Explanation: After the failed liberal/socialist (infighting was involved) revolutions of '48 in the German states, many of the revolutionaries decided to start a new life in the US. Naturally, their inclinations were very much anti-slavery, and for that reason German-Americans remained strongly abolitionist and pro-Union, and hundreds of thousands of German-Americans volunteered for service to whip the secesh. It was said (perhaps tongue-in-cheek) that some German immigrants could speak no English, except enough to ask to serve under the highest-ranking revolutionary veteran in the Union army, General Sigel. “I wants to fight mit Sigel!”
Explanation: After the failed liberal/socialist (infighting was involved) revolutions of '48 in the German states, many of the revolutionaries decided to start a new life in the US. Naturally, their inclinations were very much anti-slavery, and for that reason German-Americans remained strongly abolitionist and pro-Union, and hundreds of thousands of German-Americans volunteered for service to whip the secesh. It was said (perhaps tongue-in-cheek) that some German immigrants could speak no English, except enough to ask to serve under the highest-ranking revolutionary veteran in the Union army, General Sigel. “I wants to fight mit Sigel!”
If anyone wants to hear more, Margret Killjoy did two episodes about it.