A German hurrah!
Subtitle: Civil War letters of Friedrich Bertsch and Wilhelm Stängel, 9th Ohio Infantry
By: translated and edited by Joseph R. Reinhart.
Contributors: Bertsch, Friedrich, 1823-; Stängel, Wilhelm, 1826-; Reinhart, Joseph R.
Series: Civil War in the north
Publisher: Kent State University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Kent, Ohio
Language: eng
Number of pages: 370
ISBN-13: 9781606350386
Subjects: Bertsch, Friedrich, -- 1823- -- Correspondence; Stängel, Wilhelm, -- 1826- -- Correspondence; United States. -- Army. -- Ohio Infantry Regiment, 9th (1861-1864); German American soldiers -- History -- 19th century; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Regimental histories; Ohio -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Regimental histories; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives; Ohio -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Participation, German American; Ohio -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Participation, German American
Genres: Correspondence; Personal narratives
Description: "Lieutenant Friedrich Bertsch and Chaplain Wilhelm Stängel of the 9th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry were not typical soldiers in the Union army. They were German immigrants fighting in a German regiment. Imbued with democratic and egalitarian ideals, the pair were disappointed with the imperfections they found in America and its political, social, and economic fabric; they also disdained puritanical temperance and Sunday laws restricting the personal freedoms they had enjoyed in Europe. Both men believed Germans were superior to Americans and other ethnic soldiers and hoped to elevate the status of Germans in American society by demonstrating their willingness to join in the fight and preserve the Union at the risk of their own lives. Bertsch's and Stängel's letters from the battlefront were published in German American newspapers ... they are among the very rare collections of letters from soldiers in a German regiment ... A German hurrah! makes Bertsch's and Stängel's letters available in English for the first time"--Dust jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: "Like ducks to water"; title: To western Virginia; title: Baptism of fire; title: Return to Webster City; title: Webster City to New Creek; title: Separation and reunion; title: To Carnifex Ferry; title: The Battle of Carnifex Ferry; title: Totally fed up with western Virginia; title: Camp Anderson and Miller's Ferry; title: Still under fire and still underfed; title: Rescued from western Virginia; title: Christmas at Camp Lebanon; title: Mill Springs : glorious victory; title: Camp Cumberland to Camp Perryville; title: Louisville to Nashville; title: Nashville to Spring Hill; title: The battlefield of Shiloh; title: Operations against Corinth, Mississippi; title: From Corinth, Mississippi, to Tuscumbia, Alabama; title: McCook is murdered; title: Return to middle Tennessee.