The New International Encyclopædia/Schurz, Carl

SCHURZ, shụrts, (1829— ). A German-American soldier and political leader, born at Liblar, Prussia. He was edueated at the gymnasium of Cologne and the University of Bonn, at which latter phioe he became the associate of Gottfried Kinkel (q.v.), then professor at Bonn, in the publication of a liberal newspaper, and was engaged in the revolutionary movement of 1848-49, as a result of which he was forced to retire to Switzerland. In 1850 Schurz returned secretly to Germany, and with great skill succeeded in bringing about the memorable escape of Kinkel from the fortress of Spandau. After a residence in Paris as correspondent for German papers, and in London, where he was a teacher, he emigrated to the United States in 1852, settling first in Philadelphia and afterwards in Wisconsin, where he made Republican campaign speeches in German in 1856, and the next year was an unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant-Governor. In 1859 he began to practice law in Milwaukee. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention in 1860, and delivered both English and German speeches, of remarkable eloquence, during the canvass of that year. In 1861 he was appointed Minister to Spain by President Lincoln, but resigned on the outbreak of the Civil War and joined the army. He was made brigadier-general in 1862; commanded a division at the second battle of Bull Run, was commissioned major-general in 1863, led the Eleventh Corps at Chancellorsville, participated in the battles of Gettysburg and Chattanooga, and at the close of the war made a tour of inspection through the Southern States as a special commissioner appointed by President Johnson to inquire into the condition of affairs in the seceded States, his report having considerable influence. He was Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune in 1865-66, founded the Detroit Post in 1866, and the next year became editor of the Saint Louis Westliche Post.

From 1869 to 1875 he served as United States Senator from Missouri. He opposed many of the measures of the Grant administration, took a leading part in the organization of the Liberal Republican movement, and in 1872 presided over the Cincinnati convention which nominated Greeley for President. He supported Hayes in 1876, and afterwards served in his Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior (1877-81). In 1881-84 he was editor of the New York Evening Post. In the Presidential campaign of 1884 he was one of the earliest among the Independent Republicans to repudiate the nomination of Blaine, and in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and several Western States, he made vigorous speeches, favoring the election of Cleveland. During his term of office as Secretary of the Interior and after his retirement from public life, he was an enthusiastic advocate of civil-service reform, in support of which he wrote many articles and reports and delivered many speeches. His publications include biographies of Henry Clay (1887) and of Abraham Lincoln (1891).