Press & broadcasting / Politics / Military
Carl Schurz
1829–1906 · journalist, Union general, statesman
German-born revolutionary, Union general and later U.S. senator and Interior secretary, who edited the Detroit Post in 1866–1867.
- Born
Liblar, Rhine Province, Prussia- Died
New York City, New York
aged 77- Birth name
- Carl Christian Schurz
- Detroit years
- 1866–1867
- Field
- Press & broadcasting, Politics, Military
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Carl Schurz fled Germany after the failed revolution of 1848 and became one of the best-known German Americans of his century. After serving as a Union general in the Civil War, he turned to journalism, and in 1866 he moved to Detroit to become chief editor of the newly launched Detroit Post, a Republican daily. His stay was short: in 1867 he left for St. Louis to co-own and edit the German-language Westliche Post. Detroit's German community and Republican circles, including Michigan party founder Emil Anneke, the brother of his revolutionary comrade Fritz Anneke, formed part of his network. Schurz was later elected U.S. senator from Missouri and served as Secretary of the Interior under President Rutherford B. Hayes, pressing for civil service reform.
Highlights
- Chief editor of the Detroit Post, 1866–1867
- Union Army major general in the Civil War
- U.S. senator from Missouri, 1869–1875
- Secretary of the Interior, 1877–1881