Sigel: The General Who Rallied German America

The small town of Sigel, incorporated in eighteen sixty-seven in Shelby County, was named for Franz Sigel, a German-born general who became one of the most important recruiters the Union Army ever had. Sigel had led a failed democratic revolution in Germany in eighteen forty-eight and came to America as a refugee. When the Civil War began, his rallying cry among German immigrants was simple: I'm going to fight mit Sigel.

The phrase swept through German American communities across the Midwest, and communities in several states took his name. The village carries his name today.