Carl Schurz

Carl Schurz , 1829-1906, American political leader, b. Germany. He studied at the Univ. of Bonn and participated in the revolutionary uprisings of 1848-49 in Germany. Compelled to flee to Zürich after the collapse of the movement, he finally emigrated (1852) to the United States, where he settled (1856) in Watertown, Wis. and became a strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln, who appointed him (1861) U.S. minister to Spain. Schurz resigned this position to serve in the Civil War. Promoted to major general in 1863, he fought in the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Chattanooga and served with Gen. William T. Sherman's army in North Carolina in 1865. Between 1865 and 1868, Schurz was Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune, editor of the Detroit Post, and joint editor and owner of the St. Louis Westliche Post. He was U.S. Senator (1869-75) from his adopted state of Missouri. Antagonized by the radical Republican Reconstruction program and opposed to the administration of President Grant, Schurz aided in forming (1872) the Liberal Republican party . In 1876, Schurz supported Rutherford B. Hayes, whose hard money views he approved, for the presidency. He served (1877-81) in Hayes's cabinet as Secretary of the Interior. He was an editor (1881-83) of the New York Evening Post and wrote editorials (1892-98) for Harper's Weekly. In 1884, convinced of James G. Blaine's unfitness for office, Schurz led the mugwumps in their opposition to Blaine's nomination and candidacy. Schurz supported the Democrat Grover Cleveland in that year and again in 1888 and 1892. He turned to William McKinley in 1896 because of William Jennings Bryan's currency views, but in 1900 he supported Bryan because of his anti-imperialist views. He wrote Life of Henry Clay (2 vol., 1887), Abraham Lincoln: an Essay (1891), and his own reminiscences (3 vol., 1907-8; abridged vol. by Allan Nevins, 1961).

Bibliography: See F. Bancroft, ed., Speeches, Correspondence, and Political Papers of Carl Schurz (6 vol., 1913); J. Schafer, ed., Intimate Letters of Carl Schurz, 1841-1869 (1928); biographies by C. M. Fuess (1932, repr. 1963) and J. P. Terzian (1965).

Schurz, Carl ʃŏorts; ʃərts (1829–1906) Union army officer, secretary of the interior, and U.S. senator. Schurz grew up in Germany, where he allied himself with those who sought democratic reforms. Wanted for treason, he rescued an imprisoned comrade by bribing a guard, and the two then fled to England. He came to the United States in 1852 and settled in Wisconsin, becoming active in the Republican party. In 1860 he first supported William H. Seward, then Abraham Lincoln; his help in campaigning among German immigrants helped Lincoln achieve victory. When the Civil War broke out, Schurz raised several troops of German immigrants, then became ambassador to Spain, from which position he supported the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. He returned to the United States in 1862 and was commissioned a brigadier general; he fought well at the Second Battle of Bull Run (1862), but his performance at Chancellorsville and at Gettysburg (both 1863) drew criticism, and the rest of his war service was unremarkable. In 1869 he was elected to the Senate from his new home state, Missouri. Schurz's support for clean government, and for the Republican candidate in 1876, brought him a post as secretary of the interior; in this position he introduced civil service reforms and moved to protect natural resources; he also eventually softened the department's treatment of Native Americans. An anti-imperialist, he opposed the Spanish-American War (1898) and annexation of new territories.