SCHURZ, CARL. (1829-1906). German-born, American army officer, journalist, politician, and reformer. SP. (“C. Schurz”). 1p. Cabinet. N.p., March 2, 1889. A fine and rare cabinet photograph by German photographer Hoeffert.

While a student in Bonn, Schurz became involved in the 1848 uprisings that spread from France across Europe, and sought to reform the autocratic political establishment of the German Confederation and Austrian Empire. Schurz co-founded the newspaper Bonner Zeitung which called for democratic reforms and, in 1849, he took up arms against the Prussian army, narrowly escaping capture after a military defeat at Rastatt. Schurz fled to Zurich, briefly returning to Prussia to rescue a collaborator from prison.

After living in exile in Paris and London, Schurz immigrated to the United States, following in the path of other “Forty-Eighters,” and settled in Watertown, Wisconsin. There he became active in Republican politics and the abolition movement, actively campaigning for Abraham Lincoln, who appointed him minister to Spain in 1861.

After the outbreak of the Civil War, Schurz rose to the rank of general in the Union Army, leading troops at the Battle of Bull Run, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. At President Johnson’s behest he conducted a study of post-war conditions in the South, concluding that newly emancipated slaves were still being subjected to violence and persecution. He briefly returned to journalism, hiring Joseph Pulitzer as a reporter, before his 1868 election as US Senator from Missouri, where he was influential in foreign and military affairs and civil rights.

When Schurz failed to win reelection to the Senate, President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him Secretary of the Interior. In his later years, he edited the New York Evening Post, The Nation and Harper’s Weekly, while opposing imperialism and political corruption and advocating for civil service reform. The official residence of NYC’s mayor, Gracie Mansion, is located in Carl Schurz Park.

Signed on the lower portion of the image and dated on the photographer’s mount. A small stain on the mount, otherwise excellent. Uncommon in this format.