Large-scale European immigration to Philadelphia after the great influx that arrived prior to the Revolution did not begin again until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. There were many Philadelphia merchants active in overseas trade, and many ships were bringing immigrants to the city. In the 1820s alone, nearly twenty thousand immigrants, almost 10 percent of the national total, came to the city as two lines of Philadelphia-based sailing ships ran regularly to Liverpool, the main center for Irish as well as English emigration.38
Immigration continued steadily in the 1830s and early 1840s. Between 1830 and the great Irish famine migration of 1847, about 60,000 immigrants landed in Philadelphia. But many more people were by this time coming to the city via New York, for Philadelphia’s share of all immigrant arrivals had fallen to about 5 percent, where it would remain until the Civil War era. A reason for declining immigration was the distance involved in reaching the city and the presence of ice in the river during winter. The city bought an iceboat in 1838, but many were not confident it could do the job. The city faced the massive Irish and German migrations of the late 1840s with only one line of sailing ships to and from Europe.39 Increased demand brought forth an increased supply, however. Two new lines of sailing ships were established between Liverpool and Philadelphia; another line plied between Philadelphia and Londonderry; and individual ships sailed from other ports. All told in the eight years from 1847 through 1854, over 120,000 immigrants arrived in Philadelphia, now the nation’s fourth largest immigrant port. The total for 1853 alone (19,211) exceeded the total for the entire decade of the 1820s.40
The season for immigration to Philadelphia lasted from April to October, and the trip took about a month. The passenger lines continued to service Philadelphia all during the conflict. Between 1855 and 1864, more than fifty thousand immigrants came to the city.41
As a result of the immigrant wave of previous decades, by 1850 approximately 30 percent of Philadelphians were foreign-born, the highest proportion ever recorded. The Germans (twenty thousand) and Irish (seventy thousand) accounted for more than three-quarters of the total. This made the population of Philadelphia approximately 14 percent Irish and 10 percent German, and the remainder a combined 5 percent, were primarily immigrants from England, Scotland, Wales, France and other European backgrounds.42
In the absence of good public transportation, most Philadelphians of all origins and classes lived near their jobs, and the immigrants were thus spread around the city. The Kensington mill district also had a significant population of British and Irish immigrants.43
The free blacks made up 4 percent of the population, making Philadelphia the largest such community in the North. Most of the black population lived in and around the Lombard Street area, where they had their own businesses, schools, churches and social institutions.44 It was from these ethnic communities that many volunteers were drawn for military service. Philadelphians raised a number of ethnic-based commands, like those composed of Irish immigrants, principally McMullin’s Rangers (1861), recruited out of the rough and tumble Moyamensing Hose Company; the 24th Pennsylvania Volunteers (hereafter PV); the 69th PV (Philadelphia Brigade); the 116th PV (Irish Brigade); the Irish Dragoons, or 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry; and many Irish were found distributed throughout most of the city-based regiments mixed in with other immigrants or the native born.
The German community furnished the 27th PV, the first ethnically German unit; the 73rd PV, 74th PV, 75th PV, 98th PV, 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry and the 2nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery.
The Jewish community at the time of the Civil War was small in proportion but nonetheless devoted to the cause of the Union. Most were immigrants from German-speaking lands in Europe, and they identified closely with the German community. Most joined ethnic German units, serving gallantly in the army and navy.
The Rosengarten family, of the famous chemical company (now Merck) founded by father George, was represented by four sons who served in the army. Major Joseph G. Rosengarten was a hero at the Battle of Fredericksburg, serving with Meade’s Pennsylvania Reserves, and was later an aide to General Reynolds. After the war, he became a prominent member of Philadelphia society and a noted author. His brother Adolph G. Rosengarten commanded the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry and was killed at Stones River in a gallant but hopeless charge on the enemy.
Max Einstein and Max Friedmann both commanded their own regiments in the early part of the war: Einstein, the 27th PV, and Friedmann, the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Einstein was later named a U.S. consul and diplomat to Nuremberg.
William Durst was a sailor on board the USS Monitor and was a veteran of the famed fight between the Monitor and the Merrimac (CSS Virginia). “When volunteers were called for, he sprang to his duty with death staring him in the face,” stated Admiral Worden himself, who maintained that Durst was a man of distinguished bravery whose services should have earned him the Medal of Honor.45
The French were represented in the Corps d’Afrique and 114th PV.
The smaller African American community of Philadelphia, starting in 1863, provided recruits wholly or partially to the Black 54th Massachusetts Volunteers and eleven United States Colored Troops regiments, trained at Camp William Penn.46
There was a scattering of immigrants from other ethnic backgrounds who contributed to the war effort and gallantly performed military service. From Cuba came Adolph (Adolfo) Fernandez Cavada and his brother Frederick (Federico) Fernandez Cavada. Adolph served with distinction in the Army of the Potomac from Fredericksburg to Gettysburg and was a “special aide-de-camp,” or staff officer, to General Andrew A. Humphreys, having enlisted in the 23rd Pennsylvania Volunteers, “Birney’s Zouaves.” Frederick Fernandez Cavada served with distinction in the 114th Pennsylvania Volunteers, “Collis’s Zouaves,” as regimental commander and was captured at Gettysburg. After the Civil War, both became actively involved in the War of Cuban Independence from Spain, and Frederick became commander in chief of all Cuban revolutionary forces but was captured and executed. Many of his former friends and comrades with whom he had served in the Union army, including Generals Meade and Grant, attempted to obtain his release, but without success. Adolph was also killed fighting for Cuban independence. The Cavada brothers, natives of Cuba and residents of Philadelphia, fought for both their adopted and native countries and paid a “last full measure of devotion” for their native land.47
A Polish officer, Captain Stanislaus Mlotkowski, served as commander of Independent Artillery Battery A, Pennsylvania Volunteer Artillery. Mlotkowski had fought in the wars of independence in Poland and had immigrated to Philadelphia. He enlisted in September 1861, and his command was assigned to duty at Fort Delaware. He served honorably until mustered out of service on June 30, 1865.48
Camp Ballier, 98th PV. A sketch of the training camp of the 98th PV German regiment raised in Philadelphia. The camp was named for the organizer of the unit and its commander, General John Ballier. GAR Museum Collection.
Frederick George d’Utassy helped to organize the famous Garibaldi Guard, or 39th New York Volunteers, though he was living in Philadelphia at the time. D’Utassy had been a Hussar officer in the 1848 Hungarian War of Independence. He came to Philadelphia after his release from prison in Austria and joined the Union army. New York’s Garibaldi Guard was organized with the help of d’Utassy who became the first commander of the unit with the rank of colonel. The guard was allowed to display three flags: the Union flag, Garibaldi’s Italian flag and also the Hungarian tricolor, since many in the Garibaldi Guard were Hungarians. D’Utassy’s two brothers, Carl and Anton, also served in this regiment. After the war, Colonel d’Utassy supported himself teaching piano in Philadelphia.
Gabriel De Korpornay was an exiled Hungarian who arrived in the United States in 1844. He served in the U.S. Army as captain in the Mexican War and later on the frontier. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he became lieutenant colonel, and later colonel, of the 28th Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was a competent commander but was discharged for disability in 1863 and died in Philadelphia of the effects of service in 1866.49
This is just a small sampling of the commanders of Philadelphia-based units who were foreign born and immigrated to the Quaker City, and volunteered for service in the cause of preserving the Union.50