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author | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
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committer | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
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diff --git a/macros/plain/contrib/samples/immig.tex b/macros/plain/contrib/samples/immig.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..7a27d76e42 --- /dev/null +++ b/macros/plain/contrib/samples/immig.tex @@ -0,0 +1,339 @@ +\magnification=1095 +\count0=0 +\count100=0 +\def\futnot#1{\advance\count100 by1\footnote{${}^{\number\count100}$}{#1}} +\nopagenumbers +\headline{\ifnum\count0>1\rm Hawkins, E. Glenn\hfil Page \folio\else\hss\fi} +\footline{\ifnum\count0=1\hss\rm\folio\hss\fi} +\vfill +\centerline{\bf The German Immigrants in Texas} +\centerline{\bf and the Civil War} +\vfill +\centerline{\bf Term Paper} +\centerline{\bf in} +\centerline{\bf History 370} +\vfill +\centerline{by} +\centerline{\bf Eldon Glenn Hawkins} +\centerline{\bf November 29, 1983} +\vfill +\eject +\bigskip +\centerline{\bf German Immigrants in Texas} +\centerline{\bf and the Civil War} +\medskip +The story of the German immigrants in Texas is a long and colorful one, +but perhaps the most interesting parts of their history concern +the Germans' attitudes and opinions on the vital questions that were destined +to break up what was once a solid Union. Fleeing political and economic +persecution at home in Europe, the German immigrant of the +first half of the nineteenth centure came to America to find the freedom +he could not obtain at home. The freedom he found here in the United States +gave many of his kind a deep love for the Union, and local prejudices +and misjudgements isolated the German settler from most of his +fellow Texans to produce one of the strongest centers of Unionist +activity in the South during the Civil War. + +A key link in understanding the German immigrant's views on slavery, +secession, and the Union is to know the reasons that they left their +homeland, and what they expected life to be like in their new home. +The main reasons that so many Germans left the German Confederation in +the early part of the nineteenth century had to do with two major social +conditions existant in Germany and most of Europe at the time. The first +of these was overpopulation.\futnot{Rudolph L. Biesele, +{\it The History +of the German Settlements in Texas (1831-1861)\/} (Austin, Texas: Von +Boeckmann-Jones Company, 1930), 2.} The effects of this problem were many +and varied. Basically, there were far too many people trying to use the +same resources, both natural and man-made, at the same time. The result was +a lower standard of living for most Germans, with the inevitably lesser +political and social clout that accompanies such a lifestyle. This problem +of too many people trying to slice the economic pie into too many pieces +was further aggravated by the fact that there was a very unequal +distribution of wealth among Germans, which amounted to a few people +taking huge slices of an already inadequate economic pie and leaving +the crumbs for the masses to pick up.\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, 4.} + +In addition to these two basic social problems, there were a couple of +important forms of economic hardships in Germany in the first half +of the nineteenth century. The industrialization of the Rhine region +reinforced the ``rich-get-richer'' syndrome mentioned above---such was +the case in almost all nations at the beginning of the Industrial +Revolution.\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, 7.} The average worker was underpaid, +and one cannot blame him for looking +at emigration as a way to better his life. Also, in order to pay for +the relatively recent Napoleonic wars, the tax rate in the various +German states was monstrous. It was obviously very difficult to maintain +a decent standard of living while existing under an enormous tax burden. +In many states, the expensive habits of certain German princes made tax +rates even higher, much to the displeasure of their subjects.\futnot +{{\it Ibid.}, 8.} + +So, by the early 1830's, the climate in Germany was perfect for emigration. +The common use of the word {\it Europamuede} (Europe weary) indicated a +desire to leave, and also implied that a land existed where one could be +free. This land was America to many Germans, because of the glowing +reports sent home by individuals who had already crossed the Atlantic. +Newspaper reports about immigrants were widespread, and personal letters +from America were passed throughout Germany. And most importantly, many +travel books were written in the 1820's and 1830's, with one especially +having an important effect on German immigration.\futnot +{Gilbert Giddings +Benjamin, {\it The Germans in Texas---A Study in Immigration} (Austin, Texas: +Jenkins Publishing Company, 1974), 4.} + +Gottfried Duden went to Missouri in 1824, spent four years there, and +upon returning to Germany wrote a book about his experiences that was +published in 1829. It was widely read throughout Southwest Germany, +and, combined with the economic conditions already discussed, helped start +the first big influx of Germans into America in 1831. The economic woes of +Germany, combined with the excitement generated by books like Dudens' +instigated one of the largest immigration movements ever aimed at America, +with a large number coming to Texas.