THE IMMIGRANT PRESS AND THE UNION ARMY PDF
Preview THE IMMIGRANT PRESS AND THE UNION ARMY
Copyright by John Charles Bodger, Jr. ' 1952 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE IMMIGRANT PRESS AND THE UNION ARMT by John Charles Bodger, Jr. Submitted in ipartial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Political Science, Columbia University April 1951 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To my mother and father Bertha E. Bodger and John Charles Bodger, Sr. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE The late Will Rogers always began his monologues with the statement, "Well, all I know is what I read in the papers ." The reader may conclude that all I know is what I read in the immigrant papers from 1861 to 1865, because more than nine-tenths of the footnotes refer to these journals. There are not many primary sources for the foreign-language and Irish papers besides the immigrant publica tions themselves. Other references have been used only to check the accuracy of the information or misinformation printed by these foreign-born editors. Some of the immigrant sheets used only "all the news that fitted" the editorial polity of the paperj others published unfounded rumors and outrageous slanders. I have tried to be careful in stating merely that a certain immigrant newspaper said this or that; where the statement was definitely refuted by other sources, I have paus ed to demolish the rumor or slander. My silence must not always be taken to give assent in the foreign-bora editor's assertion. I have frequently quoted the con flicting opinions of several immigrant journals in a controversy, without drawing any conclusion at that point as to which one, if any, was correct. Originally I began reading the immigrant press for data to write on "Immi grants in the Northern War Effort, 1861-65." The foreign-bora editors themselves have become the subject of this book. I am indebted to Ella Lonn for help in nar rowing down ny subject to what the immigrant press said about the foreign-bora troops in the Union Amy. If a reader is more concerned with the immigrant sol- ■ diers themselves, he will find that Ella Lonn's Foreigners in the Union Army (Bat on Rouge, Louisiana, 1951) "covers broad ground" as did her Foreigners in the Con- It federacy (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 19l|0). I have tried to cover a different subject; the Civil War through the eyes of foreign-born editors. Some wore Radical Republican spectacles, some Lincoln *Samuel E. Morison and Henry S. Coramager, The Growth of the American Republic (New York, 19lt2), Vol. I, p. 793* Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Republican, some Unionist or "War" Democratic and some the dark glasses of the Copperheads or "Peace" Democrats. I have discussed the bias of each immigrant paper in the first chapter. Twenty of those I have read were German, three were published by Irishmen for Irishmen, six others were published by native Americans but were read also by the Irish immigrants, two were French, one was Italian, one Spanish, one Norwegian, one Swedish and one British. The different nationality groups had little in common, except the problems faced by every foreign-born per son, of adopting a new homeland and of being accepted by the native-born persons. The anti-foreign Know-Nothing movement of the 1850* s had driven the Irish, the Germans and some of the other immigrants together on the one issue of nativism. During the Civil War, the various nationality groups were driven apart by the newer issues of secession, emancipation of the slaves, the draft, the habeas corpus and the freedom of the press. The questions to which I have sought answers in my conclusions have been sub-divisions of the main issue: were the immigrant papers as a group useful to the Union Army during the Civil War? If so, in what specific ways were they helpful? Was the Union Army able to explain the causes and circumstances of the war to men who could not read English? Did most of the Irish newspapers' read ers support the Confederacy or the Union? Were attempts to recruit foreign-born regiments for the Union Army successful or did they fail? Did the immigrant editors give adequate space to native American generals and regiments? Was the foreign-born reader, who could not read English, correctly informed as to whether he was exempt or liable to the draft? Were the foreign-language and Irish news papers useful in appealing to the nationalism of immigrant groups? Did foreign- born colonels succeed in raising whole regiments of immigrants? Was there ever any praise in a newspaper read by one nationalist group for the colonels, gener als and soldiers of another foreign-language group? Did the immigrant papers find only a few battles in which foreign-born officers and soldiers played prom inent roles, or were they able to report immigrant troops in nearly every battle Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. -iii- the Union Army fought? If the foreign-born editors as a group were not useful to the Union Army, in what specific ways