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49-717: Baden Mutiny (9 May – 23 July 1849): The Hecker uprising was an attempt in April 1848 by Baden revolutionary leaders Friedrich Hecker , Gustav von Struve , and several other radical democrats to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic in the Grand Duchy of Baden . The uprising was the first major clash in the Baden Revolution and among the first in the March Revolution in Germany, part of

98-530: A clash with the Confederation troops. He was cut off from the lower Rhine; Mannheim , Heidelberg , and Karlsruhe were now unattainable. The army forced Hecker's column farther and farther to the southwest, until in Kandern, in the extreme southwest corner of the country, Hecker found himself forced to face them. The battle took place on the 20th. About 800 Hecker supporters faced around 2,000 soldiers from

147-584: A modest living. The remaining participants were manufacturers, as well as students from the University of Freiburg and farmers. Within days, the uprising was crushed. On April 14 military units of the German Confederation, under the command of General Friedrich von Gagern set themselves on the heels of Hecker's column. On the 16th, Hecker had to turn south towards Stühlingen and Bonndorf without having reached Donaueschingen, in order to avoid

196-435: A radical-democratic newspaper. Under Fickler's leadership a sports club was founded on March 31. With 40 charter members, the goal of the club was "to form an armed, but free corps" and shortly thereafter became a nationally-established liberal Workers Association. Fickler's arrest on April 8, 1848 gave Hecker the final impetus he needed to head to Konstanz. In fact, a somewhat republican but primarily militant mood prevailed in

245-412: A romantic robber chief: blue shirt, sword and pistol on his belt and the distinctive, wide-brimmed "Hecker hat". The unified throng of the country people they had hoped for failed to appear. However, as they moved northwest, through Allensbach , Radolfzell , Stockach and Engen , volunteers from the isolated villages joined, so that the train grew slowly. In a few places such as Singen am Hohentwiel ,

294-565: A rumor. Nevertheless, this myth remained very stubborn, and was often used in post-revolutionary republican propaganda. The goal of the uprising, which departed from Konstanz the day after the People's Assembly, was to advance towards the Rhine plain in order to meet there with another Republican volunteer army that was advancing from France, the 900-strong German Democratic Legion under the poet George Herwegh. Together, they wanted to occupy Karlsruhe

343-580: A variety of political positions there, both as a Democrat and a Republican . In 1869 , he ran on the Republican ticket for Secretary of State of New York , losing to the incumbent Democrat Homer Augustus Nelson . In May 1871 he became collector of internal revenue, and then in October 1871 register of the city. In 1887, President Grover Cleveland appointed him pension agent for the city of New York. He also lectured, worked in advertising and published

392-599: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Franz Sigel Franz Sigel (November 18, 1824 – August 21, 1902) was a German American military officer, revolutionary and immigrant to the United States who was a teacher, newspaperman, politician, and served as a Union major general in the American Civil War . His ability to recruit German-speaking immigrants to the Union armies received

441-657: Is named after its leader, the 37-year-old lawyer from Mannheim , Friedrich Hecker, who in 1848 was already the spokesman for the liberal-democratic opposition in the Second Chamber of the Baden Parliament . Hecker, Herwegh, and Gustav Struve were well-known representatives of the Left in northern Baden. In the preparatory parliament of the March Revolution , however, they were in the minority with their radical, far-reaching anti-monarchical ideas. The majority of

490-572: Is unclear. Some accounts cite failing health; others that he expressed his displeasure at the small size of his corps and asked to be relieved. Many historians also cite the lack of military prowess and skill . On multiple occasions, he made terrible military decisions , resulting in deaths of his soldiers. General-in-chief Henry W. Halleck detested Sigel, and managed to keep him relegated to light duty in eastern Pennsylvania until March 1864. President Lincoln, for political reasons, directed Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to place Sigel in command of

539-567: The Fünfzigerausschuss , a committee of fifty chosen to bridge the period until the formation of a proper national parliament and their political ideas were not greeted positively. Disappointed, Hecker decided to advance the revolution in other ways, first in his native Baden. The city of Konstanz on the edge of Lake Constance seemed to Hecker a suitable starting point. The capital of the Lake Constance District

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588-865: The New York City public schools and served in the state militia. He married a daughter of Rudolf Dulon and taught in Dulon's school. In 1857, he became a professor at the German-American Institute in St. Louis , Missouri . He was elected director of the St. Louis public schools in 1860. He was influential in the Missouri immigrant community. He attracted Germans to the Union side and antislavery causes when he openly supported them in 1861. Shortly after

