Them and i looked at more of a contiguous u. S. , and since we hadnt taken over hawaii at that point in time and they were very interested in what was going on because of a lot of trade. Thank you very much, debby van toole and the panelists. Youre watching American History tv. Every weekend on cspan3 explore our nations past. American history tv on cspan3 created by americas Cable Television companies, and today were brought to you by these Television Companies who provide American History tv to viewers as a public service. Weeknights this month were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whatever is available on cspan 3. On april 24th, 1971, approximately 175,000 people gathered on the National Mall to oppose the vietnam war, in the days following the peaceful protests, about 45,000 antiwar activists stayed in the city to begin a series of may day actions blocking access to government buildings and disrupting traffic. The washington, d. C. Metropolitan Police Department produced the whole world is watching a film documenting these events, including the may 3rd 1971 arrest of more than 71,000 people, the largest mass arrest in u. S. History. Watch tonight beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, and enjoy American History tv every weekend on cspan3. Next historians discuss the role and reception of ethnic and immigrant troops during the civil war. They talk about german, irish, and africanamerican soldiers as well as the newspapers that served these communities. clkgl this session is part of anau3vc annual symposium on the 19th Century Press and the civil war hosted by the university of tennessee at chattanooga. The School Provided this video. Hello my name is david sachsman, the university of tennessee at chattanooga and the director of the symposium on the 19th Century Press, the civil war, and Free Expression. This afternoon we have a very special panel of three speakers, and the topic is ethnic and immigrant soldiers in the civil war. One speaker talking about the german american soldiers, the next talking about Irish American soldiers, and the third talking about Frederick Douglass and black soldiers. Well begin with christian b. Keller of the department of the National Security and strategy, u. S. Army war college and his paper on german american soldiers and the german Language Press. Thank you, david. I appreciate that introduction, and i very much appreciate the opportunity to speak at this conference. I wish it were in person, but we do what we must as we say in the army. And a little bit just by way of introduction. I have to say this, the disclaimer, anything that i say in this presentation or in the q a afterwards represents my own opinion and not those of the u. S. Army, the department of defense or the u. S. Government. I dont think there will be any issue because were talking about history so lets go to the next slide, please. Before i get into a discussion of the press and the germans in the American Civil War, id like to provide a little bit of background regarding this immigration and regarding the people whom were talking about. This slide shows a period sketch of arriving immigrants at Castle Garden in new york city, and as soon as they get off the boat, they are being accosted by recruiters, and you can see the one poster there does seem to be in the german language, and this represents the significance of german soldiers in the union armies in the north. We believe that there were approximately 200,000 german born soldiers in northern ranks in the American Civil War. And when you add their sons to this number, Prior Research i did many years ago, in fact, and that of some other scholars who have worked on the germans in the civil war. We think that as much as 20 of the union army was made up of ethnic germans. They were naturalized citizens. For the most part some of them were not, and they were permitted to gain their citizenship by serving in the army depending on the state in which they enlisted. Next slide, please. Most of these immigrants came into our big cities like philadelphia here that you can see from an 1857 sketch and new york city and buffalo and cleveland and milwaukee and chicago, all of the great cities of the north had large german american populations and entire wards of those cities were, in fact, dominated by german speakers, and it was from these specific sections of these large cities in the north that the ethnic german regiments marched forth in 1861 and 1862. They were almost completely commanded in the german language and they were very proud of their german ethnicity and they retain german folkways in their camps and were brigaded and put together in large units like divisions even at the beginning of the war, so there was a great deal of public exposure and a lot of expectation on the part of german america writ large and on the part of the overall northern population regarding what these troops could do. The germans wanted to prove that they were as true a citizen and as loyal as any Anglo American and the Anglo Americans were rather prone to judge the germans and that was because of this thing called nativism, which had rocked the United States in the 1850s, a nasty trend in American History, and it would rear its head in the American Civil War as were about to see. Next slide, please. Here we see an example of a german language recruiting poster for what would become later the 75th pennsylvania, an all german regiment that marched out of philadelphia, and it just gives you an idea of the ethnic flavor of these regiments and of the men who enlisted, about 25 of all german soldiers fighting for the union in the civil war went into all ethnic regiments. The other 75 joined mixed regiments, particularly in the western theater and they would congregate in companies of germans within a greater Anglo American regiment. So we see two different kinds of organization, but it was the large congregations of germans in the army of the potomac, the big eastern army for the union in the Eastern Theater, it would be those Large Organizations that would draw the attention of the northern people and the german american public. Next slide, please. Here you can see an example of one of those Large Organizations. This is the staff of Brigadier General lewd wig brinker who would later command an entire division. It was initially a brigade composed of german speaking troops if you can imagine this. It was almost as if the army of the potomac had its own auxiliary force composed of foreigners. That was how many Anglo Americans chose to look at the germans. The German Division had a rather checkered career, and the problem was that they could not be well understood by their comrades and grievances had to be translated into english by the War Department which itself was reeking of nativism. So the union was happy to take these german immigrant soldiers. They were proud of the fact that they would be there. The germans were proud of the fact they were serving their country, but nativism was lingering and unfortunately it started to afflict these german soldiers very early in their service. Next slide, please. This is a wartime sketch by confederate propagandist this is in the campaign of 1862. They were trying to go after Stonewall Jackson and were defeated by him at the battle of cross keys. This started the slippery slope for the reputation of german american soldiery in the civil war. The emphasis on the Eastern Theater because of the fact that the Northern Press was focusing primarily on the Eastern Theater and the fact that these germans are in very Large Organizations in the east as opposed to the western armies where they were scattered about and often in mixed regiments. Well, here is a large target and the bad rap for the germans began with the socalled plundering