Friedrich Hecker (1811-1881) lived the first half of his life in the Grand Duchy of Baden, a small state in southern Germany. He was a major leader of a rebellion on behalf of the German republican movement in 1848, but his defeat forced him into exile in America. There he spent the second half of his life as a farmer in southern Illinois, helping to found the Republican Party and campaigning among his countrymen in local and national elections. During the Civil War, he served bravely, fighting in some of the most important battles. Although much better known in Germany than in America, he founded a remarkable family in the Midwest that is still flourishing and is a major example of the melding of the European and American traditions of liberty. The work draws heavily from original sources, including letters and diaries at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection, the Missouri Historical Society, and the St. Louis Mercantile Library.

Translated by: Steven Rowan