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Friedrich Franz Karl Hecker, 1811–1881 Part II Kevin Kurdylo

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Volume 19 No 2 • Summer 2010 Friedrich Franz Karl Hecker, 1811–1881 Part II Kevin Kurdylo As the 150th anniversary of the begin- was convinced that the contract of ning of the Civil War approaches, we the Union could not be broken by a will examine the role German-born minority of states,2 and he believed immigrants played during that histori- firmly that each man should take cal era. The first section of this article on Friedrich Hecker (Spring 2010) his place according to his abilities. examines his career in Europe before Because he felt Sigel was the more he came to this country. This section experienced and competent soldier, focuses on his activities in America. he was prepared to do his part as an infantryman if need be. There were ealizing that Lincoln’s elec- others, including some of his promi- tion as president meant an nent German-American friends, end to compromise on the who felt Hecker should lead his own Rissue of slavery, southern states began troops. to secede from the Union in the first In May of 1861, without Hecker’s months of 1861. Propelled by the knowledge (though capitalizing on same strong beliefs he held during his reputation), recruitment had be- the Revolution of 1848, the fifty-year- gun in Chicago for what was called Colonel Friedrich Hecker old Hecker answered Lincoln’s call the 1st Hecker Jäger [Hunter] Regi- to arms, and he crossed the Missis- ment, later known as the 24th Illinois and not enough privates, and a severe sippi River by rowboat to join Francis Volunteers, and Hecker was offered discipline problem, the latter exac- (Franz) Sigel’s 3rd Missouri Volunteer command of this regiment with the erbated by friction between Hecker Regiment—as a private.1 Hecker rank of colonel. At first he declined, and his subordinate officers. His de- still wishing that someone with bet- termination to have European-style ter leadership skills would be chosen, discipline and order were frustrated INSIDE but attestations of loyalty from Ger- when others would not fulfill the du- man-American soldiers and his own • Digitizing Immigrant Letters ties he gave them. Still wounded by idealism made him change his mind. • Europe’s Revolutions and the the defeat of 1848, Hecker was prone Whatever visions he may have had U.S. Civil War, Book Review to paranoia and explosive outbursts. of leading well-trained men commit- • 1917 Phrase Book He felt that nativist forces in the ad- ted to principles of the greatest good • Friends Annual Meeting ministration were responsible for his were soon shattered by grim realities. • Jewish Girls in Nuremberg lack of supplies, and that immorality The 24th Illinois, comprised pri- during the Nazi Years and laziness were rampant among the marily of German and Hungarian • Ads from Our Archives troops. After seven months, Hecker immigrants, suffered from lack of • Friends Profile: resigned command of the 24th Il- support and supplies, continuous Pamela Tesch linois and returned to his farm, once orders to march, too many officers • Farewell to Dr. Henry Peters Continued on page 4 DIRECTOR’S CORNER Greetings, Friends Tangermünde, with old city walls and lovely church towers. and Readers! Meanwhile, back in Madison, we ummer has finally come, and have completed some projects and for many of us this means are getting ready for the challenges a change of scenery. I will that lie ahead. The MKI’s twenty- Sspend a couple of months in Europe, fifth anniversary festivities were over including five weeks directing the more than a year ago, but I have just academic program of the Som- finished editing the volume of con- merschule Wust in Saxony-Anhalt, ference presentations from last April in the former eastern part of Ger- (2009), which will appear later this many. Check us out on the Internet year with Peter Lang under the title at <sommerschule-wust.de>. The Paths Crossing: Essays in German- school offers English classes taught American Studies. I am glad to see by a group of twenty native speak- the end of this, even though—all in ers of English who come from Great all—our quarter-century celebrations Britain as well as the United States; were a richly rewarding experience. our students range in age from 10 You will remember that the inten- to 75 or 80. But the entire program tion behind our conference was to includes much more: enough theater, illustrate the breadth of German- all kinds of research in the humani- music, art, sports, and other activities American studies and its interdis- ties and social sciences: history, eth- to overfill an entire summer. While ciplinary appeal. For this reason, nicity, language islands and bilingual- I am there I find plenty of interested we invited participants with a wide ism, immigration studies, historical audiences who want to know about range of interests: historians of