in the valley. The reason they plundered was because they were very poorly supplied by the War Department and sent on a Large Campaign with, for example, only six ambulances for the entire division, which is not nearly enough, and they ran out of food and they starved and then they did what they had to to support themselves. Next slide. So fast forward about a year and the German Division has been turned into the 11th core of the army of the potomac. It was not an entirely german core. The old German Division was joined by Anglo American residents. As you can see from the map here, the 11th core under Oliver Otis Howard whose image we will see shortly was assailed on its right flank by Stonewall Jacksons great flank attack on the early afternoon and evening of may 2nd. This was the great watershed event for german americans in the civil war and for the reportage of them in the press. Theyve already gotten some bad press because of this plundering and they didnt do well at second manassas either, again, because of bad generalship, not really because of their own poor showing in the fighting. Here once again theyre poorly deployed, and they are attacked and surprised and most of the 11th core is badly routed. However, theres more to the story than that. Please, next slide. There is a picture of Oliver Otis Howard in his major generals uniform. Howard refused to listen to warnings from german american scouts who told him that his core was about to be flanked by large bodies of confederates, and he didnt want to believe it. Neither did for the most part Army Commander joseph hooker. And the germans started to realize in the Late Afternoon they were going to get attacked. Some of them tried to realign for the attack, but they were denied permission. All of this is going to end up in the german Language Press but not in the Anglo American press. Next slide. This is an artists rendering of the attack by Stonewall Jackson, and youll see a soldier in blue being driven ahead at the point after bayonet. It was truly one of the worst defeats of the union army in the entire war and the attack on the 11th corps set up the overall defeat. And by the time the battle was over, two days later, the germans had become the scapegoats for the rest of the union army and for the overall northern public. Howard to a slightly more important degree, hooker also came under blame, but they really were exonerated. It was the germans in the 11th corps who took the fall. Next slide, please. This is a rendering from battles and leaders of what the quote stampede of the 11th corps may have looked like. Right there you can see as late as 1886 when this was created, the lingering stigma that is attached to the german americans long after the war was over, and as im about to discuss, this was resented by them. Next slide, please. The reason it was so resented was because at chancellorsville as at second manassas and other battles in which the german n participating in, they did figh÷ very hard. There were three stands to hold back jacksons attack at chancellorsville. This was reported in the german Language Press but not the Anglo American press. Therein lies the rub. The germans believed as did their civilian loved ones back home that they fought as well as expected after being surprised by the enemy. The Anglo American press didnt Pay Attention to this nuance because it was looking for a scapegoat and was still influenced by nativistic tendencies. Next slide, please. This is an example of a german language newspaper from the American Civil War. They did not have as many maps or pictorials as the english language papers and my research over these many decades, i no longer am focusing on the germans in the war. This is what i cut my scholarly teeth on 20 years ago. Im still fascinated by them. One of the reasons is because of the uniqueness of their papers. You really have to learn how to read old german script. This was a fascinating study to see how did the germans actually react to chancellorsville and to other slanders that are going to occur throughout the American Civil War in the Anglo American press. They reacted this their own press. Next slide, please. Well, this is a symbol of what could have happened if there had not been a victory at gettysburg, this actually does occur, of course, after the battle of gettysburg, but there was such indignance by the germans of the north after what happened at chancellorsville, and they were blamed for running on the first day at gettysburg, once again they were poorly deployed there. They fought hard. They lost a lot of people, and once again theyre slandered in the press. There is so much indignance that the german americans of the north started thinking about rioting, but what they did instead was form indignance meetings that were located throughout the north. There were at least five large mass meetings in which the germans protested their treatment at the hands of their fellow citizens, the Anglo Americans. Next slide, please. So im going to read for you now a few quotes from the papers to give you a flavor of just how bad the treatment of the germans was in the anglo press and read some responses in the german American Press. This will lead us to a conclusion as my earlier books indicated that the experience of german americans in the civil war was not the melting pot paradigm of immigrant assimilation, which is the old theory. Instead my research and that of other scholars who have worked on this over the years is that frankly the war stymied and reduced the assimilation impulse because of the ugly nativism which the germans faced during the war, and it delayed their assimilation after the war was over. So a 5th of may 18th new york times, criticized the 11th corps chancellorsville saying threats, entities and orders of commanders were of no avail. Thousands of these cowards threw down their guns and soon streamed down the road towards headquarters. General howard could not stem the tide of the retreating and cowardly poltroons. Poltroon is a word we dont use anymore. It was a really bad word back in the 19th century. Some of you probably know this and to be called a coward is just as loathsome then as it is today. The New York Herald said something very similar in a similar editorial right after the battle of chancellorsville. The editor said, quote, i am told the men fled like so many sheep before a pack of wolves. These are parts of the theme that would be echoed across the Anglo American papers as far west as san francisco, and by the time the northern editors realized that they had made a grave mistake, the damage had been done, and the german americans of the north fighting back in their own language, in their own german papers, which of course Anglo Americans could not read had begun to turn inward and began to reject wartime assimilation impulses. Ill give you an example of some of the statements that came out of the german Language Press regarding this. The highland, illinois, which was a german paper with considerable paper in the midwest, the bigots that hate the german population from the bottom of their soul now have their much wished for opportunity to attack the, quote, cowardly dutchmen. The pittsburgher democrat, another Prominent German language paper with a large relationship in the western part of pennsylvania, said for the idiocy, the hooker and general howard are to blame. These generals are not worth a shod of gun powder and yet they would have been worth that indicating that they should have been shot for their mistakes, which then set the 11th corps up for failure, and the philadelphia fry ya pres blasted a warning to its readers on the 29th of may, which gives you an idea how longed german press smarted under these nativistic criticisms, nativism had seemingly come back to stay