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Carl Schurz Gravesite

Carl Schurz is one of the most celebrated German American statesmen. Born on March 2, 1829, in Liblar near Cologne, he emigrated to the United States in 1852. He settled in Watertown, Wisconsin and became a strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln, who appointed him U.S. minister to Spain in 1861. Schurz resigned this position to serve in the Civil War. Promoted to major general in 1863, he fought in the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Chattanooga and served with General William T. Sherman's army in North Carolina in 1865. Between 1865 and 1868, Schurz was the Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune, editor of the Detroit Post, and joint editor and owner of the St. Louis Westliche Post. He served as the U.S. Senator from his adopted state of Missouri from 1869-1875.

Under the Hayes administration, he was appointed Secretary of the Interior in 1877. As Secretary he adopted progressive policies, implementing legislation aimed at protecting forests, advocating better treatment for American Indians and African Americans, and implementing a merit system in the civil service. He retired from the Department of the Interior in 1881. Later he settled in New York, where he died in 1906.

In honor of his outstanding contributions to America, the German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA® maintains the gravesite of Senator Schurz at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, New York.