\futnot{Biesele, 3, (footnote).} + +The final reason many Germans chose America and Texas began to take effect +in the early 1830's, with the abortive revolutions aimed at uniting the +German people into one state, and reached a high point in 1848 and 1849. +The primary motivation for this different set of immigrants was political +freedom. These Germans were generally better educated than those simply +wanting a better livelihood, and as a result there is more written about +this area.\futnot{Benjamin, 7.} However, it is sufficient to say +that in the case of these immigrants, they were fleeing punishment for +revolutionary activities, the loss of freedom due to offical crackdowns, +and/or the general unrest in Europe during this time. It is important +to note here that there is not one single ``correct'' cause for the massive +numbers of Germans that came to America during the 1830's and 1840's. Some +came to find political freedom, some came for economic freedom, and some +because of concerns beyond the scope of this report. What one needs to +understand about this is that life in Germany became unbearable for many, +and when they decided to leave they came to the United States because of +the fact that America by then had traditionally become the ``promised land'' +to those unsatisfied with life at home. + +What exactly did the immigrants expect to find in America? Quite frankly, +a ``land flowing with milk and honey''. Several Germans heard of free +land being given away, and reports of low taxes and high wages made America +sound very good, indeed, with Texas being mentioned quite frequently as the +place to go. The second, more intelligent group saw America as a land that +would allow them to express themselves in whatever fashion they chose.\futnot +{Biesele, 5-8.} Basically, Germans saw in America a chance to be truly +free. This explains partly their behavior in Texas during the secession crisis +and in the early part of the Civil War. In their new-found homeland, Germans +were very much aware of the personal and political rights, and it was this +awareness, among other things, that helped lead the Texas Germans to their +clashes with Confederate authorities. + +The Germans who arrived in Texas began doing so in large numbers about 1846. +They first settled in Austin, Colorado, Fayette, and Washington counties, +but later travelled westward and settled also in Comal, Gillespie, and +other assorted counties nearby. They quickly setled into the ``American way'' +of agriculture and capitalism, raising crops to sell to merchants.\futnot +{Walter Louis Buenger, Jr., ``Stilling the Voice of Reason---Texans and +the Union, 1854-1861'' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Rice University, 1979), 128.} + +Although they embraced their new found freedom, the German Texans were still +somewhat clannish. They spoke German, married other Germans, and formed their +own churches. This habit made for a few problems in the relationships between +the Americans in Texas and the immigrants. + +Despite this aloof attitude on the part of many Germans, they were quick to +adopt a ``value system based on $\ldots$ individual democracy $\ldots$ and +slavery''.\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, 130.} To men and women weary of +suppression in their homeland the Democratic party, with its emphasis on +expansion of the suffrage and the right of a man to be individualistic, was +the obvious choice politically.\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, 132.} They were +assisted in making this decision of party alignment by the actions of the +Know-Nothing party's nativistic rantings. + +The Know-Nothings were the cause of the start of trouble between the Germans +and the Americans in Texas. Imported from out-of-state in the 1850's, the +Know-Nothings managed to do very well in Texas in the 1854-1855 elections. +A sizeable minority (18\%) of the population in Texas were foreigners then, +so the nativist plank in the Know-Nothing platform appealed to many Texans +inclined towards prejudice against foreigners.\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, +47.} Unfortunately for the Germans, in 1854, at the height of the Know-Nothing +movement, a group of German intellectuals devised at a convention in San +Antonio a platform that advocated the gradual elimination of slavery in the +South.\futnot{Benjamin, 85-87.} Because sentiment of this kind +was anathema to most ``good'' Southerners, it was immediately and erroneously +assumed by the Americans that the Germans were abolitionists. Of course, +the Know-Nothing rags led the way in attacking the Germans. Many letters +were written by indignant immigrants apologizing to the Americans and +begging them to realize that the San Antonio platform did not represent +the opinion of all Germans.\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, 47.} It is +certain that the Germans, as relatively new inhabitants of Texas, felt that +it was none of their business to interfere in matters that in their minds +did not concern them. + +For slavery was indeed a matter that did not involve the Germans directly. +While it was true that most Germans regarded the idea of human bondage as +repungnant, many still remained apathetic towards the issue.\futnot +{Benjamin, 85-87.