{{Hungarian name|Számwald Gyula}} {{Infobox military person |name= Julius H. Stahel-Számwald |birth_name= Gyula Számwald |birth_date= {{Birth date|1825|11|5}} |death_date= {{Death date and age|1912|12|4|1825|11|5}} |birth_place= [[Szeged]], [[Kingdom of Hungary]] |death_place= [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S. |burial_place= [[Arlington National Cemetery]] |burial_label= Place of burial |image= Julius Stahel.jpg |caption= Stahel in the 1860s |nickname= |allegiance= [[Austrian Empire]]<br />[[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]]<br/>[[United States|United States of America]]<br/>[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] |branch= Austrian Army<br />{{Hungarian Revolution of 1848 participant|Hungary}}<br/>[[United States Army]]<br/>[[Union Army]] |service_years= {{Hungarian Revolution of 1848 participant|Hungary}} 1848–1849<br/>[[United States Army]] 1861–1865 |rank= [[First Lieutenant]] (Austria)<br />[[First Lieutenant]] (Hungary)<br/>[[File:Union Army major general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[United States Volunteers|(USV)]] |commands=[[8th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment|8th New York Infantry Regiment]]<br />1st Bde, 1st Div, [[I Corps (Union Army)|I Corps]]<br />1st Div, [[XI Corps (Union Army)|XI Corps]]<br />Stahel's Cavalry Division |unit= |battles=[[Hungarian Revolution of 1848]]<br />[[American Civil War]] *[[First Battle of Bull Run]] *[[Battle of Cross Keys]] *[[Second Battle of Bull Run]] *[[Battle of New Market]] *[[Battle of Piedmont]] |awards=[[Medal of Honor]] |other_work= }} '''Julius H. Stahel-Számwald''' (born '''Gyula Számwald'''; November 5, 1825 – December 4, 1912) was a Hungarian soldier who emigrated to the United States and became a [[Union Army|Union]] [[General officer|general]] in the [[American Civil War]]. After the war, he served as a U.S. diplomat, a mining engineer, and a life insurance company executive. He received the [[Medal of Honor]] for gallantry in action at the [[Battle of Piedmont]] in 1864.
==Birth and early years== Stahel was born in [[Szeged]], [[Kingdom of Hungary]], {{convert|200|km}} southeast of [[Budapest]]. After schooling in Szeged and Budapest, he entered the [[Imperial Army (Holy Roman Empire)|Austrian Army]], rising to the rank of [[lieutenant]]. Stahel joined the movement for Hungarian independence led by [[Lajos Kossuth]] during the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848|Revolution of 1848]]. He served on the staffs of Gen. [[Artúr Görgey]] and Gen. [[Richard Debaufre Guyon]]. When the Hungarian uprising against the [[Habsburg]] dynasty was put down in 1849, he fled to [[Prussia]] and then to England before migrating to the United States in 1859. Until the outbreak of the American Civil War, he worked for ''Deutsche illustrirte Familienblätter'', a [[German language|German-language]] newspaper in [[New York City]].
==Civil War service== In 1861, with the outbreak of war, Stahel and [[Louis Blenker]] recruited the [[8th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment]], the 1st German Rifles or Blenker's Rifles. Stahel, who had dropped the "Számwald" portion of his surname, became the [[regiment]]'s [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]], while Blenker served as [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]]. Stahel first saw combat at the [[First Battle of Bull Run]], leading the regiment in Blenker's first [[brigade]] of [[Dixon Miles]]'s Fifth Division. The regiment covered the flight of the Union Army of [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brig. Gen.]] [[Irvin McDowell]]. The 8th New York served in Blenker's [[Division (military)|division]] of the newborn [[Army of the Potomac]] until it was transferred to [[West Virginia in the American Civil War|western Virginia]]. Stahel become a colonel on August 11, 1861 and a brigadier general three months later.
Stahel led a brigade under [[Major general (United States)|Maj. Gen.]] [[John C. Fremont]] in the [[Mountain Department]] during an incursion into the [[Shenandoah Valley]] of [[Virginia]]. His brigade was of Fremont's left at the [[Battle of Cross Keys]] in which [[Stonewall Jackson]] stopped the Union advance into the Valley. Stahel's position on the left exposed his command to a flank attack by [[Isaac Trimble]]'s brigade as Fremont was attempting to turn the right of the Confederate line.
