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Frederick George D'Utassy

Frederick George D'Utassy (26 November 1827-5 May 1892) was a Union Army colonel who commanded the 39th New York Infantry Regiment ("Garibaldi Guard") during the American Civil War. Like many immigrant officers in the service of the Union during the war, he was subjected to xenophobia by his superiors, and he was dishonorably discharged in 1863 and sent to Sing Sing Prison for one year after being accused and found guilty of profiteering from the sale of stolen horses, selling the rank of Major, forging muster rolls, and forging accounts to receive several thousand dollars.

Biography[]

Frederick George D'Utassy was born in Zala Nagy Kalirsa, Hungary, Austrian Empire on 26 November 1827, and he served as a lieutenant in the Austrian army before defecting to the revolutionaries during the Hungarian Revolution in 1848. He was captured and sentenced to death, but he escaped to the Ottoman Empire and travelled to Greece and Italy before escaping to England in 1855 and, from there, to Nova Scotia, where he became a cavalry instructor, a secretary, and a dancing teacher in Halifax. He became a professor of foreign languages at Dalhousie College, as he spoke English, Hungarian, German, Spanish, French, and Italian. In October 1860, he moved to New York City, and he helped to raise and organize the 39th New York Infantry Regiment, composed of European immigrants. D'Utassy attempted to Americanize his regiment, which was prone to inter-ethnic brawls and mutinies at the start of the war, refusing to accept written orders in German and only accepting orders written in English. As half of his regiment was German, his dislike of Germans sparked rivalries with fellow Union Army officers Louis Blenker and Julius Stahel. His regiment suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Cross Keys in 1862 and surrendered at the Battle of Harpers Ferry that September. After he was paroled, he was acquitted at a court-martial, and he was assigned to command a brigade consisting of the depleted units from Harpers Ferry. In March 1863, he was arrested during an anti-corruption campaign waged by the Army against its immigrant units, and he was discharged on 29 July 1863; while the New York Times defended him, the New York Tribune used his dishonorable discharge as a prejudiced verdict against immigrants. He was then sent to Sing Sing Prison, serving one year before becoming the owner of a portrait studio, as an insurange agent, and as an importer. D'Utassy later moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and he died in a gas-filled hotel room in Wilmington, Delaware in 1892 at the age of 64.

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