GERMANS OF THE CIVIL WAR BY CHALEY RIGNEY, LANDON COLE, AND LANA JOHNSON

Transcription

1 GERMANS OF THE CIVIL WAR BY CHALEY RIGNEY, LANDON COLE, AND LANA JOHNSON

2 EMILE DUPRE LETTER PLEASE TURN AROUND OR PUT YOUR HEAD DOWN THANK YOU. My dear mother, New York, November 21st, 1860 [ ] [15 ll.: correspondence; his brother Alexander should learn English] As I wrote to you in one of my earlier letters, my contract here runs out on the first of January, and I cannot yet say for sure if I will be able to extend it for the next season. I am trying very hard, and I am sometimes surprised to find myself still at my desk at midnight. I never used to be able to do things like this, but now that I know what goal I am working toward, it is easy for me to do. I ve even started to enjoy it. It is the first job where I earn more than I actually need and which would allow me to get married[. ] At any rate, I am determined to start a commissions and agency business, and even if I keep my job, I will be doing the groundwork for this.

3 EMILE DUPRE LETTER CONT. PLEASE TURN AROUND OR PUT YOUR HEAD DOWN THANK YOU. In order to do this, however, I will need some capital. If a European company agrees to do all its business here with me, then I am its agent. If they only send goods now and then I receive them on commission. Both arrangements work equally well. When I see that this job on the side is earning me more than my other job, I will give up the latter. If my company fires me, however, I will have to work that much harder to increase business. 2,000 talers* are about $1,450 in the currency over here, and this is the sum I am convinced would enable me to get started, because then I would be able to take small orders for domestic companies that turn a very nice profit. Here you have to pay 6 7 percent interest, but I hope you can get me the same amount for 5 percent since I don t want to pay more.

4 SUMMARY OF LETTER THANK YOU. PLEASE TURN AROUND OR PUT YOUR HEAD DOWN If Emile was doing so well with his job, why did he want to start his own business? Emile s term was going to be over soon, therefore he had to have a backup plan. That backup plan happened to be starting his own business. If it will take $1,450 to get Emile started with his business, should he save up more so he is in a better and more secure position once he starts his business? He should save up more money so he is secure, however, he needs money (capital) quickly so he will not have time to save up. In his letter, he asks his dear mother if she would be able to loan him some money, so he wasn t in danger of being broke. The intended audience is Emile s mother, as she is the only one who can help him at this time. During this time, Abraham Lincoln had just been elected president, therefore the whole country was about to change.

5 SUMMARY OF LETTER CONT. PLEASE TURN AROUND OR PUT YOUR HEAD DOWN. Is there bias in this letter? Yes, there is bias in this letter. Emile could ve sent this letter to his brother, or anyone else in his family, but instead he chose to send the letter to his Mother. Why? Well there is no definite answer to that. Maybe it was because he knew she had more money then his brother. Whatever the reason, the letter was important to Emile. The author is Brigitte Leiß.

6 EMILE DUPRE LETTER PART 2 Dear parents, York, April 26th, 1861 [ ] [ ] As you probably read in your newspapers, our steamers have been commandeered by the government of the United States to be used for the war. For the last 3 weeks I have spent all my time at the docks or in the arsenals. The government has chartered 11 of our steamers that we are outfitting with war supplies, troops etc. and sending off. My regiment, the 71st light infantry, went to Washington last week by steamer[. ] After consulting with my friends, I stayed in New York, and my friend Henry Phillips went to the battlefield in my place and in my uniform. I was also asked to take command of a German jaeger company, but I turned this down as well out of consideration of my wife. New York looks like an army camp. There are armed men everywhere, everyone carries a revolver, and we re living in an absolute torrent of commotion. Heaven knows how it will all turn out. Both sides are deadly serious and will probably have to wear each other out before they can even think of settling their differences or making peace. Business is terrible only guns and more guns are in demand.