By July 1862, Stahel was commander of the first brigade of [[Robert C. Schenck]]'s first division Army of Virginia in the corps led by [[Franz Sigel]] in Maj. Gen. [[John Pope (general)|John Pope]]'s [[Army of Virginia]]. At the [[Second Battle of Bull Run]], Schenck was wounded and Stahel became acting commander of the division. ([[Adolphus Buschbeck]] succeeded to command of the brigade.) Stahel's brigade was one of two that covered Sigel's retreat when Pope's army was defeated.
Stahel rose to division command by late 1862 and was promoted to [[Major general (United States)|major general]] on March 14, 1863. He briefly commanded the XI Corps during the fall of 1862.
In March 1863 Stahel was assigned to command a Union cavalry division in the defenses of [[Washington, D.C.]] When the division joined the Army of the Potomac in June 1863, [[Alfred Pleasonton]] had Stahel removed, promoting [[Judson Kilpatrick]] in his place. He then served as cavalry commander in the [[Department of the Susquehanna]] at the time of the [[Gettysburg Campaign]].
[[File:12-07-15-arlington-friedfhof-RalfR-074.jpg|thumb|upright|Julius Stahel's grave at Arlington National Cemetery]] By the spring of 1864, Stahel was commander of the 1st Cavalry Division under Franz Sigel in the Shenandoah Valley. At the [[Battle of New Market]], on May 15, 1864, his division was on the left of Sigel's line. It attacked the Confederate line but was repulsed by artillery fire. The division recoiled under attack by the Confederate forces of [[John C. Breckinridge]] when they counterattacked.
At the [[Battle of Piedmont]] on June 5, 1864, serving as cavalry commander under Maj. Gen. [[David Hunter]], Stahel distinguished himself under fire until he was hit in the shoulder. This led to Stahel's receiving the [[Medal of Honor]], on November 4, 1893, for leading his division until seriously wounded. Stahel served, after recovering from his wound, on court-martial duty until he resigned on February 8, 1865.
==Postbellum career== After the Civil War, Stahel served in the United States diplomatic corps as consul in [[Yokohama]], (1866–1869) and [[Osaka]], Japan (1877–1884). After that he was [[Consulate General of the United States, Shanghai|United States Consul General in Shanghai]], China (1884–1885). Between diplomatic assignments, he worked as a mining engineer. Upon returning to the United States for reasons of health, Stahel worked for the [[AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company|Equitable Life Insurance Company]] in New York City.
Stahel died in a New York City at 87 years of age. After a funeral in Washington, he was buried in the [[Arlington National Cemetery]].
==Medal of Honor citation== [[File:medal of honor old.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|right|Stahel received a Medal of Honor for gallantry at Piedmont]] Rank and organization: Major General, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: At Piedmont, Va., June 5, 1864. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Born: November 5, 1825, Hungary. Date of issue: November 4, 1893.
'''Citation:'''
<blockquote>Led his division into action until he was severely wounded.</blockquote>
==See also== {{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}} *[[List of Medal of Honor recipients]] *[[List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: Q–S#S|List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: Q–S]] *[[List of American Civil War generals (Union)]]
==Notes== {{More citations needed|date=April 2013}} {{reflist}}
==References== *{{cite web |accessdate=July 13, 2010 |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwarmz.html |title=Civil War (M-Z); Stahel, Julius entry |work=Medal of Honor recipients |publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]] |date=August 6, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223063700/http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwarmz.html |archivedate=February 23, 2009 }} * Eicher, John H., and [[David J. Eicher|Eicher, David J.]], ''Civil War High Commands'', Stanford University Press, 2001, {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}. * Engle, Stephen Douglas, ''The Yankee Dutchman : the life of Franz Sigel'', Fayetteville : University of Arkansas Press, 1993. * Hennessy, John J., ''Return to Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas'', University of Oklahoma Press, 1993, {{ISBN|0-8061-3187-X}}. * Patchan, Scott C., ''The Battle of Piedmont, Virginia'', Fredericksburg: Sgt. Kirkland's Press, 1996. * {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Stahel, Julius|year=1900}} * {{BLKÖ|Szamwald, Julius|41|149|}}
==External links== *{{commons category-inline}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stahel, Julius}} [[Category:1825 births]] [[Category:1912 deaths]] [[Category:People from Szeged]] [[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]] [[Category:Emigrants from the Austrian Empire to the United States]] [[Category:Union army generals]] [[Category:Military personnel from New York City]] [[Category:People of New York (state) in the American Civil War]] [[Category:United States Army Medal of Honor recipients]] [[Category:Forty-Eighters]] [[Category:Hungarian Jews]] [[Category:American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor]] [[Category:Hungarian-born Medal of Honor recipients]] [[Category:Consuls-general for the United States in Shanghai]]