents. He fought for Argentina before immigrating regarded their service as an opportunity to vali‐ to the United States in 1861 to teach at West Point. date their credentials as Americans to a skeptical He advocated abolition and joined the USCT in northern society. German immigrants willingly 1863. Following the war's conclusion, he moved paid the price of service with black troops, whom on to Mexico in support of the Mexican Revolu‐ many of them scorned, in order to obtain ad‐ tion. These examples testify to the existence of an vancement in the Union cause. A few German eth‐ international stratum of cosmopolitan national‐ nics clearly embraced the goal of emancipation ists. Curiously enough, they had a history of fght‐ and generally may have been willing to serve in ing for the advance of nationalism on several the USCT because they were less deeply immersed fronts, Hungarian, Italian, American, and Mexi‐ in the prevailing racism than Anglo-Americans. can. Their cases suggest that the American Civil The desire to aid in the fght for African American War may be usefully viewed not only as a particu‐ dignity, however, proved ultimately to be ephemeral. After the war's conclusion, the Ger‐ 2 H-Net Reviews larly American phenomenon, but also as a reflec‐ tion of broader developments in world history. If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://www.h-net.org/~gagcs/ Citation: Timothy Schroer. Review of Oefele, Martin W. German-Speaking Officers in the U.S. Colored Troops, 1863-1867. H-GAGCS, H-Net Reviews. December, 2004. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10087 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.

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