Immigrant Soldiers

There has been a lot of news recently about immigrants in the US. Since this weekend is Memorial Day, I thought I’d write about some individuals in my family tree who were recent immigrants but loved this country so much when given the opportunity they volunteered to serve in the military for their new country. I’d like to focus on four such individuals.

Robert Stuart Coulter

Robert is the great*4 grandfather of my daughter-in-law. He came to America from Ireland in 1764 at the age of only 4 with his father and they settled initially in South Carolina. Just 12 years later, at the tender age of 16, Robert enlisted with the South Carolina troops during the Revolutionary War. He fought with them at the battles of King’s Mountain and Eutaw Springs.

Following the war, Robert continued to move westward into the new country of the United States – first to Tennessee, then to Illinois. He was among the first residents of Illinois as he was there before Illinois was admitted as a state in 1818. Thus, Robert is both a patriot and a pioneer.

John Russell

John was not an immigrant himself, having been born here in 1756. But his father, Robert Russell, had only immigrated a few years earlier around 1750 from Scotland. Both John and Robert were illiterate farmers in the Hudson River Valley in NY. John married in 1774 when he was only 18 and he and his wife had their first child, my great*4 grandfather, Caleb Russell, the following year.

John certainly could have decided that his place was with his wife and new son rather than serving in the military. Nonetheless, as the hostilities between the Americans and the British increased, he enlisted with the NY Volunteers in May 1776. He served in various locations along the Hudson River for about 18 months, not returning home to live with his wife until October 1777. His next child was born just 10 months after his service ended.

It was likely not that unusual that John sided with the Americans. After all, in Scotland the British were generally the landlords and the native Highlanders were dependent on them. So when the potato famine began in the mid-1840s, in order to avoid starvation many of the Scots had to emigrate to other countries – thus the reason why Robert Russell had to leave his native Scotland for America. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Potato_Famine).

The Kowalski Brothers

My wife’s great*2 grandmother, Wilhelmina Lupke was born in Prussia in 1828. She and her first husband, Matias Czenkus, had four children, including my wife’s great-grandfather, Adolph Cincush. Mathias died in 1858 and the following year she married Michael Kowalski. Michael and Wilhelmina had a daughter in 1860, and shortly thereafter they made the decision to migrate from Prussia to the United States. Their destination was Wisconsin, where Michael’s younger brother, Frederick, had migrated in 1858 (when he was only 18).

About the same time as Michael and Wilhelmina (who was heavily pregnant at the time) were making their preparations for leaving Prussia, Frederick was enlisting in the Union Army. Frederick enlisted on August 24, 1862 in the Wisconsin 27^th Regiment. The Union Army at that time had a policy of allowing “substitutes” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrollment_Act). Under this policy, someone who was required to enlist could pay someone to take their place for a fee of $300 (the equivalent of $5000 today). Individuals of foreign descent were prime candidates for being substitutes. Thus, Frederick had a financial incentive to join the Union Army.

Michael and Wilhelmina arrived in NY on October 16, 1862, having had another child a few days before arriving. They immediately left via train from NY – first going to Chicago, then to Wisconsin. They settled down there for a few years – with their by now 6 children – but then Michael also took the opportunity to be a substitute and he enlisted in the 1^st Wisconsin Volunteers in November of 1864.

When the war ended, Michael was released from his service first on July 19, 1865, and Frederick a month later on August 22, 1865, having served for 3 years. They both remained in Wisconsin for a few more years, where Michael and Wilhelmina had one more child in 1867. Then both brothers moved from Wisconsin to Charlevoix County, MI where they bought adjoining farms. Frederick finally married in 1870 – to his brother’s step-daughter, Amelia who was only 10 years his junior. He and Amelia had 10 children over the next 3 decades.