the editor claimed and what did it all mean he asked . Is it stupidity or cunning calculation . Why now are only the germans singled out . Are people angry in certain circles that the germans and their leaders at camp jackson, p ridge, bull run did not act cowardly or did they wish that the germans in our army are forced home in order to weaken the courage of our arms. The americans do not understand german. They also do not know what the germans want and it does matter whether we remain quiet or whether we continue to protest in a language they cannot read. The german newspapers are for the americans so many sheets of paper. I ran into many other similar editorials that essentially started to express indignance and a separation impulse whereby if you werent german you were called american. This is not conducive to assimilation. So the press, a study of the german American Press in the civil war reveals clearly that during the war and i will argue shortly after the war as well, this assimilation impulse is retarded. It will come back in the 19th century and world war i will pretty much put the end to it. But the assimilation of germans and i would argue even the irish whom ive also researched has indicated in their papers was really, really reduced as a result of what happened at chancellorsville and earlier particularly in the Eastern Theater. Next slide, please. And heres an example of just how long ethnic pride and resistance to nativism that had cropped up in the war lingers. This is the 74th pennsylvanias monument at gettysburg. Its still there today for anyone to visit. Youll see if you look closely, the middle inscription says german regiment. Now, why would a Veterans Organization of a german ethnic unit, which the 74th was. It came out of pittsburgh, why would they still insist on that nomenclature all these years later. It was almost three decades later when that monument was raised. The reason is they still were proud of their german ethnicity, which had been reinforced by necessity as a result of their experiences in the war, and they wanted everybody to know it forever more. And so you can still see this and in other physical emblems of the pride of german america and their soldiers achievement in the war in physical representations such as this monument, and many of these regiments went on to serve in the western theater where they had been transferred after gettysburg, transferred out of nativism, and they did better in the western theater at places like chattanooga, for instance, and tunnel hill, but the damage had been done by that point as i argue in my second book, and they essentially would not go into a large assimilation impulse as a result of their experiences in the American Civil War. So thats what ive got for you, and i hope you enjoyed the presentation. I look forward to q a. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, christian. Now we turn to craig a. Warren of penn state university, erie, im sure im butchering that, pride and scorn, the Irish American Northern Press during the civil war. Great, thank you very much for having me today. Im honored to be on the panel and to talk to you about the Irish American press during this central event if our history. Before i launch into talking about the press, i think it would be useful for me to first touch on a few items by way of historical context, and some of this well revisit some of the things that we just heard from professor keller. During the middle decades of the 19th century, america was undergoing a major demographic shift largely because of the surge in immigration from irish and german people. These immigrants would swell the northeast cities of boston, new york, and philadelphia and make inroads into chicago, washington, d. C. , and other cities and regions, and it was a dramatic change as a case study, new york citys population almost tripled over the course of two decades. The population of new york was between 8 and 900,000 up from 3 to 400,020 years earlier. This was a major change. It wasnt just a social change, a million plus catholics immigrating to a largely protestant country, we have to remember this immigration occurred after the jacksonian revolution of earlier that had largely done away with the Property Rights requirements for the franchise. And so working class white men had the vote, and so hundreds of thousands of new immigrants represented potentially hundreds of thousands of new votes, and so the Major Political parties of the era were overhauling their parties, changing their identities, thinking of new strategies and that was very much the case for the Democratic Party that became the home for most irish. 4in3c are about 1. 2 million immigrating to america by the time of the civil war. All but about 85,000 immigrated to the north, or what we have considered the north today. So theres a great disparity there between the populations of irish communities north and south and its for that reason that scholars like christian zemito and others have concluded that its only reasonable when talking about the Irish American experience during the war to focus on the north. Thats what im going to do today, and im also going to focus on the north because thats where we have the most robust press, the most robust irish voice in print, and it was robust. There were a number of newspapers in northern cities that saw themselves as mouthpieces for the irish community, the boston pilot, for instance, the new york Irish American. There were also other papers, democratic papers that have irish leanings, the New York Herald, the new york tablet and a number of smaller papers , and these papers in the antebellum area had largely sympathized with the south. There were classes between sections often involving Community Autonomy concerning slavery and often the Northern Irish press seemed to have southern leanings. There are some reasons for this. Many irish saw a parallel between the south and its relationship to the federal government and irelands relationship to Great Britain. Others saw the drive towards or the burgeoning drive towards abolition as being something that was antithetical to irish interests. I think virtually every white person living in the north, let alone the south during the 19th century would be by todays standards racist, but the irish seemed to be notorious racists during that era. There are social as well as economic reasons for this. Most irish saw themselves as occupying the lowest rungs of American Society at the time and they had no objections to having a nonvoting, nonwhite, noncitizen under class beneath them. They also didnt look forward to the idea of having to compete with freed men for those unskilled jobs that they occupied in the years leading up to the civil war. So the Antislavery Movement did not have get a lot of traction with the irish community. So for these and a lot of other reasons, the irish press seemed unlikely to support the northern war effort, and yet in 1861 when hostilities opened between the north and the south, surprisingly the irish press went all in with the northern war effort and the Republican Party that was supporting it. They sent droves of soldiers to the camps. They filled regiments. A number of ethnic units began, irish ethnic units, we heard about german units already as part of the panel. The irish press was enthusiastic about the creation of an all irish brigade. The famous irish brigade of the army of the potomac. It had a famous Irish Revolutionary as its leader. At its height it had new units representing new york, pennsylvania, and massachusetts and these units were predominantly irish or not exclusively irish. The idea was that they would showcase irish contributions to the war effort and to the larger community. And thats really why the irish press seemed to