Table Of ContentCopyright by
John Charles Bodger, Jr. '
1952
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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
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To my mother and father
Bertha E. Bodger
and
John Charles Bodger, Sr.
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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*
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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
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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.
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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,
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-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*
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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-
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■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,
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