Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 36, number 2, winter, 1952-53

              HORNER  : LINCOLN SCOLDS A GENERAL
This "mighty hurricane" was the revolution of 1848 in Germany in which Schurz and many of his fellow students immediately be¬ came involved under the leadership of Pro¬ fessor Kinkel. After participating in fruitless expeditions against the government, including the visionary scheme of seizing the arsenal at Siegburg, the revolutionists were put to rout by the Prussians. Schurz escaped to Switzer¬ land, but Kinkel was taken prisoner and con¬ demned to life imprisonment. He was con¬ fined in a penitentiary at Spandau near Ber¬ lin. Securing false passports, Schurz deter¬ mined to effect the liberation of Kinkel. He made trips without detection into Germany, visited his parents at Bonn, and with the aid of friends established headquarters in Berlin. After long and careful planning and one bit¬ ter failure, he succeeded in rescuing Kinkel from the penitentiary. They made their way by carriage to the coast, secured passage on a freight steamer, and reached England safely. This adventure at once made Schurz famous, and the thrilling story of the remarkable escape is woven into the folklore of Ger¬ many.^
Married in London in 1852, Schurz made his way with his bride to America where on September 17 they entered the harbor of New York, and "with the buoyant hopefulness of young hearts" they saluted the new world.* They settled temporarily in Philadelphia and began at once to study the English language. Having German friends and relatives in Wis¬ consin, Schurz finally established his home in Watertown in this state in 1856. He was ad¬ mitted to the bar but never engaged in active practice. Lecturing and writing were more to his taste, but his absorbing passion was politics. He was naturally strongly antislav- ery and, speaking mainly in German, he cam¬ paigned vigorously for Fremont in German settlements in 1856. He soon was able, how¬ ever, to speak as effectively in English as in his native tongue. He was named as a dele¬ gate to the Wisconsin Republican State Con¬ vention in 1857 and was nominated for lieu¬ tenant governor before his naturalization was completed.   He was defeated by a small mar-
^Ibid., 1:250-341; Fuess, 30-35. 'Ibid., 1:406.
^i^^\i'.
Militant Carl Schurz
gin.^ In a subsequent election, ambitious to be nominated for governor, he declined a unanimous nomination for lieutenant gover¬ nor.^
In 1858 during the famous senatorial cam¬ paign in Illinois, he spoke for Lincoln and definitely against Douglas. He first met Lin¬ coln on a train en route for Quincy, Illinois, on October 12, 1858, the day before the Lin¬ coln-Douglas debate at Quincy. Many years later he penned a graphic description of the man he met at that time:
I must confess that I was somewhat startled by his appearance. There he stood, overtopping by several inches all those sur¬ rounding him. Although measuring some¬ thing over six feet myself, I had, standing quite near to him, to throw my head back¬ ward in order to look into his eyes. That swarthy face with its strong features, its deep furrows, and its benignant, melancholy eyes, is now familiar to every American by numberless pictures. It may be said that the whole civilized world knows and loves it. At that time it was clean-shaven, and looked even more haggard and careworn than later when it was framed in whiskers.
'Fuess, 54-56. nbid., 65-66.
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