get behind the support for the north, that they could by fighting for the north, by putting on the uniform and shedding blood lay a real claim to true citizenship, something that nativist sentiment had suggested was not possible for the irish. There are also some other reasons for supporting the north that were tied to Great Britain. Some irish editors, writers for these newspapers believed that if the confederacy was successful at breaking away from the union that that would benefit Great Britain on the international scale, and that was not something that they wanted to see, and kind of the most romantic reason that we see in the irish press and sometimes this turns up in soldiers letters as well, is the idea that military experience among irish soldiers could be used later to free ireland in a military campaign against Great Britain. For a number of reasons, often surprising to people outside of the irish community, the irish press was supportive of the northern war effort. I should point out that this is probably the high point, the absolute height of irish support for the effort, and it wasnt a steady decline thereafter, but there are a number of major episodes over the course of the war that would turn sour irish support for the war effort. The first of these happened in 1862 with first the preliminary and then the full emancipation proclamation. The idea initially was that the irish soldiers in fighting the war would be fighting to support the union and doing everything possibly to achieve citizenship. There was or the boston pilot for instance to quote them had said that the irish brigade was demonstrating that although celts might be hyphenated americans in name, they were fully americans indeed and the new york Irish American had stressed the concept of union saying that the adopted children of this glorious nation must support the community, the freedom, and the equality that we proudly claim that is due to no local or sectional concession, but which comes to us directly from the whole union. To sort of go to the irish and get them to fight for the north and then support emancipation. There was a great deal of outrage within the irish press over the emancipation proclamation. The boston pilot said that irish, quote, would soon be degrated to the level of negros economically and socially, end quote. So a great change in attitude and a real blow to irishamerican morale is spelled out in the press. Irishamerican support further buckled after the battle of fredericksburg in 1862. Not too long after the emancipation proclamation we received momentum picking up events which are turning sour, the support. At the battle, the irish brigade was, again, this famed unit representing the hopes and fortunes of the irish america suffered severe casualties on various heights at the stone wall, at the base. Theyre certainly not the only unit to be decimated in that battle, but they were a notable one and a highly visible one thanks to the flags with the gold celtic hearts which they flew alongside their american flags. So on the home front the reaction to the casualties suffered by the irish brigade was profound. Immediately there were cries that the irish were being wasted and the irishamerican reported, quote, if the brigade were not so markedly and distinctively irish they would not have been treated. And the boston pilot went further saying the irish spirit for the war is dead. Absolutely dead. There are a great many irish left. Our fighters are dead. Their desperate valor led them not to victory, but to extinction. How bitter ireland has been this rebellion, unquote. So, it must be said the decline in support for the war effort after fredericksburg was not unique to irish communities. Certainly the entire northern population in a series of depression over military reverses and proceed bundlings from political and administrators and the real problem was that enlistments were in sharp decline. Soldiers were not enlisting, were not filling the log books and entering camp. So, that led probably to my mind to the final nail in the coffin of the irish presses support for the war. And that, of course, was in the 1863 enrollment act. In other words, the draft. The Republican Party determined that a draft was necessary in order to replenish the union armies and they put a lottery in place in an effort to at least create the perception of fairness but they also included a 300 exemption, which allowed to pay 300 to get out of military service. And irish americas saw this as an attack against themselves because they knew that 300 amounted to maybe half of an irish workers annual earnings. And they could not afford this. They saw it as simply a way to force irish to serve in a war that was no longer meeting their needs or doing anything for their people. And, so, this led in time to the very infamous new york city draft riots. We saw an image in professor kellers presentation of this. It was five days of looting of arson, of beatings, murder, the lynching of untold numbers of freed men, became a race riot in a lot of respects and the draft riot was only ended whenever units were dispatched from the army to help the new york policc to bring it to an endl rs;q and the wider public just looked at this as the worst illustration yet of irish disloyalty. They saw irish america as having turned on the war in every way possible and now essentially acting in a traitor way on the home front. For their part it must be said the Irish American press did little to defend itself. The boston pilot went the furthest by denying by saying the irish had been involved in the riots or involved in the organization and leading the riots. The Irish American publication suggested they had been involved, but took no responsibility for it. They wrote that lincolns government, quote, had been warned of the danger they were risking and the outbreak of popular resentment and opposition which the obnoxious characters of the law would be certain to produce, unquote. So, this is really the end of the story for the irishAmerican Presses support and just a series of anger and vitriol. The only irish at the time who saw value in the war and support it ironically enough were the soldiers who were still in the ranks. We had the letters of a soldier from the 20th massachusetts who was writing home to his wife who, she herself was certainly opposed to the war and he was actively trying to convince her of the value of the war for the irish people. In a letter home he wrote of america, here irishmen and descendants have a claim. A stake in the nation. And to give up now would be false to his own and his fellow citizens interests. This soldier actually followed his convictions to the grave. He was wounded at the battle and died in the hospital tent. But for the most part, outsiders saw irishamerica as this sort of traitorist population of americans in urban centers and a real black eye for the irish people for years after the war. So, what we see is the post script is that the soldiers themselves who had served throughout the war in the irish brigade and other units whether ethnic or not, they embarked very soon after the war, as early as 1867 on a literary campaign to change the wartime experience. Members of the irish brigade wrote a series of regimental histories and personal memoirs and others that were designed to sort of anthologize irish participation in the war and never mentioning the draft riots and never mentioning irish disaffection on the home front and instead focusing on the military achievements and sacrifices of the irish in uniform. To a large extent they were successful in creating a more balanced portrait of what it meant for the irish during the war. And, you know, the fact that they had to do this in the first place, though, does demonstrate the power and the