FORTY-EIGHTERS

The 'Forty-Eighters' were Germans who traveled to the United States, Puerto Rico and Australia after the Revolutions of 1848. Disappointed at the failure of the revolution to bring about the reform of the system of government in Germany, and sometimes on the government's wanted list because of their involvement in the revolution, they gave up their old lives to try again abroad. Many were respected, rich and well-educated; as such, they were not typical migrants. Unsurprisingly, then, a large number went on to be very successful in their new countries and have become part of US and Australian history. The term ''Forty-Eighters'' is often used to mean specifically the Forty-Eighters who took part in the American Civil War.

Contents

Forty-Eighters in the USA

Famous US Forty-Eighters

Forty-Eighters in Australia

Famous Australian Forty-Eighters

See also

Forty-Eighters in the USA

In the United States, many "Forty-Eighters" sided with the Union because of their objection to Confederate slavery. Several thousand Forty-Eighters enlisted in the Union Army.
Many "Forty-Eighters" settled in the Texas Hill Country in the vicinity of Fredericksburg, and voted heavily against Texas's secession. In the Bellville area of Austin County, another destination for "Forty-Eighters," the German precincts voted decisively against the secession ordinance. [1]

Famous US Forty-Eighters

★ German Texans: Michael Machemehl; Dr. Carl Adolph Douai; Johann Machemehl

★ Journalists, writers, publishers: Mathilde Franziska Anneke; Christian Esselen; Bernard Domschke; Rudolf Lexow; Reinhold Solger; Karl Peter Heinzen; Carl Daenzer

★ Poets: Rudolf Puchner; Edmund Märklin; Konrad Krez

★ Artists: Wilhelm Heine; Friedrich Girsch; Louis Prang; Adelbert John Volck;

★ Architects, Engineers: Adolf Cluss

★ political activists: Joseph Weydemeyer; Carl Schurz (from 1852; later the US Secretary of the Interior); Lorenz Brentano (later a Member of the Congress of the United States); Friedrich Hecker; Gustav von Struve; Wilhelm Weitling

★ Later generals in the U.S. Civil War: Louis Blenker; August Willich; Alexander Schimmelpfennig; Franz Sigel after living in Switzerland and England;

★ Other: Hugo Wesendonck, who founded the Germania Life Insurance Co, now Guardian Life Insurance Co.; Pauline Wunderlich (fought at the Dresden barricades) left to the USA after she was released from prison and granted amnesty.

★ Al Sieber, later known as ''Chief of the Scouts'' in Arizona. Fought in the battles of Antietam (on 16 and 17 September 1862), Fredericksburg (on 13 December 1862), Chancellorsville (1 to 4 May 1863) with Friedrich Hecker, Carl Schurz, Franz Sigel and then in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Forty-Eighters in Australia

In 1848, the first non-British ship carrying immigrants to arrive in Victoria was from Germany; the Goddefroy, on February 13. Many of those on board were political refugees. Some Germans also travelled to Australia via London.
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★ In April 1849 the ''Beulah'' was the first ship to bring assisted German vinedresser families to NSW. The second ship, the ''Parland'', left London on 13 March 1849, and arrived in Sydney on 5 July 1849.

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★ The barque Kinnear was actually the first to carry German vinedressers to NSW in 1838. 6 vinedressers and their families (altogether 12 adults and 17 children) were recruited from the Rheingau region in Hessen by Major Edward Macarthur for his brother William's property at Camden. These first German vinedressers to arrive in NSW on April 23 1838, were Friedrich Sickold, Johann Justus, Johann Stein, Caspar Flick, Georg Gerhard and Johann Wenz.
Many Germans became vintners or worked in the wine industry; others founded Lutheran churches. By 1860, for example, about 70 German families lived in Germantown, Victoria. (When World War I broke out, the town was renamed Grovedale.) In Adelaide, a German Club was founded in 1854 which played a major role in society.

Famous Australian Forty-Eighters

★ Carl Linger, the conductor and composer who went on to write "Song of Australia"

★ Dr Richard Schomburgk, later director of the Adelaide Botanical Gardens

★ Hermann Büring, in the wine industry

★ Friedrich Krichauff, Chairman of the Agricultural Bureau

See also

★ German-American

★ German Australian

★ Canadians of German descent

★ Homestead Act

★ Republican Party (United States)

★ Midwestern United States

★ California Gold Rush