Sprung from seed sown
by German liberals, the American turners could not be anything but
freedom-loving and patriotic. From the beginning they stood for the rights
and the liberty of man; they wanted the shackles off everywhere, they
demanded a chainless body and a fetterless brain. Literally they fought
for free speech, free thought, and free men. Their second national convention
proclaimed allegiance to the platform of the Free Soil party and pledged
every member to its support. In 1855, under the presidency of Carl F. Bauer,
subsequently the editor of the Milwaukee Herold, they declared their determined
opposition to both slavery and slavery extension, as unworthy of a
republic and as contrary to the principles of liberty. Under Franz Sigel,
the turners of St. Louis captured Camp Jackson and saved Missouri for the
Union. Winston Churchill's The Crisis has given us a graphic picture
of this episode. From Milwaukee a company of young turners went to St.
Louis "to fight mit Sigel," and among them were my father's and my mother's
youngest brothers, and Bernhard Eiring, who still survives. In Baltimore,
the only place where the stars and stripes fluttered in the breeze was
on the flagstaff of the turner-hall. Lincoln's bodyguard at his inauguration
consisted of sharpshooters of the Washington Turnverein and their brethren
from Baltimore. On April 17, 1861, Judge Stallo [John Bernhard Stallo (1822-1900),
distinguished linguist, scientist, and jurist, came to America in 1838.
He was a professor of ancient languages before beginning the practice of
law in 1847 at Cincinnati. In 1885 he was appointed by Cleveland minister
to Italy, and after Harrison's election he resigned, but lived at Florence,
engaged in philosophic and scientific studies and in authorship until
his death] delivered his stirring address in the Cincinnati Turnverein,
and before the meeting closed a full regiment had been enrolled-the Ninth
Ohio, organized and trained by Willich, who has been heretofore referred
to in connection with the founding of the Milwaukee Turnverein. Willich
subsequently commanded the Thirty-second Indiana, a sister-regiment
of the Ninth Ohio. Hecker organized the Twenty-fourth and the Eighty-second
Illinois, Weber organized his turners into the Twentieth New York, Osterhaus
did the same in the case of the Twelfth Missouri, Schimmelpfennig with
the Seventy-fourth Pennsylvania, and Pfaender with the Second Minnesota.
Captain Blandowski, fencing master of the St. Louis turners, was one of
the first to fall in the capture of Camp Jackson and the arsenal. Turners
participated everywhere from the beginning to the end of the war: the first
victims were John Ricks and Martin Ohl, of the Washington turners, and
the man who led the army into Richmond was General Weitzel, who as a youth
had been active as a turner in Cincinnati. Wisconsin turners likewise did
their full duty as men and patriots. They were particularly conspicuous
in the Fifth,
the Ninth, and the Twenty-sixth regiments. Huchting and Helm of Madison
joined the First Wisconsin Infantry, two of the Sauthoffs joined the First
Wisconsin Artillery [When the first company of "ninety-day men" entrained
at Madison for the war, they were escorted to the station by the Madison
Turnverein]. The Milwaukee society organized Company C, the Turner Company,
of the Fifth; Baumbaeb commanded the Twenty-fourth in the Battle above
the Clouds; Brosius served in the Ninth; Boebel
lost a leg while leading the Twenty-sixth at Gettysburg; Fink
and Doerflinger, both of the Twenty-sixth, were
severely wounded at Chancellorsville; Domschke,
later the editor of the Herold, and Wallber,
both officers in the Twenty-sixth, were prisoners in Libby; Anneke, under
whom Schurz bad served in 1848, was colonel of the Thirty-fourth; Koch,
the architect, was a topographical engineer on General Sheridan's staff;
Maerklin, the poet, with Boebel one of the founders of the society, served
in the Thirty-fourth Wisconsin. These well-known names are cited as types
of turner - soldiers everywhere, and are selected at random. For a full
treatment of the subject, I refer the reader to Rosengarten's The German
Soldier in the Wars of the United States, and to Kaufmann's Die Deutschen
im Am. Buergerkriege. One of the most beautiful and impressive lessons
in patriotism for the pupils who have attended the turning-school of the
Milwaukee society is the commemorative marble tablet on its wall, on which
are perpetuated the names of its members who fell in the Civil War, forgotten
heroes in nameless, sunken graves in Virginia, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia,
and the Carolinas.
Only a brief and succinct
mention can here be made of the political reforms for which the turners
have stood and for which they fought, both as members of political organizations
and as sturdy independents. A glance at their principles and platforms
shows them as students of political conscience and government, of a high
order. Above all, while they habitually used the German language, loved
German letters and art, supported the German theater, sang German songs,
and kept up German customs, they were at all times and under all circumstances
Americans from crown to toe and in every fibre of their being. It was a
fundamental requirement that every turner had to be a citizen, and it was
a condition of admission to membership that each applicant was obliged
to become naturalized as speedily as possible. Americanization was for
them no problem at all. They either inherited, or acquired as quickly and
as easily as breathing, the great moral and political traditions of the
Republic. They vouched for their patriotism, in peace and war, in thought
and deed, with all they had and all they were, with their lives, their
fortunes, and their honor. They were firm believers in democratic government
and in the sovereignty of the people. They were advocates of the initiative,
referendum, and recall. They emphasized especially among their platform
principles the following: direct popular election of president and senators;
the duty of the state to improve the social and economic welfare of the
people; protection of the masses against the exploitation of capital; factory
inspection; prohibition of child labor, abolition of monopolies, land grants,
and subsidies; progressive income and inheritance taxation; tariff and
civil service reform; international arbitration. Verily upon their principles
a political platform could be built even today upon which every enlightened,
forward-looking citizen could take a conscientious stand. And they did
all this in a spirit of absolute unselfishness. No one looked upon the
mere office-seeker with greater contempt then did they. They acted from
motives of the highest idealism, the purest patriotism, the finest loyalty,
the deepest love of country and of state. "Cast thy bread upon the waters,
for thou shalt find it after many days."
Chapters in the History of the Turners pg. 130-133 by Robert Wild
