Carl Schurz

Born: 1829 | Died: 1906

Politician

Carl Schurz was born in what is today the city of Erftstadt in the Rhineland. During his studies at the University of Bonn, Schurz became fascinated with democratic ideals. When the Revolution of 1848 failed, Schurz fled and eventually emigrated to the U.S. in 1852.

Carl Schurz settled in Wisconsin in the late 1850’s and he became well known in the Republican Party. He also helped Abraham Lincoln's image among the German-American voters by giving speeches on his behalf in German.

Shortly before the Civil War started, Lincoln appointed Schurz Ambassador to Spain, yet he returned a year later to join the war as brigadier general of the Union volunteers. Schurz participated in the Second Battle of Bull Run, as well as Gettysburg and Chattanooga. When the war ended, he resigned from the Union Army as a major general.

From 1869 to 1875 Schurz was United States Senator to Missouri. He had great support from the German-American community in the Midwest and gained his reputation through advocating financial responsibility. He later served as President Rutherford B. Hayes’ Secretary of the Interior.

After retiring in 1881, Schurz moved to New York City, where he continued to work as a journalist until his death and among other things became editor-in-chief as well as a proprietor of the New York Evening Post. Today, a park in New York’s upper eastside is named after him.

To this day, Carl Schurz remains famous for saying: "Our country right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right."

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