637-840: The New York Monthly , a German-American periodical, for some years. Franz Sigel died in New York in 1902 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx , New York City . His granddaughter, Elsie Sigel , was the victim of a notorious murder. Statues of him stand in Riverside Park , corner 106th Street in Manhattan and in Forest Park in St. Louis , Missouri . There is also a park named for him in

686-777: The Second Battle of Bull Run , another Union defeat, where he was wounded in the hand. Over the winter of 1862–63, Sigel commanded the XI Corps , consisting primarily of German immigrant soldiers, in the Army of the Potomac . When Ambrose Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potomac, he instituted 'grand divisions', consisting of two corps each; Sigel assumed command of the Reserve Grand Division, consisting of

735-790: The United States , only to return briefly in May 1849 as the revolution flared up again. Gustav von Struve remained in the area and tried in September 1848 in Lörrach to foment another uprising, which also failed. Georg Herwegh, who had also fled to Switzerland, took no more part in the Baden republican revolutions. Only Franz Sigel, the former military, participated in the May Uprisings and the Constitution Campaigns of 1849 and in

784-433: The "Sigel-Zug", recruiting a militia of more than 4,000 volunteers to lead a siege against the city of Freiburg . His militia was defeated on April 23, 1848 by the numerically inferior but better led troops of the Grand Duchy of Baden . In 1849, he became Secretary of War and commander-in-chief of the revolutionary republican government of Baden. Wounded in a skirmish, Sigel had to resign his command but continued to support

833-420: The 15th, between 150 and 250 volunteers with two artillery pieces behind them left Konstanz, reportedly accompanied by "jubilant crowds." On the first day, between 30 and 50 men comprised the entirety of Hecker's fighting force. Around 120 to 250 more men from Konstanz followed on the second and third day. However, a week later, at the "Battle of Kandern", the force had grown to between 800 and 1200 men. Besides

882-658: The Bronx , just south of the Courthouse near Yankee Stadium . Siegel Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn was named after him, Sigel Street in Worcester, Massachusetts was also named after him, as well as the village of Sigel, Pennsylvania , founded in 1865, in addition to Sigel, Illinois , which was settled in 1863. Sigel Township, Minnesota , settled in 1856 and organized in April 1862, was also named for Sigel. There

931-523: The German Confederation were said to be stationed all around and the operation was poorly prepared. They refused to support an armed uprising as the people had only armed themselves as protection against foreign enemies. Hecker pressed for a public meeting, he hoped to find the people more open to his plan. The People's Assembly was held on April 12 in the afternoon at about five o'clock in the Town Hall. There Hecker outlined his political stance and called on

980-479: The June 1849 was named Minister of War in the short-lived Republic of Baden , which ended with the capture of Rastatt by Prussian troops on July 23, 1849. Baden Mutiny The Baden mutiny was the third act of the Baden Revolution it lasted from 9 May – 23 July 1849. On 11 May, the third Baden uprising began with the mutiny of Baden troops in the federal Rastatt Fortress . This German history article

1029-596: The Union artillery in the attack which routed the Confederates. Sigel was promoted to major general on 21 March 1862. He served as a division commander in the Shenandoah Valley and fought unsuccessfully against Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson , who outwitted and defeated the larger Union force in a number of small engagements. He commanded the I Corps in Maj. Gen. John Pope 's Army of Virginia at

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1078-501: The Upper Rhine Districts were in a state of war. A number of revolutionaries were arrested. The city remained under siege until March, 1849. With that, the first major republican revolutionary uprising in Baden failed. The rumor, Hecker was planning another uprising from Switzerland, persisted for months. Hecker, however, who could hardly still hope for a revolution in Baden, traveled through France and took up residence in

1127-644: The XI and XII Corps. The Reserve Grand Division saw no action; it stayed in reserve during the Battle of Fredericksburg . After the battle, and the dissolution of the grand divisions, Sigel returned to command of the XI Corps. He had developed a reputation as an inept general, but his ability to recruit and motivate German immigrants kept him employed in a politically sensitive position. Many of these soldiers could speak little English beyond "I'm going to fight mit Sigel", which

1176-553: The approval of President Abraham Lincoln , but he was strongly disliked by General-in-Chief Henry Halleck . Sigel was born in Sinsheim , Baden (Germany), and attended the gymnasium in Bruchsal . He graduated from Karlsruhe Military Academy in 1843, and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the army of the Grand Duchy of Baden . He met the revolutionaries Friedrich Hecker and Gustav von Struve and became associated with

1225-485: The army, and conducted the retreat to Rolla . In early 1862, Sigel was given command of two divisions of the Army of the Southwest under Samuel R. Curtis . The army moved through Springfield into Arkansas , and met Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn in the Battle of Pea Ridge on 8-9 March. Sigel's finest performance was in this battle. His troops fought well, and on 9 March he personally directed