were they a hindrance? How much of an embarrassment were the Radical Republican German papers to Lincoln in 1861;? How much trouble did the Lincoln Administration have with the War Democratic Irish editors after the Emancipation Proclamation? Were there many Copperheads, were they typical of any one nationality group, and how dangerous was their disloyalty to the Union Army? What were the Radical Republican Germans’ opinions of Pope, Hooker, Halleck and McClellan as commanders? What did the Irish Democratic editors think of Lincoln, Burnside and Grant? How important were the Democratic papers in stirring up the German draft riots in Wisconsin in 1862 and the Irish draft riots in New York City in 1863? In short, were the immigrant papers more of a help than a hindrance? My aim has been to emphasize the information and opinion about the Union Army which the immigrant press published. This is not a content analysis as sociologists define it. I have tried to tell only what the immigrant press said about the foreign-born troops in the Union Army. My prejudices may not be obvious. I am a Protestant Episcopalian, neither pro-Roman Catholic nor pro- Know-Nothingism. My father was born in England and immigrated in 1892 to Cali fornia, while my mother’s family were Vermont Abolitionists. Shanks Village, New York, April, 195l« John Charles Bodger, Jr. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I assume all the blame for any errors, whether of fact, interpretation, clerical or typographical, in this dissertation, but I claim only a part of the credit for whatever is meet, right and proper in this book. No thanks would be adequate for what I owe rry parents, Bertha E. Bodger and the late John Charles Bodger, Sr., to whom this book is dedicated. My wife, Joan Higbee Bodger, helped greatly in improving the literary style of the text, as well as in many other ways. It is as much her dissertation as mine. It is a pleasure for me to acknowledge the help, guidance and correction given me by Professor Allan Nevins of Columbia University, under, whose direction this dissertation was written. I received helpful suggestions as to sources from Dean Carl Wittke of the Graduate School, Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and from Professors J. B. Brebner of Columbia University, Fred A. Shannon of the University of Illi nois and Oscar F. Ander of Augustana College. I also acknowledge the assistance of William E. Nagengast, a graduate student at Columbia University, and of Dr. Patrick Suppes of the department of philosophy at Stanford University, Califor nia. I am grateful to the late Professor Frank W. Pitman, and to Professors John H. Kemble and John H. Gleason, all of Pomona College, Claremont, California, for instruction in research and exposition. I am indebted first to P.. B. Francis, director of the New York Public Li brary, and his staff, for permission to use the files of the New York Albion, New York Irish-American, New York Freeman's Journal, New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung, New- York Courrier des Etats-Unis and New York L'Eco d'Italia for January-April 1865 and for 1862, at the Newspaper Room, 137 West 25th Street, New York City, I also thank Mr. Francis and his staff for the use of the Boston Pionier and the New-Yorker Criminal-Zeitung at the Central Branch at Fifth Avenue and R2nd Street, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. -V- where they are classified as periodicals rather than as newspapers* The Criminal- Zeitung is catalogued as Eellestritsches Journal, its title since 1861&* I appreciate the co-operation of the Columbia University Library's Reference Department staff, especially for its Interlibrary Loan Service* I thank the li brary of Brooklyn College for allowing me to use a master's essay by Saul Schind ler on "Northern Labor and the Civil War." I received help in finding materials on the Irish immigrants from J * F* Cahill of the American-Irish Historical Socie ty, 991 Fifth Avenue, New York City* MT. Cahill permitted me to use the Journals of the Society and its secondary works, as well as introducing me to John Doonan, a genealogist, who offered helpful suggestions* I extend thanks to Robert W* G» Vail, director of the New York Historical Society, Central Park West, New York City, and his staff, for permission to use the files of the New-York Le Messager Franco-Americain for April 16, 1863-December 31, 1863 and the Pottsville, Penn sylvania, Miners' Journal for June 27, 1863* I wish to acknowledge the help of the Boston Public Library's Newspaper De partment staff in allowing me to use the nearly-complete micro-reproduction file of the Boston Pilot* I am indebted to Clarence S* Brigham, director of the Amer ican Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Massachusetts, for the use of files of the St* Louis Missouri Republican; St. Louis Anzeiger des Wes tens for April 13, 1862; Pottsville Amerikanischen Republikaner; Pottsville Democratic Standard; Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, Carbon Democrat for April Ij., 1863j and Nueva York La Cronica