reach of the irish press during that conflict. And i also look forward to the q a. Thank you. Thank you, craig. The third, the third speaker in this panel is Earl Mulderink from Southern Utah University speaking on men of color to arms. Frederick douglass on black soldiers. Good afternoon from beautiful and sunny utah. Appreciate the invitation and the introduction and ill begin by referencing a book that i will talk about a little bit. This is david blights recent Pulitzer Prize winning of Frederick Douglass. He was a crusading journalist, speaker and through the first half of the civil war, douglass monthly third and final newspaper was the nations leading black newspaper and it was unrelenting in its call for the enlistment of black soldiers. Douglass would cease publication of this monthly in august of 1863 after his two sons lewis and charles had, in fact, enlisted in the 54th infantry and also when he thought he might secure a government position actually Army Commission to help recruit soldiers for the union cause. His monthly makes for powerful rating. In fact, on a personal note, i will mention that i first read this monthly issue to issue years ago and i read it on microfilm and i think so, too, my eyes were probably abused by that experience. But its also, in some ways, the most powerful written i have yet read about the civil war. So in this very brief talk, i will offer a truncated version of douglass arguments about the enlistment of black soldiers and his efforts to turn the civil war into an emancipationist cause. It is also my first ever zoom conference. Even though i teach remotely and a lot of classes and a lot of students, but its been a fun experience to listen in on the presentations and i appreciate everyones efforts to share scholarly materials in a very effective way. I do apologize that i dont have powerpoints or other visuals to share with you. In looking at douglass monthly i want to emphasize that his newspaper was quite unique and in his insistent claims for citizenship for black americans, he was just very unique, a very unique voice. This paper, as you may know, followed up to earlier efforts. His north star was published in 1847 to 1851 and published from 1851 to 1859. The douglass monthly started in 1859 and began in the same room in the same street and the same building in rochester, new york, where the earlier newspapers had been created. This monthly newspaper had as its motto avenge me of my adversary. And it attracted about 3,000 paid subscribers and was funded in part by the rochester, new york, antislavery society. Along with powerful editorials by douglass himself, he viewed this monthly as basically a rival to the antislavery advocate that had been in ireland and published in london. Again, through the duration of this monthly from 1859 to 1863, douglass monthly was the most insistent and loudest voice in the United States calling for the enlistment of africanamerican soldiers and sailors. More than once he would write poignantly about the double battle that africanamericans were fighting. They were fighting against slavery in the south and prejudice in the north. Again, this newspaper ended in 1863 and when it came to an end, he had spent some 16 years as an editor and journalist and writer and certainly the countrys foremost black activist who had gained international renown. When the civil war began in earnest with the firing on ft. Sumter douglass made clear this war would follow the themes that he long believed in that touched on millennial, apocalyptic and civil religious themes and he declared in april of 1861 that the root of the national sin was slavery and that either slavery or the republic was to be extirpated. In fact, he used caps much like some people do today in their infamous tweets, he used caps to urge americans to repent, break every yoke, let the oppress go free deliverance and safety. He suggested in april of 1861 that the need to enlist black troops was very selfevident. Again, declaring in caps he said, let the slaves and colored people be called into service and formed into a Liberating Army to race into the south and raise the banner of emancipation among the slaves. These appeals were delivered to counteract the indifference and occasional hostility among white americans in the north who did not see fit to enlist black soldiers or sailors at that time. Like other newspapers of that era, douglass would print correspondents that he received including a letter from someone who signed their name a letter sent in april of 1861 just after ft. Sumter was fired upon. This correspondent argued for the enlistment of africanamerican soldiers and douglass responded with his enthusiastic approval. He said our men are ready and eager going forward. We do most earnestly urge our people everywhere to organize themselves into societies and companies to purchase arms for themselves and to learn how to use them. And he went on in this editorial to suggest that this may in all probability reach a complexion, he said, when a few black regiments will be necessary. He was calling for black enlistment and he would continue with this optimistic despite the ongoing problems with the unit and in the summer of 1861 and fall of 1861 writes that douglass during that first summer of the civil war, quote, in the dark heart of war propaganda all over america that summer douglass set the pace for the abolitionist war, unquote. And douglass would then continue to use his war works through douglass monthly to make northerners and make yankees generally hate all slave holders. And so douglass early on in the war tried to create this abolition war. He wanted to see the Liberating Army set loose upon the south and he would throughout the duration of the work continue to return to this cause. He also was a clever writer as many of you probably know. And he often used metaphors in addition to biblical language, shakespeare and other contemporary references in september of 1861 in assessing ■ the progress of the war, he complained that the unit was fighting the rebellious south with only one hand. And they had been continuing to ignore efforts to enlist black soldiers. Again, with his wonderful language skills, douglass said that the National Edifice was on fire and those in charge of the building would only allow to be extinguished by white hands. He said, quote, men in earnest dont fight with one hand when they might fight with two and drowning man would not refuse to be saved even by a colored hand. However by the end of 1861, events had changed little for douglass and other africanamerican leaders who wanted to see black soldiers enlisted in the cause. He continued to push this issue and oftentimes he appealed to history. Fight under washington, general george washington, but they were not deemed adequate to serve under general george mcclellan. He said, quote, they were good enough to help american independence but theyre not good enough to help preserve that independence against treason and rebellion. In july of 1862, a month, im sorry, a full year before the battle of ft. Wagner, douglass outlined his call for soldiers in the of colored men. And in that he pointed out that contraband had already been used in the south as guides and pilots and laborers and spies and in other ways. And he complained that the north, the union was not effectively utilizing an earnest fighting force in the north. He also pointed out that general david hunter had recently organized a black order in the south, and the this was disbanded by order of washington. And yet douglass wrote in the summer of 1862, quote, the negro persists in his devotion to the government and will serve with a pick ax and come out with a pistol and he continued to argue that the civil war was an attack on slavery and that it united all colored