vari- geography, music, folklore, etc. the activities of the MKI, and I, in ous kinds, geographers, Germanists, The contributions and traditions of turn, pick up lots of information that and more. We wound up with what German-speaking immigrants are an is useful for my projects at home. some might consider a really wild integral part of our country’s fabric, This is a great deal of fun but also mixture…but were pleasantly sur- lying so deep in America’s cultural very hard work—and I will certainly prised at how everything fit together undercurrents that they are often return to Madison at the beginning and how much everyone felt at home. overlooked: in our language, our of the semester quite ready to get Perhaps we should not be sur- cuisine, our attitudes, and our way back to the “normal” old grind. prised. After all, German-American of life. And studying the story of the studies today is actively involved in But I do get a wonderful change of Continued on page 15 scenery while in Wust. Here is a pho- tograph of the Romanesque village church in Wust (a village with 450 The Newsletter of the Friends of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies is published quarterly at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Submissions are invited and inhabitants), which stands directly should be sent to: across from our school building, an old manor house now used as an el- Kevin Kurdylo ementary school. The church, which Friends of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies 901 University Bay Drive, Madison, WI 53705 dates from ca. 1200, was damaged Phone: (608) 262-7546 in the Thirty Years War and rebuilt Fax: (608) 265-4640 thereafter in the Baroque style. And [email protected] about eleven kilometers away is the mki.wisc.edu larger and also picturesque town of maxkade.blogspot.com 2 REPORT Minnesota Center Digitizing Immigrant Letters Kevin Kurdylo n mid-May I was invited to take riences associated with migration. range of ethnic groups, revealing what part in a symposium hosted A preliminary model now avail- the groups have in common or what by the Immigration History able online features approximately is unique to each. As the IHRC elo- IResearch Center (IHRC) at the Uni- 35 letters (dated between 1880 and quently describes it, the project will versity of Minnesota. I was happy to 1960) written to and by immigrants be of interest to those “in an array of visit this important center in our field in North America. The letters are fields related to migration, history, of studies, and to learn about their drawn from six collections held in literature, language and linguistics, significant and ambitious new project the IHRC’s archives and represent geography, communication studies, to digitize and make accessible let- writings in Italian, Finnish, Latvian, anthropology, sociology, and other ters written in languages other than Ukrainian, and Croatian. They were fields . as well as a general audience English that were exchanged in the chosen because they succeed in con- that will appreciate the very personal years between 1850 and 1970 by im- veying strong emotional content in and often vivid stories the letters tell.” migrants in America and their loved their descriptions of the life-altering This is a challenging and undeniably ones who remained behind. The proj- emigration experience. Five to seven richly rewarding project. Ethical is- ect’s goal is to transcribe and trans- letters have been selected from each sues of “reading another person’s mail” late samples of such foreign-language collection, and each has been digi- remain important, and, while tran- letters, which are held in archives in tized, transcribed, and translated. scription and translation will occupy North America, Europe, and Asia. The Web pages include historical a great deal of time and effort, simply An interactive and contextual Web background and contextual infor- locating the letters may be a daunting site will be developed to encourage mation on the letter-writers, their task. Libraries, archives, and institutes the preservation and use of these and migrations, homelands, and lives, as are easy to identify and contact, but other letters by diverse audiences, well as the locations in which the let- how do we gain access to all those let- including teachers, students, family ters were originally written. Letters ters held in family collections, bound historians, and genealogists. by those writing in the German lan- with ribbon and stored in boxes in The letters reveal the very hu- guage—as well as many others—will attics and closets? man side of globalization during a be included in years to come. As the The IHRC’s pilot project may be period when pen, ink, postal ser- digital resources grow, researchers viewed at vices, and steamships provided the will be able to compare and contrast <http://ihrc.umn.edu/research/dil/ primary means of communication migration experiences across a broad index.html>.
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