} If a German had an opinion at all, they probably regarded +it as the states' business, and as such, the federal government could not +compel the states whether or not slavery was legal.\futnot{Biesele, +{\it German Settlements in Texas}, 196.} Most Germans were Democrats fully +willing to let the Southerners keep their slaves, even if they did disagree +about the moral implications amongst themselves. This ambivalent attitude +towards slavery was not understood by the Americans in Texas at the time, +unfortunately. + +The uproar over the San Antonio platform would have died down without doing +any irreparable damage to relations between the immigrants and the Americans +if it were not for a militant German abolitionist (one of a very few), +Dr.~Adolf Douai, who, as editor of the San Antonio {\it Zeitung}, kept on +calling for abolition in his paper. Because of this man's ceaseless agitating, +with the resulting condemnation from the Know-Nothings and other Americans, he +is accused of singlehandedly giving the Germans in Texas the undeserved title +of abolitionist.\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, 202-203.} + +This constant bickering over the slavery question only served to widen the +rift between the Germans in Texas and their American counterparts. What +began as mere annoyance at the aloof behavior of one group of people all of +a sudden became much bigger and more ominous. The stage was set for the +secession struggle and the resulting events during the Civil War in Texas. + +Despite some real apathy on the slavery issue, most Germans had definite +ideas about secession. There were basically three groups of ideas on +secession in the German community. These three different sets of opinions +were caused by the degree to which the individual had been acclimated into +Southern society. Isolation, such as that which occurred on the Texas +frontier, inspired rather strong Unionist feelings among Germans who had to +rely upon the U.S. Army for protection against the Indians. Those on the +frontier were more idealistic also, as they were representatives of the +second, more thoughtful group of immigrants to come to Texas. Full of +revolutionary ardor left over from the 1848 revolutions in Germany, they +were very much against slavery and this along with their dependence on the +Army for protection made them strong Unionists.\futnot{Bueger, +195-166.} + +The group at the opposite end of the spectrum were highly integrated into +the white southern political and economic ideals in Texas. These men +disliked the Know-Nothings (now largely defunct), remained intensely +loyal to the states' Democratic party, and were more ``localistic than +nationalistic'';\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, 165.} that is, they were +not really in favor of secession, but if it occurred they would go along +with it. + +Caught in the middle was the group that shared mainly Texas values, was +not really active in the Democratic party, and as a result was deeply +committed to the Union. But although this group campaigned most actively +against secession, when Texas seceded, they went with her.\futnot +{{\it Ibid.}, 166.} + +At first glance, there seems to be a serious contradiction in the above +statements that the Germans were strong Unionists, and yet they generally +went with the state when she seceded. This contradiction in reality does +not exist. It is true that the Germans loved the Union; it had given them +freedoms hitherto undreamed of, and had far surpassed their wildest +expectations in the quality of life they had obtained in America. But +they still felt a bit isolated from the rest of the Texans, and there +was also the feeling that they were still newcomers to Texas and that +they should not meddle in the Americans' affairs. And finally, by 1859, +most of the long-time German immigrants were, despite their own doubts, +Texans. As has been previously discussed, they readily adopted American, +and particularly Southern, politics and ideology. But while the Germans +were willing to go along with secession if the rest of Texas wanted it, +they as a rule did not support the Confederacy, and most were firmly opposed +to the idea of serving in the Confederate armed forces. This desire to be +let alone by the Confederacy caused severe problems with the new Confederate +government. + +Unionist activities of the Germans in Texas during the Civil War can be +divided into two parts---those performed by the militant Unionist Germans +on the Texas frontier in Gillespie and surrounding counties, and those +that occurred in the less militant German counties in the interior, +centering around Fayette county. + +The activity around Fayette country and adjoining counties consisted +mainly of illegal anti-rebel meetings and the recruiting of stay-at-home +companies of the state militia. According to Elliot, ``Unionist meetings +were frequent, enthusiastic, and well attended $\ldots$ Speeches were +vehement, and the press was caustic in branding as traitors those who would +divide the Union''.\futnot{Claude Elliot, ``Union Sentiment in +Texas, 1861-1865'', {\it Southwestern Historical Quarterly}, L (April, 1947), +470.} Stay-at-home companies were a very clever way that the Unionists of +the area, expecially Fayette county, kept the men from having to serve in the +Confederate army. As soon as the war started, the men rushed to join state +militia and the state troops. Twenty-four companies existed in Fayette by +1861, but only 150 men had been sent into the Confederate army, much to the +embarrassment and chagrin of patriotic rebels and even mild Unionists.