History

On German-language newspapers in pre-US* America

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* Or at least before America officially became the United States of America

David writes here about Sgt. Mom’s intriguing trilogy of books on German settlers in Texas and their influence, cultural and otherwise, on the state of Texas.

I couldn’t possibly do the subject, much less the lovely and erudite Sgt. Mom, any justice on this short notice. So here are just two somewhat surprising facts about a (kind of) related subject, i.e, the German-language press in America:

– In 1732, Benjamin Franklin published the Philadelphische Zeitung, the first German-language newspaper in North America. Unfortunately it only lasted for two issues.

– On July 5 1776, The Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote was the first newspaper to report the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

PS: Some years ago, Sgt. Mom was kind of enough to mail me the recipe for some delicious caramel. I’ve made it several times since then (maybe a bit more often than my waistline can take, but it sure is worth it :)

Forthcoming Books by Bloggers

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A couple of interesting-looking books by bloggers are coming out in the near future:

From Roger Simon comes Blacklisting Myself, which is about his experiences living and working in Hollywood while challenging the prevailing orthodoxy.

From Sgt Mom, who writes books as Celia Hayes, comes a historical novel…well, actually, three historical novels, The Adelsverein Trilogy. It’s about a largely-unknown episode in Texas history:

The Adelsverein story begins early in the 1840s, when a group of high-born and socially conscious German noblemen conceived the notion of establishing a colony of German farmers and craftsmen in Texas. Under-funded, over-extended, scammed by scallywags and beset with bad advice, the association still dispatched more than thirty-six chartered ships carrying over 7,000 immigrants to the ports of Galveston and Indianola, in the short space of five years. The gently-rolling limestone and oak-forested hill country of south-central Texas was transformed utterly into a district of neat and prosperous farms and well-laid out towns. These settlers valued culture, and comfort, order and hard work. Schools, churches, singing-societies and businesses were established almost at once. The German hill country was a world almost apart, becoming even more so with the Civil War, when its residents held out against secession and for the Union.

(Adelsverein means the “company of noble men”)

Both books sound pretty interesting. Follow the links for more information.

Previous Books by Bloggers posts.

USS Juneau

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While visiting Alaska we toured the capital city Juneau. Juneau lies on a small flat section of land among towering mountain peaks and is very scenic. Along the water front huge cruise ships were moored, disgorging tourists to wander the local shops. So what catches MY eye…

A plague commemorating the USS Juneau, of course. The USS Juneau was a US light cruiser of the “Atlanta” class, and was relatively small in size. “Light” cruisers at the time generally carried 6 inch guns, and “Heavy” cruisers carried 8 inch guns (for comparison, battleships carried guns in the 14 to 18 inch range). The Atlanta class light cruisers had five inch guns, in twin mount turrets, and in some ways were just larger destroyers. On the other hand, they were revolutionary in that they were Anti-aircraft cruisers, similar to the British “Dido” class, which performed valuable duties especially protecting the Malta convoys which ran through heavy Axis air attack routes.< While I knew this right away it probably isn't common knowledge that the Juneau was the ship that, in a way, inspired the movie "Saving Private Ryan". The Juneau was the ship where the famous five Sullivan brothers all served as sailors. The Juneau was sunk by the Japanese off Guadalcanal in late 1942; the ship was struck by one of the powerful torpedoes and it sank quickly. Three of the brothers died when the ship sank and the other two died at sea while awaiting rescue. I did not realize it until I read the wikipedia site that the situation of the survivors was comparable to that of the Indianapolis, which was immortalized in “Jaws”, in that they were adrift at sea for several days before they were rescued, and that is why only ten survived out of a compliment of 700 sailors.

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A Lucky Country

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I can walk to work from a few different directions and I took a detour and headed south on LaSalle street. Just north of the Chicago River there is a refurbished office building with a large photo essay on the Eastland disaster. The S.S. Eastland was a passenger ship that capsized in 1915 and killed 845 passengers along the Chicago River (near where this building stands today). The exhibit is called “A Day Unlike Any Other”.

What does this essay say about America, and why are we “A Lucky Country”? As a history buff, when I see any date from the time period 1914-1918 only one thing leaps to mind – World War One. While the United States did participate in World War One, we declared war in 1917 and only had sizable forces on the ground for the 1918 German spring offensive and the subsequent Allied counterattack.

Thus while 1915 is “A Day Unlike Any Other” (and even the wikipedia page on this date, July 24, points to the Eastland disaster) in America, let’s put this in perspective.

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Those Who Live in Glass Houses…

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The latest kurfuffle in this years election is how a Representative from Georgia, a Democrat, accused Republican John McCain of creating the same “hateful atmosphere” that was fostered by Gov. George Wallace with his racist and segregationist policies.

Someone needs to pull the honorable lawmaker aside and explain that George Wallace was a fellow Democrat. While they are at it, they might also mention that most of the truly ardent racists during the Civil Rights era were Democrats, while the Republicans were the people who did the most to advance the cause of equality.