1274-466: The balcony of City Hall that evening and before an enthusiastic crowd, had declared the Republic. However, none of the three reporting newspapers, not even the leftist Seeblätter , mention such an event, and an actual proclamation almost certainly would have found expression in the local press. In the context of the events of that evening, it seems unlikely, moreover, that this was anything more than just

1323-583: The border to ravage the country, on March 26 a general arming of the citizenry took place. Franz Sigel , a former officer who was in the quasi-militarized city, organized a militia of 400 men on behalf of the mayor, Mayor Charles Hüetlin. The hopes of Hecker and Struve were based on the militia. Hecker arrived in Konstanz on the evening of April 11. To escape arrest, he had traveled through France and Switzerland. Together with Franz Sigel , Gustav Struve , and Theodor Mogling , who had arrived earlier, he planned

1372-536: The bourgeois liberal representatives of the revolution, who mostly came from the upper-middle class, favored a constitutional monarchy under a hereditary emperor, in which liberal reforms would be possible. Hecker and Struve had taken part in the Frankfurt preliminary parliament from March 31 to April 4, 1848, but in Frankfurt they had suffered both personal and political losses. Neither managed to be elected to

1421-499: The broader Revolutions of 1848 across Europe. The main action of the uprising consisted of an armed civilian militia under the leadership of Friedrich Hecker moving from Konstanz on the Swiss border in the direction of Karlsruhe , the ducal capital, with the intention of joining with another armed group under the leadership of revolutionary poet Georg Herwegh there to topple the government. The two groups were halted independently by

1470-471: The capital of Baden, dethrone the Grand Duke, and enforce a German Republic. The first day of the uprising, Thursday, April 13, 1848, was a disaster. On the same evening that Hecker had encountered such strong opposition at the People's Assembly, Franz Sigel had assigned his militia to take part in the revolution. However, this was prevented by Mayor Karl Hüetlin. The following morning 150 men gathered in

1519-526: The defeat of the uprising people continued to try to join, either from lack of information or to protest against the occupation of the country. About 60 percent of the participants in the uprising were craftsmen (22.5% masters and 35% journeyman). Many of them were poor, many because their social situation had deteriorated, especially in the famine of 1846/47. Many journeymen could find no work and had little hope of being able to become masters themselves. Even master craftsmen often had virtually no way to make even

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1568-431: The entire militia joined. Also in Konstanz some supporters finally surfaced. On the first day after the departure, April 14, a large crowd of Hecker supporters gathered to follow the main body. There was an armed confrontation outside the city chancellery, which almost degenerated into a small civil war. The supporters were encouraged by the (false) rumor circulating that thousands of farmers had joined Hecker. Eventually, on

1617-445: The governments of Hessen and Baden. The confederation troops were not only in the superior, but also better armed and trained. There were casualties on both sides. General von Gagern was among the first casualties of the battle, but the guerrillas were routed. Hecker and Struve were able to escape and fled to Switzerland. It took several days before the news of Hecker's defeat spread. Meanwhile, militia groups continued to set out to join

1666-497: The market square, but with the rainy weather and the strategic futility of the venture apparent, only 30-50 men eventually joined. With Hecker, Sigel and Mogling they moved at around eight o'clock from the city - the number of curious spectators was probably significantly greater than that of the participants. Hecker, "Leader of the Insurrection and Supreme Commander," wearing his uniform of the revolution in which he appeared like

1715-424: The men from Konstanz, most were from villages the column moved through or passed near. Many spontaneously decided to join - mostly small groups of citizens or sometimes a local militia. There were participants from Dettighofen , Stockach, Singen on Hohentwiel, Emmingen ab Egg , Liptingen, Immendingen , Freiburg, Möhringen , Grimmelshofen , Geisingen , Falkau , Gurtweil , Tiengen , and Utzenfeld . Even after

1764-559: The new Department of West Virginia . In his new command, Sigel opened the Valley Campaigns of 1864 , launching an invasion of the Shenandoah Valley . He was soundly defeated by Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge at the Battle of New Market , on May 15, 1864, which was particularly embarrassing due to the prominent role played by young cadets from the Virginia Military Institute . After the battle, Sigel

1813-532: The next steps: Four columns were to march and meet up in Karlsruhe, one of Constance, two on different routes of Donaueschingen , and a fourth over upper Black Forest , from St. Blasien and Waldshut . They hoped for a snowball effect: the columns were supposed to gain more and more people en route so that the state should eventually collapse like a house of cards. The Konstanz Republicans, however, opposed Hecker's plan as unrealistic and dangerous. The troops of

