The Letters of Karl Adolph and Alwine Frick
If you are looking for an interesting way to learn about German Missourians during the Civil War, reading letters they wrote back home to relatives in Germany during this time period will intrigue you. The book The Letters They Wrote Home was originally published in Germany in 2002 under the title Deutsche im Amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg: Briefe von Front und Farm, 1861–1865 by Ferdinand Schӧningh in Paderborn, Germany. By 2006, Schӧningh’s work would be edited by Walter D. Kamphoefner and Wolfgang Helbich and translated into English by Susan Carter Vogel. This book is a collection of letters that were written in the United States and sent by mail to Germany. These letters were written by German immigrants and gave an account of the American Civil War from a German immigrant stance. One such set of letters are from Adolph Frick and his wife Alwine to their families back home in Germany prior to the Civil War, during the war, and after the war. Karl Adolph Frick was from Lahr, Baden, Germany, and emigrated from Le Havre, France in 1854. Frick first briefly settled in Cincinnati, Ohio and then made his way to Missouri where he bought land west of St. Louis by about sixty miles. Frick then opened a store in the village of Campbellton. His wife Alwine Frick immigrated to Missouri from the southern part of Westphalia, Germany with her family in 1853.
The early letters written by Frick reflect a time of tumultuous fighting in Missouri regarding freedom and slavery. In one of his early letters around 1861, he explained to his mother and sisters that the war in the state of Missouri was spreading the fastest. Of note, Frick himself had just recently “volunteered for the Franklin County Home Guards, a militia unit, on June 13, 1861.” In these early letters by Frick, you can feel the passion that he has for fighting for what he believes is right.
Like many fellow immigrants from Germany, Karl Adolph Frick chose to immigrate to the United States based on economic reasons. Frick’s store had success in part because he got along well with everyone and there were plenty of German American immigrants in the area.
The time frame of the letters that Karl Adolph Frick and his wife Alwine exchanged with his mother and family was from 1861 to 1865. During this time, the United States was going through a civil war that was driving the nation apart. As Frick wrote to his mother and sisters in September 1862, “slavery is the sole cause of this disastrous war.” Like many German Americans, Frick found the Republican Party to align with his personal beliefs, and in the presidential election of 1860, he voted for Abraham Lincoln. This would be his first election in the United States after becoming a citizen. While serving in the Franklin County Home Guards, Frick would be appointed as the rank of captain in part because of the organization of his company. In one of his letters from an unknown date in 1861, Frick wrote to his mom and his sisters that the conflict was not “a war where two powers fight to win a piece of land, instead, it’s about freedom or slavery.” On May 11, 1861, Frick wrote to his mother that the war in Missouri was primarily over, half of Missouri had been destroyed, and the citizens had suffered.
We find in these later letters that after the Civil War concluded, Frick was not pleased with his circumstances as he wrote to his mother telling her of the economic loss he suffered because of the war. Frick later wrote to his mother that he felt that President Johnson was a “traitor to the loyal people of the Union, and so it looks like all the great sacrifice made in the 4-year war in terms of men and money will have been for naught.” Soon after the American Civil War, Frink gave up ownership of his store and turned to farming. Frick would rebound from his losses and would acquire a significant amount of land.
In conclusion, the book The Letters They Wrote Home contains letters from German immigrants, many of whom had only been in the country for several years but contributed to the victory of the Union Army. The uniqueness of this history through correspondence “brought different values, images, and experiences to bear on the war, which provide a contrast to the perspectives shared by most American letter-writers.” As Karl Adolph Frick wrote to his sister in February 1863 “it’s actually quite a strange story-the Germans almost without exception, support the legitimate government and fight for its honor.” You will find these letters interesting because they are written over a period of time by Frick and his wife to specific family members in Germany. Additionally, you will note that Karl and his wife Alwine had very different writing styles and it easy to distinguish who wrote each letter. It is fascinating that these letters were written by immigrants who had no idea that their letters home would provide a historical glimpse of the Civil War over 150 years later.
In the video below is one of the writers of the book The Letters They Wrote Home Walter D. Kamphoefner.
If interested, click this link to Amazon.com where you can learn more about the book, or if interested possibly purchase the book.
If interested in learning more about the topic of how German-Americans fought and participated in the American Civil War, please click this link. For further information that covers the state of Missouri and how German-Americans were involved in the American Civil War, click the following link.
