German immigrants fighting for Lincoln and against tyranny

The defeat of the liberals in the 1848 revolution brought had a big impact on the Civil War in the United States. Many of these immigrants were considered German, though that meant something a bit different back them. According to "German Americans During the Civil War:"

Their numbers would swell until Germans made up a  full quarter of the fighting force of the American Civil War.

While 216,000 German-born men were on the rolls of both the North and the South, 177,000 of  them, the vast majority, fought in the Union Army, sixty seven later receiving the Medal of Honor.

New York Germans were particularly dedicated to the Union cause:

While the majority of Germans served in ethnically mixed units, about a fifth of German enlistees  served in units which were all German. Over 36,000 New York soldiers were of German descent  (the 20th New York Infantry alone lost 120 men), and almost a third of them served in all-German  units. The most notable were the 29th, 46th and 52nd New York. After New York came Missouri  with 30,000 Germans serving and the 12th and 17th Missouri regiments being all German.

The enthusiasm for Lincoln has its roots in Berlin of 1811, and this turned into a series of civic organizations around the US. According to A Regimental History of the  Twentieth Regiment, New York State  Volunteer Infantry:

The Turner societies, or turnvereins, which still exist today, trace their roots to a gathering near Berlin in 1811.  Their charge was to foster nationalism and patriotism through a program of disciplined physical training and gymnastics.  The name “Turner” seems to come from the German turnen, “to perform gymnastics,” an adaptation of the French tourner, meaning “to turn.”   Turner societies sprouted up throughout the German-speaking territories until their radical espousal of German unity and representative government led authorities to suppress them in the 1830’s.

When the Forty-eighters immigrated to the United States, turnvereins blossomed quickly in the new land and soon became a strong voice in the German community for political, social, and religious reform.  The societies were also centers of literary and cultural studies and gymnastic exercise.  Many local turnvereins also had associated military organizations called Turner Rifles or "Turner Schützen".  Their dual purpose was marksmanship and protection of the society members in the often violent environement where they lived.  In 1855 the Turners ventured into American politics with a strong anti-slavery stance and naturally gravitated to the newly formed Republican Party.  The following year they endorsed John C. Fremont for president.  Fremont, who would later become a Union major general, ran on a slogan that shines considerable light on his supporters’ political leanings:  "Free speech, free press, free work, and a free Kansas."

You can read more in the PDF "The New York Turn Verein."

Here is a link connecting Joseph Goldmark to this movement: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dettweiler/genweb/e006.htm