This is the first work to highlight the contributions of regiments of the Pennsylvania Dutch and the post-1820 immigrant Germans at the Battle of Gettysburg. On the first day, the 1st Corps, in which many of the Pennsylvania Dutch groups served, and the half-German 11th Corps, which had five regiments of either variety in it, bought with their blood enough time for the Federals to adequately prepare the high ground, which proved critical in the end for the Union victory. On the second day, they participated in beating back Confederate attacks that threatened to crack the Union defenses on Cemetery Hill and in other strategic locations.

Historians of the early Republic are just beginning to tell the stories of the period&’s ethnic minorities. In Foreigners in Their Own Land, Steven M. Nolt is the first to add the story of the Pennsylvania Germans to that larger mosaic, showing how they came to think of themselves as quintessential Americans and simultaneously constructed a durable sense of ethnicity. The Lutheran and Reformed Pennsylvania German populations of eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the Appalachian backcountry successfully combined elements of their Old World tradition with several emerging versions of national identity. Many took up democratic populist rhetoric to defend local cultural particularity and ethnic separatism. Others wedded certain American notions of reform and national purpose to Continental traditions of clerical authority and idealized German virtues. Their experience illustrates how creating and defending an ethnic identity can itself be a way of becoming American. Though they would maintain a remarkably stable and identifiable subculture well into the twentieth century, Pennsylvania Germans were, even by the eve of the Civil War, the most &"inside&" of &"outsiders.&" They represent the complex and often paradoxical ways in which many Americans have managed the process of assimilation to their own advantage. Given their pioneering role in that process, their story illuminates the path that other immigrants and ethnic Americans would travel in the decades to follow.

The battle of Chancellorsville often remembered as Robert E. Lee's greatest triumph, also became a watershed in German-American history, because Lee's victory came at expense of the Union Eleventh Corps, composed of large numbers of German-speaking troops. Poorly deployed in position on the extreme right of the Federal line, this corps was the first struck by "Stonewall" Jackson's famous flank attack of 2 May 1863, and became the scapegoat for the northern defeat. Until now, the history of Germans in the eastern theater of operations has revolved around the rout of the Eleventh Corps and the supposed "flight" of its German regiments in Virginia wilderness. Utilizing previously unresearched German-language newspapers, soldiers' letters, memoirs, and regimental records, and long neglected English-language sources, Keller reconstructs the battle and its aftermath from the German-American perspective, both military and civilian. He offers us a fascinating window into an ethnic past frequently forgotten or misunderstood, one in which German soldiers' valor has been either minimized or dismissed as cowardly. Beginning with a discussion of German-American involvement in the war in the East up to 1863, Keller critically analyzes the performance of the German regiments during the battle and Anglo-American and German-American reactions to its outcome. A key theme running through the book is the idea of nativism, prejudice against the foreign-born by "natives", and how it affected northern German-Americans' perceptions of themselves as both patriots and Americans. Keller shows the ghost of Chancellorsville not only lingered through the rest of the Civil War, but also well into the postwar period, influencing how German-born citizens remembered their sacrifices during the conflict and ultimately assimilated into greater American society--Publisher's description.

"To the Latest Posterity is filled with examples of family registers from museum and private collections, many of them never before published, including early handmade work as well as printed registers that were filled in by hand in the nineteenth century. Bringing the art into the twentieth century and beyond, the Earnests discuss the adoption of the art by the Amish, who continue the practice of illuminated family record keeping today."--Jacket.

Explores the moral dilemmas faced by various religious sects and how these groups struggled to come to terms with the effects of wartime Americanization-- without sacrificing their religious beliefs and values.

This book provides a comprehensive account of the Pennsylvania Germans' participation in the American Civil War. It delves into their motivations for enlisting, their experiences on the battlefield, and their contributions to the war effort. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, including diaries, letters, and regimental records, the author paints a vivid picture of this often-overlooked aspect of the war. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the Civil War or Pennsylvania German history. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

A gripping and original account of how the Civil War began and a second American revolution unfolded, setting Abraham Lincoln on the path to greatness and millions of slaves on the road to freedom. An epic of courage and heroism beyond the battlefields, 1861 introduces us to a heretofore little-known cast of Civil War heroes—among them an acrobatic militia colonel, an explorer’s wife, an idealistic band of German immigrants, a regiment of New York City firemen, a community of Virginia slaves, and a young college professor who would one day become president. Their stories take us from the corridors of the White House to the slums of Manhattan, from the waters of the Chesapeake to the deserts of Nevada, from Boston Common to Alcatraz Island, vividly evoking the Union at its moment of ultimate crisis and decision. Hailed as “exhilarating….Inspiring…Irresistible…” by The New York Times Book Review, Adam Goodheart’s bestseller 1861 is an important addition to the Civil War canon. Includes black-and-white photos and illustrations.