Gustav Körner
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
- died 9 April 1896 in Belleville, Illinois
Belleville, Illinois
Belleville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city has a population of 44,478. It is the eighth-most populated city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area and the most populated city south of Springfield in the state of Illinois. It is the county...
) was an Illinois lawyer, politician and historian.
He graduated 1832 from the University of Heidelberg with a degree in law.
Following the Frankfurter Wachensturm
Frankfurter Wachensturm
The Frankfurter Wachensturm on April 3rd 1833 was a failed attempt to start a revolution in Germany.-Events:...
in 1833, an attempt by students to start a revolution in all German states, he had to emigrate to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He studied U.S. jurisprudence at Transylvania University
Transylvania University
Transylvania University is a private, undergraduate liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with the Christian Church . The school was founded in 1780. It offers 38 majors, and pre-professional degrees in engineering and accounting...
, 1834–1835, after which he practised in Belleville, Illinois
Belleville, Illinois
Belleville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city has a population of 44,478. It is the eighth-most populated city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area and the most populated city south of Springfield in the state of Illinois. It is the county...
.
He was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
in 1842, served on the Illinois Supreme Court from 1845 to 1848, and served as 12th Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
The Lieutenant Governor of Illinois is the second highest executive of the State of Illinois. In Illinois, the lieutenant governor and governor run on a joint ticket, and are directly elected by popular vote. Candidates for lieutenant governor run separately in the primary from candidates for...
of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
from 1853 to 1857. Originally a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, he became a member of the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
when it formed, and helped formulate its anti-slavery platform. As a friend, he took over some of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's cases when Lincoln was elected president.
He was instrumental in raising the 43rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment
43rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The 43rd Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, known as the "Koerner Regiment", was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:...
in 1861, but, before its organization was completed, he was appointed colonel of volunteers and assigned as aide to Gen. John C. Frémont
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...
, upon whose removal he was assigned to Gen. Henry W. Halleck's staff, but resigned in April 1862 owing to impaired health. Shortly thereafter, he succeeded Carl Schurz
Carl Schurz
Carl Christian Schurz was a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army General in the American Civil War. He was also an accomplished journalist, newspaper editor and orator, who in 1869 became the first German-born American elected to the United States Senate.His wife,...
as United States Ambassador to Spain
United States Ambassador to Spain
-Ambassadors:*John Jay**Appointed: September 29, 1779**Title: Minister Plenipotentiary**Presented credentials:**Terminated mission: ~May 20, 1782*William Carmichael**Appointed: April 20, 1790**Title: Chargé d'Affaires...
.
In 1867 he was appointed president of the board of trustees that organized the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...
, and in 1870 became president of the first board of railroad commissioners of Illinois.
After supporting Grant in 1868, he supported the Liberal Republican Party
Liberal Republican Party (United States)
The Liberal Republican Party of the United States was a political party that was organized in Cincinnati in May 1872, to oppose the reelection of President Ulysses S. Grant and his Radical Republican supporters. The party's candidate in that year's presidential election was Horace Greeley, longtime...
in 1872. He supported Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel Jones Tilden was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, one of the most controversial American elections of the 19th century. He was the 25th Governor of New York...
in 1876 and remained with the Democrats thereafter.
He founded the public library in Belleville.
Works
- Collections of the Important General Laws of Illinois, with Comments (St. Louis, 1838)
- Out of Spain (1867)
- The German Element in the United States of America, 1818-1848 (Cincinnati, 1880; 2d ed., New York, 1885)
- a number of pamphlets