The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-04
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIM.

According to the most conservative es-
Inmates there are at least 100000 people
in America who are either German or Of
German extraction. We have more than
5,0oa.000 citizens who were actually born
in the Fatherland They are diffused
through every portion of the country. but
New York has the largest German colony
in the world. After that the greatest
number Is found in Pennsylvania. In the
early days of the Keystone State, when
the question arose whether the German
or English language should be the Off
clal tongue of the legislature, a German
cast the deciding vote in favor of the
English. Nine governors Of Pennsylvania
have been Of German descent. In the
West the numbers pile up again, and
there was at one time a concerted effort
in Wisconsin to make that wholly Ger
man State. Probably 70 per cent Of the
population of Milwaukee is Of German
extraction.
The history of the Germans TN the
United states is as picturesque as any ira
ditions cherished by the American people.
Peter Minnewit, of Vessel. was the first
German to set foot on American soil He
came in 1926 as first governor Of New
Netherlands. but the initial German col
Ony was not established until 1855. in the
land Of William Penn, This little band Of
thirteen families came on the good ship
Concord. with Germantown as their Ply
mouth Rock The emigration WAS strag-
Cling and infrequent during the rest of
the century, but the accession of good
Queen Anne 10 the throne of England, and
her generous protection Of the prosecuted
Germans led them in 1903 to leave their
desecrated homes for England, from
where they were sent to people the Amer
lean colonies.
Although the Germans themselves do
not boast of their war record, claiming TO
be a peaceful people. the archives Of
American wars show some interesting
facts about them as soldiers. The first
regiment TO reach Gen. Washington after
his call to arms was the York County
regiment, composed of Germans, under
Lieut.. Heinrich Miller More than forty
companies in the war Of the Revolution
were composed of men Of this race. most
of them coming from New York and
Pennsylvania, but each State where they
had settled contributed its share. Col
NicOlaus Herschheimer, with his brave
band of followers, won two decisive VIC
tories for the colonies. The far-famed
First New York Battalion, under Col.
Lasher. was composed of German
soldiery. When. in 1776, Washinston's de
pleted army Of 5000 men called for help
before going into the battles OF Princeton
and Trenton. it was 800 German soldiers
who REINFORCED them and won those two
battles.
The brilliant, picturesque Baron Won
Steuben, drillmaster and Inspector general
Of the army, was called the right hand
of Washington because he took a mob and
hammered it into an army. When the
Continental soldiers were starving at
Valley Forge and a plea was sent forth
for funds, nine Germans responded by
raising 10000 The superintendent If
bakeries of the Continental army was
Christopher Ludwig, who was described
by Gen. Washington as my honest
friend" Michael Hillegas. who was the
first Treasurer Of the United Colonies. and
afterward of the United States was Of
that nationality 1t was Heinrich Miller
and q German editor ''sCoOpcd'' his col
leagues on the birth of the United States.
Two stalwart figures Of the Revolution
were the sons of Henry NJ Muhlenberg.
the founder of the Lutheran Church in
America. The first. Rev Peter q. Muh-
lenberg, OF Woodstock, Va. called his
little flock together one Sunday morning.
preached a stirring sermon on the glOries
of war for the right, then threw aside his
clerical coat displaying a military uni
form, and called on all those who would
TO follow him. AT the church door he
made up a company of 300 men, and with
this handful he went through the war,
becoming colonel. then brigadier general,
and finally major general His statue has
been placed in the national hall in Wash
ingtOu by the State of Pennsylvania His
brother. Frederick a. Muhlenberg. was
president Of the convention which ratified
the Constitution of the United States.
Later he was made Speaker Of the First
and Third Congresses, and it was his de
Gliding vote, in the memorable deadlock Of
April p. 1885, which made the Jay treaty
operative.
The first force TO reach Lincoln in 1861
to defend the Union was a regiment
from Pennsylvania composed almost en-
tirely of the. descendants of Revolutionary
patriots, who in the earlier days were the
first TO reach George Washington. It was
the Germans who saved Missouri and
Kentucky for the Union. over 100000 men
of this race served in the armies Of the
North, 5000 of whom were officers.
There were twenty-seven German sail
ors ON the iIl-starred Maine. which was
sunk in Havana Harbor. Chief Gunner
Leonard G. F. Kuehlwein fired the first
shot at Manila. There were thirteen Ger
man officers in ROosevelrs Rough Rider
regiment, and OF the three first American