1862-464: The people to participate in his plan. He and his companions did not find the expected enthusiastic reception. In the tumultuous atmosphere Hecker met with threats and hostility. Although he was speaking to a republican-minded majority, neither the Citizens' Committee, nor the People's Assembly, or the militia immediately wanted to join his Revolution. Shortly thereafter the myth arose that Hecker, from

1911-670: The revolutionary movement. He was wounded in a duel in 1847. The same year, he retired from the army to begin law school studies in Heidelberg . After organizing a revolutionary free corps in Mannheim and later in the Seekreis county, he soon became a leader of the Baden revolutionary forces (with the rank of colonel ) in the 1848 revolution , being one of the few revolutionaries with military command experience. In April 1848, he led

1960-472: The revolutionary war effort as adjutant general to his successor Ludwik Mieroslawski . In July, after the defeat of the revolutionaries by Prussian troops and Mieroslawski's departure, Sigel led the retreat of the remaining troops in their flight to Switzerland. Sigel later went on to England. Sigel immigrated to the United States in 1852, as did many other German Forty-Eighters . Sigel taught in

2009-459: The spring of 1848 in the citizenry of Konstanz. Since March 5, 1848, there had been a permanent Citizens' Committee, convened at a public meeting, which was to represent the political citizenship at the pre-parliamentary assemblies in Offenburg . The situation in the city was tense. On the – as it turned out false – rumor that tens of thousands of armed and unarmed Frenchmen near Offenburg crossed

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2058-482: The start of the war, Sigel was commissioned colonel of the 3rd Missouri Infantry, a commission dating from 4 May 1861. He took part in the capture of Camp Jackson in St. Louis by Brig. Gen Nathaniel Lyon on 10 May. In the summer of 1861, President Lincoln actively sought the support of antislavery, pro-Unionist immigrants. Sigel, always popular with the German immigrants, was a good candidate to advance this plan. He

2107-701: The troops of the German Confederation before they could combine forces. In the Grand Duchy of Baden, which already had a relatively liberal constitution enacted under the politically moderate Grand Duke Leopold , radical democratic ideas were widely held. The influence of the French Revolution of 1848 , which had proclaimed the Second Republic several weeks before, was stronger in Baden than anywhere in Germany. The uprising

2156-576: The uprising. In Freiburg im Breisgau , although they had been informed of the defeat of the uprising, a public meeting on April 23 decided to take up arms against the approximately 3,000 soldiers who had arrived. The uprising was bloodily suppressed. A week after the Battle of Kandern, on April 27, Herwegh's group was finally defeated at Dossenbach . His 650 men had only crossed the Rhine on April 23 - too late to come to Hecker's aid. On April 25, Bavarian soldiers arrived at Konstanz. The Lake Constance and

2205-494: Was driven back by the State Guard. The action was strategically insignificant, but did encourage pro-Confederate recruitment. Sigel then joined his troops with the army under Lyon, which marched to Springfield in pursuit of the State Guard. In the Battle of Wilson's Creek , on 10 August, he led a flanking column which attacked the rear of the rebel force, but was routed. After General Lyon was killed, Sigel assumed command of

2254-438: Was promoted to brigadier general on 7 August, to rank from 17 May, one of a number of early politician-generals elevated by Lincoln. In June, Sigel led a Federal column to Springfield in southwest Missouri. He then moved to Carthage , to cut off the retreat of pro- Confederate Missouri State Guard troops previously defeated by Lyon at Boonville . In the subsequent Battle of Carthage on 5 July, Sigel's outnumbered force

2303-527: Was regarded as particularly receptive to liberal ideas and Hecker expected to find many supporters in the city and surrounding countryside. Several groups of liberal and republican-minded citizens had already emerged in Konstanz in the 1830s. Joseph Fickler had emerged as a local agitator in the Vormärz period before the failed March revolutions of 1848. He was the publisher and editor of the Seeblätter ,

2352-467: Was replaced by Maj. Gen. David Hunter . In July, Sigel fought Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early at Harpers Ferry , but soon afterward was replaced by Albion P. Howe . Sigel spent the rest of the war without an active command. Sigel resigned his commission on May 4, 1865. He worked as editor of the Baltimore Wecker for a short time, and then as a newspaper editor in New York City . He filled

2401-468: Was their proud slogan and which became one of the favorite songs of the war. They were quite disgruntled when Sigel left the XI Corps in February 1863, and was replaced by Major-General Oliver O. Howard , who had no immigrant affinities. Fortunately for Sigel, the two black marks in the XI Corps' reputation— Chancellorsville and Gettysburg —occurred after he was relieved. The reason for Sigel's relief

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