, 1865-02-20
THE TRUTH OF HIS FNRY
Letter from Major General SI.ol,

1o Ue EQlIor OF t1e New lork Tribune:
SIR: II IN article Of your valuable pape
Of the 20th inst, inserted By member Of H.
New York Turner Association, and which
only reached me yesterday, the following
| passage occurs:
Franz sigel. haying recruited seversl German
feeinents, offered the same to Capt. Lyon bnl
the country tnis sesvice, prevailed on Lyon to de-
1er the swearing in Of Sigers regiments for few
days, TIL the Organization Of Ills own, which,
1ation Of Ct, Louis did not aIl up 40 rapidly.
Should be complete. The imminence OF the danger
and The earnest representations Of sige1 and the
-d1faatfouE results In case ST. Louis should p4sB
into rebel possession, induced Lyon not to walt
ior Blair; nud in consequence, sigel's name is
ns..y s9Sa ~ to be placed Desde that Of Lyon
Although / have, for many reasons, not
found 1t convenient to enter into rcfntation
.ol a number Of attacks and dehmations pro-
pagated against me By certain papers, how
ever cannot be silent when statements are
made which give more credit to me than
should conscientionsly accept, and which, At
ahadow on one Of my fellow. citizens. there.
fore take leave to make the following re-
marks:
At the beginning of thisl war, and i'm
mediately after the first call for troops, I
[aised md organized ons regiment ofinfantry
(the Sd MissourD and one battalion Of artll-
leEy. and not more the other regiments we're
1nised and Organized by F. P. Blair, 1st) Il.
Boernstein, (2d) and F. Schuttner, (4th). The
I'd, 90, and 4th regiments consisted exclusive
II ofGerman-American citizens; the greater
part Of the 1st was composed Of members Of
the st: Louis Turnyerein, which were o-gau-
lied and drilled US companies long before the
call was made the rest Of the regiment con-
sisted. ..as think, Of French and American
born citizens.
It is true thatit was with some difficulty
I obtained authority from General Lyon,
whose memory will forever be dear 10 me, to
talon bnt cannot suppose, and did never
say or hear It said, that the delay was occa-
stoned by secret Interference OF Gen. Blatr;
rather supposed that Gen. Lyon, at that
time captain Of infantry, was not quite sure
whether the acceptance Of "snch an army Of
menf would not increase his responsibilities
OF crowd the Arsenal In IN tnconvenient way.
In fact, there WAS hardly any difference Of
time III regard to the swearing In Of the COM
panies md battalions which entered the Ar
senal. They 1ushtd in and were sworn al
most simultaneously, and as fast as Lieut.,
zation of the Third Missouri Regiment, which
I undertook, was begun and more than half
Of It completed within three day+from Fri
day evening the 10Th to Monday, the 23d Of
April, 1861, when We entered the Arsenal
during this short period Of time not much In
reference was possible
The companies d. the st. Louis Turnve-
in, they were the first in the arsenal, end
therefore the regiment Of which they formed
part was we'll entitled TO pc called The first,
although the Sd Missouri may have been first
completed as regiment and stronger in
c2npanies and men.
As to my name being entitled to be
placed beside that Of Lyon-"i instead Of
NJ D., r
Blair, because think the name Of Nathaniel
Lyon can well afford, without losing Of its
splendor, to be associated with even more
than one or two Of those faithful citizens and
soldiers Of the Republic who In that terrible
drama of doubtiulness and danger openly
avowed and declared that they would not al.
Itt loW ths he s{ty and county Of St Louis. or the
sionism. In fact, neither the *'great captain''
nor F. ?. Blair, nor, the House Of TIley,
would have performed their rules as success.
fully as they have done if not protected. aud
pushed and carried forward By the patriot
ism, foresight and resolnte energy Of the
this fact, It cannot be denied that by far the
greater majority Of those loyal meu were
the adopted citizens Of the State Of Missouri,
sometimes called my German friends" but
very often also 1.-THE damned Dutch" This
epithet, with the addition Of "Dntch
word of the enemies Of the Republic In the
State Of Missouri, and the prosecutions
'' these damned Dutch" Ind to suf
fer the scorn and contempt heaped
upon them-the foul revenge praeticed
upon them even when crippled BY wounds
or sleeping In the arms Of death-would
have given them In the eyes of any impartial
man right to be at least ''honorablyf men
toned, even in mere historical sketch. But
1t is sometimes disagreeable to be Just,
especially II our bruins are heated By mo.
mentary success and glorious triumph. In
such moments memory becomes weaker in
to the exnlting news received.
It is so principally in this country, where
lone nail drives the other" and people have
no time to reflect much on events which came
to pass "long ago" perhaps somewhere ''over
the Arkansas line," although they NAV owe
to such obscure facts their lives and liberties.
We must therefore not be too harsh in regard
to flying article" on the history Of TO-DAY.
Il we consider that the Tribune hss
never Joined in the ISLANDERS and condemna-
tions Of some Of its colleagues, nor exulted
over every misfortune which has befallen
German troops or German commanders.
AS to the rest Of the letter published on the
10th, do not hesitate to indorse It.
I am, sir, very respectfully yours,
F. sIGEL, Maj. Gen. Of Vols.
ri hf~6a d.