men, in his words, under the union cause. Between the summer of 1862 and the actual emancipation proclamation of january 1st, 1863, douglass and other abolitionists fretted about the possibility that lincoln might rescind his orders. David blythe writes rather tellingly, quote, for douglass, his family and the entire abolitionist community, the fall of 1862 was a sleepless watch night that lasted three months. And during that time, douglass became a oneman Political Action committee for emancipation. Well, of course, when emancipation was declared officially, as the war aimed, on january 1st, douglass and others celebrated. In fact, he attended a thunderous event in boston in 1863. And douglass argued in his editorials that emancipation finally proved that for black americans the time had come when citizenship might eventually be yours. He pointed out again and again that emancipation clearly linked the fortunes of the union with the liberation of enslaved black americans. He also believed that this emancipation was really a turning event in American History. And he believed it was a liberating event for all americans, not just africanamericans. Now, even with that great proclamation, douglass was not naive about the prospects of black soldiers or black americans in a racist white america. In february of 1863, for example, he had recognized that black soldiers would face innate prejudice in military service. He said they must expect annoyance. They will be severely criticized and even insulted and again repeated his belief that, quote, we shall be fighting a double battle against slavery of the south and against prejudice and prescription of the north. He said, nonetheless, when they see 50,000 colored soldiers in the United States, we will seek slavery abolished and the union of the states secured from rebel violence. This drum beat would continue through the remainder of 1863, and he was able to use his douglass monthly pulpit to agitate for the enlistment of soldiers in the 54th massachusetts infantry. As im sure most of you know, massachusetts led the way. Governor john andrew was committed to this cause. And douglass commented as early as february of 1863 on the need to support massachusetts throughout the north by bringing black men to the military cause. Nonetheless, he pointed out and perhaps this goes back to some of the point made by craig Warren Douglass in february of 1863 noted that there was a mobocratic element in new york and pennsylvania. He also believed that there were people insufficiently supported of the emancipationist of the union. However he said, quote, the most hopeful sign of the times is the growing disposition to promote the black men of the country and the effort to save it from the vision in ruin and he proclaimed his support for a pending congressional bill that would fund the enlistment of 150,000 black troops. While douglass began to work in earnest when the 54th massachusetts was being recruited and trained, and probably his most famous declaration was the one that i used as a title for my paper and one that Valerie Kasper had an image of in her very nice powerpoint presentation. And this was, of course, the broad side and front page editorial that appeared in douglass monthly in march of 1863, men of color to arms. He laid out the issues and themes that resolved around the opportunity for black men to fight for the union and included his claims of citizenship, of the need to prove their bravery of the quest to also observe operatetism. Patriotism. He also believed that military service, which would help to end slavery and end the war rebellion, he believed it would lead to assimilation of africanamericans into social and political and economic spheres. He reminded his readers in that editorial when the first shot was fired at fort sumter, he predicted that black men would fight in the war saying, quote, everyones experience during these two dreary years has confirmed that opinion unquote. He went on to say, quote, a war undertaken and brazenly carried out for the enslavement of colored men calls loudly upon colored men to help suppress it. And he said, its now or never. And he also repeated a statement that, who would be free themselves must strike the blow. Better even to die free than to live slaves. This is a sentiment of every brave colored man among us. He found great satisfaction in the creation of the 54th massachusetts infantry. And this brought together the themes that he had promulgated over the course of the war so far, trying to tie together patriotism and race consciousness along with the war as an emancipationist endeavor. He did offer in the pages of his monthly promises to black men that they would be paid the same wages, receive the same rations, the same equipment and the same protection and the same treatment and the same bounty that was secured to white soldiers. These promises were not met initially nor were they for the first ten months or so of black soldiers enlistment. But, nonetheless, he continued to promote the enlistment of soldiers. He said, this is our golden opportunity, let us accept it. And forever wipe out the dark reproaches that have been unsparingly hurled against us by our enemies. So, these recruiting efforts carried on dramatically in april and may of 1863. He had two sons, lewis and charles, who enlisted and trained in massachusetts. Douglass would make several trips there to watch his sons march and train with the other troops. And he continued to emphasize that this was the black mans hour. He said, in fact rather, i think a wellchosen historical parallel. He said, the white mans soul was tried in 1776. The black mans soul was tried in 1863. And he devoted many words, many words, many column inches, to answering sessions such as why should a colored man enlist. And often he retreated to themes that centered on manhood and also on claims of citizenship and the belief in assimilation. And he argued, and im quoting here, he who fights the battle of america may claim america as his country and have that claim respected. Thus in defending your country now against rebels and traitors, you are defending your own liberty, your own honor, your manhood and your selfrespect, unquote. So, he would continue with these themes along with using apocalyptic rhetoric and continue this drum beat through august of 1863 when he concluded douglass monthly. He penned an aptly named value dikt ri and he claimed basically his work finished in that wrung and he continued to serve the union and to serve the cause of antislavery by recruiting soldiers to the cause. He extended this in some of the words i still find to be profound and moving today. He said, quote, once the black man get mon his person the brass letters and let him get an eagle on his button and bullets in his pocket and there is no power on earth or under the earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States. I say, again, this is our chance and if we fail to embrace it, unquote. So, these were powerful and moving words from the countrys foremost advocate for emancipationist war and for black military enlistment. To wrap up, you may know that shortly before he ended douglass monthly, douglass paid a little visit to washington, d. C. He spent a little time with secretary stenten and visited Abraham Lincoln in the white house and returned home to rochester, new york, with the expectation of a wartime commission that never came. And, so, when he wrapped up his newspaper in august, he then set off on a National Speaking tour in 1863 and the winter of 1864 that focused on what he called the mission of the war. This was one of douglass best speeches, according to david blight, and it in douglass proclaimed to thousands and thousands of people throughout the north that, quote, the mission of this