\futnot +{{\it Ibid.}, 470-471.} + +The Conscription Act of 1862 set off the already boiling Union sentiment and +nearly caused a rebellion. The enrolling officer of Austin county, A.~J. Bell, +reported that resistance to the draft was being seriously considered in several +communities, and he asked for help from other forces in the area. A few weeks +later Bell reported that the counties were in open rebellion against the +Confederate government. Companies of infantry and cavalry were even drilled +in preparation for any possible fighting. In order to control a rapidly +deteriorating situation, martial law was declared and troops were sent in to +calm things down.\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, 470-471.} Open resistance +to Confederate rule in Central Texas then came to an end, for all practical +purposes. + +In Gillespie and neighboring counties on the western frontier, however, things +were not just different, but also a lot more violent. Most of the Unionist +activity in this area was centered in Gillespie county, with the aid, if +needed, of surrounding German dominated counties. The first man chosen as +enrolling officer for Gillespie country was Jack Kuechler, a staunch Unionist. +He proceeded to enroll only those citizens who were loyal to the United States, +and would not even talk with those who wanted to join the Confederate +army.\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, 464.} This was about as far as opposition +went, until General P.~O. Hebert declared martial law in Texas in March, 1862. + +This declaration required that all alien males over sixteen must take an oath +of allegiance to the state and the Confederacy. Immediately, Unionist +sentiment flared among the German settlements and the Union Loyal League +(organized in June, 1861) held a meeting. Three companies were formed, +with Fritz Tegener chosen as major, and then they dispersed. These companies +were to protect against maurading Indians, but they were accused of trying +to duck Confederate service. + +When Governor Frances~R. Lubbock heard of the disturbance, he sent Captain +James Duff and two compnies of partisan rangers to Fredericksburg. Upon +arriving, Duff declared martial law (again) in Gillespie and part of Kerr +county. He then gave the people six days to come to him and take the oath +of allegiance.\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, 463.} During his stay, Duff +behaved in an extremely poor fashion, arresting and jailing at will anyone +he or his troops suspected of ``treason''. He also shot and hung quite a +few people, too.\futnot{Robert W. Shook, ``The Battle of the Nueces, +August 10, 1862'', {\it Southwestern Historical Quarterly}, LXVI, (July, 1962), +34.} + +Because of these persecutions, several Germans decided to leave Texas. Some +left for New Orleans to serve in the First Texas Cavalry Regiment (Union) +organized by Benjamin~F. Butler. Others decided to cross the Rio Grande and +then sail to New Orleans and meet the Federals that way. So on August 1, 1862, +about eighty men assembled at a point just west of Kerrville, with the +intention of crossing into Mexico. Approximately sixty men eventually left +for Mexico sometime on either the first or second of August. Upon learning +of this expedition, Duff, back in San Antonio by now, send Lieutenent C.~D. +McRae to pursue and break them up. After seven days of pursuit, McRae caught +up with the Unionists on the West Fork of the Nueces River. The Confederates +launched an attack in the early morning of August 10, 1862. Thirty-two +Unionists were killed and several wounded, while McRae lost two men with +eighteen wounded. McRae has been accused of murdering nine wounded survivors, +and of leaving the dead unburied, and there is some evidence to support +this.\futnot{{\it Ibid.}, 36-41.} + +After this ``Battle of the Nueces'', Duff returned to Gillespie county, +where he proceeded to hang fifty ``traitors'' and kill several ``bushwackers'' +as well.\futnot{Elliot, 466.} After this, most blatant opposition +to the Confederacy faded away, with the Germans on the frontier merely content +to catch word of Union victories at the front and quietly await the end of the +Confederacy. + +The Germans in Texas, then, underwent several hardships during the Civil War +because of the misunderstandings between them and the Americans that occurred +prior to the war. The immigrants' own reticence, their somewhat complex views +on slavery, secession, and their relationship with the Union, as well as the +machinations of the Know-Nothings all stamped the Germans as standoffish, +abolitionist foreigners of questionable loyalty to the beloved Confederacy. +This image did not help when the Confederate government began making demands +on the Germans that the immigrants were not prepared to meet. When one stops +to think of the enormity of the questions that faced the Germans on their +arrival in Texas, it is amazing that they adapted so well and so quickly to +their new home, despite the initial difficulties facing them. That they did +so says much in their credit, and they set a fine example of courage in the +face of hardship that one must admire even today. +\bye |