7 EMILE DUPRE CONT. Both sides are deadly serious and will probably have to wear each other out before they can even think of settling their differences or making peace. Business is terrible only guns and more guns are in demand. Every now and then someone earns a fortune, and your little Mizel has also had some luck. If things don t get any worse, I think by the end of the year I ll be able to call the small sum of 8,000 talers* my own. I m doing a lot of work on my own now, and I m starting to trust my own abilities. And many of the most respected companies here are also placing their trust in me. The sum mentioned above is a commission for the completion of a splendid deal. On Strasbey s advice I asked a mutual friend to join in this venture, and he gets half the profit, but he has been a real boon to the operation. We re working on a second project that looks most promising. The first shipment of my champagne has arrived, and I ve already sold it. Just now, one of our steamers has arrived with troops from Texas a second one, the Star of the West, was captured by the South, and in the next few days we will be receiving compensation for it in gold from the government. The steamship company gets $1,600 for the use of the Illinois and $1,000 for

8 EMILE DUPRE CONT. The first shipment of my champagne has arrived, and I ve already sold it. Just now, one of our steamers has arrived with troops from Texas a second one, the Star of the West, was captured by the South, and in the next few days we will be receiving compensation for it in gold from the government. The steamship company gets $1,600 for the use of the Illinois and $1,000 for the Kill v. Kull (per day, and you, dear father, can easily calculate what a profit we re making when I tell you that the costs of a steamer like the Illinois run about $400). I just got an order to fill up another steamer with coal and food supplies tomorrow it s taking a Scottish regiment to Washington. with all love / your / Emile.

9 SUMMARY OF LETTER The author of this letter is Brigitte Leiß. This letter is intended for Emile s parents. When Emile wrote this letter, the city he was in was preparing for war. As he stated in the letter, Business is terrible only guns and more guns are in demand. At the time, since guns were the only thing that people wanted, his business was making no profit. If business was doing so bad for Emile, how come he didn t go back to his family? Emile probably thought that the war would be over soon, therefore, the time that he had a lack of money would be short. If he wanted to stay down there, how come he worried his parents? He wanted to tell them the truth, so he did. Is there bias in this letter? Yes there is. Since business is so bad for Emile, you can tell he s starting to get annoyed with the war

10 FRIEDERIKE LEHMANN Beloved Loui, Brenham, May 17th, On Thursday, May 5, I received your dear letter of April 24. I was at church, and Müller s wife, mother, and mother-in-law were there, too.29 They asked me to come with them and to open the letter about Louiziana. You can well imagine that we were not a little shaken up that you all were so close to the enemy. I went home immediately, I didn t want to be with the others, I preferred to be alone and to have my thoughts with you. I received the other letter of April 30 on Pentecost, May 15 [6 ll.: regrets his hardships].

11 FRIEDERIKE LEHMANN CONT. I don t even want to think what would happen if the Jenkees came here, I wouldn t know where to go with the children. Mrs. Petten says that a northern general is coming to Texas with 7,000 men, that old Magruder is also coming back, and if this is true, then maybe you will come back again too, which I would like very much [65 ll.: Petty, the Ehlerts, Müllers and Schlottmans came by to hear the news; words of comfort; signature; hymn verse; business matters] Recently in Brenham 170 bales of cotton, 2 Waarhauser [warehouses] and Korn, and now Hoffman s Stoor [store]30 have been burned, two southerners with northern sympathies, traitors, are said to have set fire to them, they d already put them in Jeel [jail] and they were supposed to be shot, but the next morning they were gone.

12 FRIEDERIKE LEHMANN The Korn for the Guwerment [government] hasn t been picked up yet, and Petti says they may not pick it up at all, because all the men are gone. What do you think, can I sell some more of it? I borrowed 24 dollars from Schulte for wool, but there s no rush to pay it back, Korn now costs dollars. Ehlerts, Schulte, Wehmeier, and Hermann send their best. Herman has to be in Columbus on May 25, otherwise he ll be treated as a deserter, but he thinks he can get out of it again. On May 6 all the sick were back in Brenham, almost all of them had been declared fit for duty, they thought maybe they could just make cartridges or take care of the wounded. Holt and Meier are still at home.

13 FRIEDERIKE LEHMANN CONT. The night before Pentecost they found [Thormann] and Böcke and two others, they say that Schmit betrayed them [10 ll.: Schlottman s wife asked about him]. I asked Emilie about staying on, she said if the war is over by Christmas she would marry Hackburg, otherwise she ll stay on.

14 SUMMARY OF LETTER The author of this letter is Edmund L. Burnett, M.D. The intended audience is Loui. On May 17, 1864, the Battle of Adairsville happened. During this time, the war was escalating. There is bias in this letter. As you can tell. Friederike is against the war. It scares her and she is worried about her children. If the Friedrike was worried about the Jenkees coming, then why didn t she leave? Perhaps there was no way. Maybe the war was so bad, that there were blockades where she was. How do you think her children felt? Well they felt scared. It was war and children who have not been through it would have no idea how to feel.