war is national regeneration. And with this theme, david blight makes the argument i think convincingly that Frederick Douglass, like Abraham Lincoln, led the way in pursuing a second American Revolution one that was fought bravely by black soldiers and supported by loyal black americans. David blight writes the following in frederick r t hahp hc half of the civil war, one american died a violent necessary death. And out of its ashes, a second redefined america came into being amid destruction and explosions of hope, unquote. In short, thanks to douglass and others like him, africanamerican soldiers had earned their stripes and the full claims of citizenship. Ill end my talk there and look forward to the q a. Thank you. Thank you. Pardon me. Thank you very much, earl. Ive got some questions for you, some based on the chat side there and some of my own. A major theme of this years symposium on 19th Century Press, civil war and Free Expression has been the treatment or the framing of the soldier, the individual soldier, in the civil war press. We heard a lot about that earlier regarding the main stream press. You gentlemen have talked about the ethnic groups in terms of, to some degree, their own press, a little less so in terms of the general press. I would appreciate it if each of you could spend a little time now talking about how you see the treatment through the war of the german soldier, the irishamerican soldier and the africanamerican soldier in the main stream press. Was there a great deal of prejudice against these units . I mean, my concept is there would be much less prejudice against the germanamerican units because by then germany was such a major part the germanamericans were already such a major part of america. But lets lets go back and start with christian to talk about germanamerican soldiers in the main stream press. Were they treated fairly . Were they treated well . So, thank you, david, for that question. As i indicated in the talk and as i write in my first two books, which were devoted to the subject of germanamericans and the civil war, its very clear that the main stream angloAmerican Press was rather prejudice and infected with nativism against the germans. You would think the assumption of the power and prestige of germany would have infiltrated into the northern papers. Its not the case. Germany is not unified, obviously until after the franko war, which is still in the future, and it is not regarded as a powerful country. The idea of European Countries in american eyes at the time was france, actually. Which is why we have soldiers wearing baggy trousers and the french army is what everyone emulated. Interestingly not the british. The british were recognized as the world hegemon of the day, but everyone liked the german army. The germans were not very well regarded yet overall in the american main stream public. Because of this thing called nativism, which both craig and i have mentioned in our talks, which actually was made into a Political Party that was called the knownoings that existed for a period of time in the 1850s and challenged the democrats for control of the country for a very brief moment. And it looked like they might become the next great party. They pretty much knocked the wigs out. The know nothing taint is inherited by the republicans. They absorb the know nothings, almost all of them. And, therefore, the Republican Administration of Abraham Lincoln has a lot of old knownothing nativistic tendencies in it. And most of the Republican Newspapers have that, as well. And they had it anyway regardless of whether they were republican or democrat. The democratic papers, in my research, the angloamerican papers tended to be a slightly more friendly to the germans, but the difference was small. It didnt make much of a difference whether youre a democrat or republican angloamerican paper. And it was easy to criticize the germans because they spoke a foreign language. The irish were English Speakers except among themselves in camp when they spoke gaelic from time to time. But the germans, if they were in the ethnic regiments, they spoke german. And they were seen as a body of the population apart just as much, if not more, than the irish. And the responses that you see to what happened in the Shenandoah Valley to the failures at second manassas and particularly chancellorsville and the first day at gettysburg indicate that the Northern Press and i went into great detail in my first book about what happened after the first day at gettysburg. It was interesting. The indications are that the angloAmerican Press remained prejudice against the germans almost the whole way to the end of the war, which the germanamericans really smarted under and railed against in the western theater and Eastern Theater. The western german soldiers did better out there following the western leaders of the union army mainly because they were better led. And, yet, they feel placed upon their brothers in arms in the Eastern Theater and the army of the potomac and youll see editorial after editorial in the western german language papers attacking the nativism of the angloamerican papers. I could cite two dozen instances right now of this kind of this kind of situation. And it didnt matter that gettysburg ended in a northern victory. The northern papers still blame the germans for the failure on the first day, as did their comrades in arms in the overall union army just like at chancellorsville. Very sad story. And its one reason that assimilation was temporarily rejected by the germans of the north as the war continued. Craig, what about the irishamericans treated by the main stream press as the war went on . Right, thank you, david. Yeah, so, i would say first of all that after the new york city draft riots, then all bets are off. I think most main stream papers regardless whether they were democratic leaning or republican leaning tended to paint the irish in a negative light because of this seemingly treasonous behavior of irish on the home front and the idea those soldiers emerged and they cant be loyal and they cant be praise worthy. However, earlier in the war i would say that for the most part, the democratic leaning newspapers of the main stream press gave irish soldiers a pretty good shake. You know, one of the examples of this is the battle of fredericksburg whenever the irish brigade took their turn charging the stone wall at the base of maries heights. They got pretty close, and some people claim that the irish troops got closest to the wall, and they were celebrated in some main stream democratic newspapers for doing that. Add the same time some republican papers that had a laugh about this and said, well, you know, kind of a stereo typical way the irish were counted on to get drunk in town before the assault and only got as far as they did because they were, you know, fueled by alcohol. So, again, i think a lot of it has to do with Party Allegiance and what kind of an editor was in charge of a newspaper and, you know, how he wanted to portray his political opponents. But, yeah, i would say that after the draft riots, all bets are off. Before then, i think that irish soldiers in democrat ic newspapers did get a pretty fair portrait. Earl, you mostly talked about Frederick Douglass paper and response to various prejudices. Could you spend a few minutes talking about the response of both the republican and the democratic press to the formation of the africanamerican units . And as that progressed in the war, did they eventually acknowledge that grants army was had an enormous must be of africanamerican troops at the end and that the final war effort under grant had been so much that case . Well, its a big question, a good question, and i will confess, i dont claim to have much expertise on National Media in