Revolution returned to the streets of Paris early in 1848: in August 1848 George Schmitt, whose studying and teaching work had been disrupted by the political developments of the time, set off for the America. He would be away from Paris for more than a year. He settled, briefly, in Louisiana and was employed for a time as the organist or the assistant organist (sources differ) at the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. He remained at the cathedral for long enough to supervise the installation of a new three manual organ at the cathedral, build and installed by Matthias Schwab (1808-1862) of Cincinnati.