Dilger I.

This is coolbert:

The good and the bad! Here with the good.

Dilger the Elder. MoH. Hubert Dilger.

The German national fighting for the Union cause during the American Civil War. Comporting himself with great courage and valor on the battlefield. Awarded the Medal of Honor!

"Hubert Anton Casimir Dilger . . . a German immigrant to the United States who became a decorated artillerist in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was noted as one of the finest artillerists in the Army of the Potomac, winning the Medal of Honor [MoH] for his valiant work at the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville."

Dilger NOT a Forty-Eighter and not an American citizen but a professional soldier well versed in his profession.

"Dilger was born in Engen in the Black Forest region in Germany and educated in the Karlsruhe Military Academy. He served as a lieutenant in the Grand Duke's Horse Artillery at military posts in Gottesau, Karlsruhe, and Rastatt. He developed several innovative theories on artillery tactics and drill. When news came of the outbreak of the American Civil War, Dilger received a leave of absence and sailed to the United States".

"Fought his guns until the enemy were upon him, then with one gun hauled in the road by hand he formed the rear guard and kept the enemy at bay by the rapidity of his fire and was the last man in the retreat." - - the MoH citation of Hubert Dilger.

Those foreign nationals awarded the MoH the number very small indeed. Just off the top of my head besides Dilger I can only think of one Canadian and one Filipino having been decorated in the same manner.

Devoted readers to the blog know of others? Please let me know.

coolbert.