the civil war. My view probably is a bit myopic in my research i focus quite a bit on new bedford, massachusetts, which was home to two daily Republican Newspapers that were prolincoln, proabolitionist, and one of them, in fact, published some 46 letters by james henry gooding, a corporal who served in the 54th massachusetts. So, my experience is a bit limited in that what i saw in new bedford was a white body primarily reading very positive accounts of black military enlistment and service. I will say that i do think that the battle of ft. Wagner in july of 1863 was a turning point in that it was a military disaster for the union but it proved to northern and southern audiences alike that black men could fight bravely and die bravely for the union cause. And i do think some of the accounts of that fort wagner battle that circulated in the national press, including places like harpers including also lithographs or depictions of that siege and the death of colonel shaw i do think that event helped turn much of the press toward a positive view that black men could fight with bravery and they could, in fact, help the union cause. I will say before moving on that one newspaper that i read years ago was the boston pilot and it had amazingly antiblack, antirepublican, antilincoln sentiment. It also took aim at new bedford, massachusetts, which several times it referred to, so the boston pilot was very racist in its views and yet put forth some of the same arguments for citizenship and equality and valor of irish troops and irishamerican troops as did the africanAmerican Press. So, theres some amazing parallels in my opinion between about the need for irish men to serve and what douglass said about the need for black men to serve. I got one more question comes from the chat, comes from katrina, who is working on this big project about the soldier and the civil war press. And she asks about the german press, but im going to expand it to all three. Her question is directly, the german papers got their basic war information from official sources no, im sorry. Thats your response. I dont want to read that. It was for professor keller, but im going to explain it to everything. How did the german press, the irishAmerican Press and the africanAmerican Press acquire its news . Was it largely exchanging information . Do you recall if the germanirish black newspapers included content from soldier letters or other firsthand accounts . Ill go around in that same order with christian first, but we really only have five minutes left. Right, well, again, thanks for the question, katrina. And i did reply in the chat. But for our viewers watching this on cspan, ill just elaborate briefly. And that is that, indeed, the german language newspapers throughout the north, whether they were in the west or the east, got their official news from official sources and angloamerican papers. But then almost every one of the major german language papers i surveyed in my earlier research did contain multiple soldier letters in any given month and sometimes multiple soldier letters in a given issue. The new york german Language Press almost always had a german soldiers letter, particularly in the first two years of the war. Now, whats interesting is those letters start to fall off after gettysburg. You dont see as many getting published. I asked in my second book, why is that, and i hypothesized. I didnt have the evidence but it could be the german language soldiers didnt care to write back any more because of what they had experienced as far as prejudice from their fellow soldiers, and it was just the same theme but a different day. There were some letters sent from the later campaigns when the 11th course transferred to the west, but not nearly with the frequency you see in 61 and 62 and even into early 63. The answer is a lot of soldier letters and a lot of great books out there like the various edited collections of german soldiers letters that are gleaned entirely from these german language papers. Craig. Thank you, katrina, for the question. I feel like im largely repeated what professor keller has said. But the irishamerican newspapers were in the business of publishing letters from the irish soldiers at the front. Their pages are just inundated with excerpts. There are sometimes quite lengthy letters published from soldiers of various ranks, often a lowlevel officer reporting back. And this also fell off as the war went on, especially as the irish newspapers became disallusion disillusioned with the war and increasingly critical of the Republican Party and how it was moving the conflict forward that less and less interest in reporting on the doings of the army. So, you know, they might publish some complaints about nativist generals treating the soldiers poorly, but that kind of fell off. And its a lot of editorials from that point on, a lot of interest in what the editors have to say themselves. But yes, early on, quite a bit of dependence on correspondence from the front and also paying attention to what the main stream press had to say, as well. Earl . I mentioned james henry goodings letters that had been compiled, and its probably the most extensive collection of letters sent by one black soldier back home. That was published in the 1990s. Edwin renke has also compiled letters written by black soldiers in units such as 54 and elsewhere. I just want to mention very quickly that in Frederick Douglass monthly he published a letter from his son, louis, who had been wounded at ft. Wagner. In fact later louis would later be medically disarjed about a year later. But louis wrote very poignantly about how he saw carnage around him and he was surprised to have lived through that horrible siege and yet he felt very patriotic and he was supporting the cause. So, thats still, to me, one of the most powerful letters written by a soldier at the front Louis Douglass to his father in july of 1863. Okay, thank you very much. We very much enjoyed your discussion and want to put you together with the folks who are working on that larger project. This ends this panel of the symposium on 19th Century Press, the civil war and Free Expression. Weeknights this month were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan3. On april 24th, 1971, approximately 175,000 people gathered on the National Mall to oppose the vietnam war. In the days following the peaceful protest, about 45,000 antiwar activists stayed in the city to begin a series of mayday actions blocking access to government builds and december rupting action. The Police Department produced the whole world is watching, a film documenting these events, including the may 3rd, 1971, arrest of more than 7,000 people, the largest mass arrest in u. S. History. Watch tonight beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern and enjoy American History tv every weekend on cspan3. American history tv on cspan3, exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. Coming up this weekend, saturday at 2 00 p. M. Eastern, the history makers with conversation between founder and president Julianna Richardson and fox news political analyst juan williams. The history maker series continues sunday. On the history of africanamericans in education and the importance of hbcus. At 4 00 p. M. Eastern on reel america in light of the recent attacks on the u. S. Capitol, watch several films on the United States government and american democracy, which offer civic lessons on how the government works. In the heart of the sea the tragedy of the whale ship, about the 1820 sinking of the ship following a sperm whale attack and the fate of the ships crew. And at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on the presidency we look back at fail wells and inaugurations of previous president s, bill clinton, george w. Bush,