Franz Sigel
Franz Sigel was a German military officer, revolutionist and immigrant to the United States who was a teacher, newspaperman, politician, and served as a Union major general in the American Civil War. His ability to recruit Germanspeaking immigrants to the Union armies garnered the approval of President Abraham Lincoln, but he was strongly disliked by GeneralinChief Henry Halleck and rated overall as a poor leader.
Sigel was born in Sinsheim, Baden , and attended the gymnasium in Bruchsal. He graduated from Karlsruhe Military Academy in 1843, and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Baden Army. He met the revolutionaries Friedrich Hecker and Gustav von Struve and became associated with the revolutionary movement. He was wounded in a duel in 1847. The same year, he retired from the army to begin law school studies in Heidelberg. After organizing a revolutionary free corps in Mannheim and later in the Seekreis county, he soon became a leader of the Baden revolutionary forces in the 1848 Revolution, being one of the few revolutionaries with military command experience. In April 1848, he led the SigelZug, recruiting a militia of more than 4,000 volunteers to lead a siege against the city of Freiburg. His army was annihilated on April 23, 1848 by the betterequipped and more experienced Prussian and Wrttemberg troops. In 1849, he became Secretary of War and commanderinchief of the revolutionary rep
Source: Wikipedia