for November 20, 1862, February 11, 1863, March 28, 1863 and April 15, 1863. I thank John H* Thaxter, acting chief of the serials division at the Libra ry of Congress, Washington, D* C*, for the use of files of the New York L'Eco d» Italia for December 3, 1863, Januaiy-March 3, 186U and June 11, 1861*; the New* York Le Messager Franco-Americain for February 1862-April 16, 1863 and January l86U-April l865j Nueva York La Cronica for December 16, 1860-December 31, l86ij.j and the Cincinnati Volksfreund* Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I owe thanks to Miss Elizabeth C. Litsinger, director of the Maryland De partment of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, for the use of files of the Baltimore (Taglicher) Wecker. I wish to acknowledge the help of Mrs. Helen Harjes Muller, librarian of the German Society of Pennsylvania, Marshall and Spring Garden Streets, Philadelphia, for permission to use files of the Philadel phia Freie Presse. I am indebted to the staff of the Pennsylvania Room of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh for the use of files of the Pittsburgh Freiheits- freund. I wish to acknowledge the help of Charles Bird, director of the Historical Society of Berks County, Reading, Pennsylvania, for the privilege of using files of the Reading Adler. I thank Clara McGee and Lauretta Yaeger of the Dimmock Me morial Library, Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, for permission to use files of the Mauch Chunk Carbon Democrat. I appreciate the aid of James Bushar, curator of the Schuylkill County Historical Society, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in allowing me to use files of the Pottsville Miners* Journal for 1862. I thank Mrs. Alene Lowe White, librarian of the Western Reserve Historical Society, 10825-10915 East Boulevard, Cleveland, for permission to use files of the Cleveland Wachter am Erie, and for her hospitality, as well as for introduc ing me to Dean "Wittke. I appreciate the help of Virginius C* Hall, director-li brarian of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio at the University of Cincinnati, and his staff; it was a privilege to use files of the Cincinnati Per deutsche Pionier (1869-1886). I wish to thank Father L. C. Walter, co-editor of the Cincinnati Catholic Telegraph on Lincoln Boulevard, Cincinnati, for permis sion to use files of the Catholic Telegraph. I also thank the library of Xavier College, Cincinnati, for referring me to Father Walter. I acknowledge the aid of the Newspaper Department staff of the Ohio State Archaeological and Histori cal Society at Ohio State University in Columbus, for use of files of the Colum bus Westbote. I thank the staff of the Reference Department of the Indianapolis Public Library for permission to use files of Indianapolis Freie Presse von Indi- with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ■vii- ana, I wish to thank Harpy E. Pratt, director of the Illinois State Historical Library in Springfield, as well as the staff of the Newspaper Room, for the priv ilege of using files of the BeHevlller-Zeitung and the St* Louis Anzeiger des We a tens* I appreciate the help of Miss Margaret Scriven, librarian of the Chica go Historical Society, Clark Street at North Avenue, Chicago, for the use of files of the Chicago Times* I also owe thanks to Ben C* Bowman, head of the Pub lic Service of The Newberry Library in Chicago, for permission to use files of the Chicago Illinois Staats-Zeitung* I wish to express my appreciation to Mrs* Pcass, to whom I was introduced by Professor Shannon, for help in finding materi als on the Fenian Brotherhood in the Charles-Cole Notes at Franklin Hall, of the University of Illinois at Urbana* I wish to thank Dr* I* 0* Nothstein, archivist of the Denkmann Memorial Li brary of Augustana College, at Rock Island, Illinois, for the privilege of using files of the Chicago Hemlandet* I also appreciate the assistance of George W. Wickstrom of the Rock Island Argus in referring me to Professor Ander and to Dr* Nothstein* I thank Mamie E* Rehnquist, chief of the Reference Department of the Milwaukee Public Library, and the staff of the Newspaper Room in the Library An nex on Wells Street, Milwaukee, for permission to use files of the Milwaukee See- Bote and Milwaukee Herold* I am indebted to 0* M* Hovde, librarian of the Luther College Library, De corah, Iowa, for the privilege of using files of the Madison Emi gran ten, and to Luther College for its hospitality* The file at Luther College is complete* I also appreciate the aid of Benton H. Wilcox, librarian of the State Historical Society of the State of Wisconsin at Madison, in suggesting that I visit Luther College* I thank Willoughby M* Babcock, curator of newspapers of the Minnesota Historical Society in St* Paul, for permission to use the files of the Madison Emigranten for 1862, 1861;, 1865 and the almost complete file for 1861* I wish to thank Barbara Kell, librarian of the Missouri Historical Society, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
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