The war between the industrially advanced North and the breakaway slave
states is seen as one of the most dramatic pages of the relatively short
history of the United States. It decided whether the young nation was to
remain one whole. Many European-born, including Russian, volunteers fought
in the ranks of the Northern army but few names have been remembered till
nowadays. We know, however, that a Colonel of the General Staff of the
Russian army Ivan Turchaninov resigned and left Russia for good to fight
in America.
What made him do what he did? Did he see America as a country of
free men and unlimited possibilities? Perhaps he did. We know no
more than we do. We know that Ivan Turchaninov and his young wife Nadezhda
arrived in New York in 1856 and settled on a farm on Long Island. A year
later they lost everything they had in an economic crisis and moved, with
a view to turn over a new leaf in their lives, to Philadelphia. Ivan entered
an engineering school and Nadezhda took up medicine. The Americans found
their second name a tongue twister, so they abridged it to Turchin. 
The vast expanses of the wild west held out a promise of a better life.
The Turchins left Philadelphia for Chicago. Engineer Turchin joined the
staff of a railroad company. He showed interest in politics and joined
the Republican Party. His wife started practicing medicine. They felt at
home in America.
There were, of course, things Turchin disliked in America. Some of his
ventures were a failure and some things made him feel cheated, but here
is what he wrote to Russia: "I thank America for one thing: it helped me
get rid of my aristocratic prejudices and reduced me to the ranks of all
mortals. I have been reborn: I fear no work; no sphere of business scares
me away and no social position will put me down; it makes no difference
whether I plow and cart manure or sit in a richly decorated room and discuss
astronomy with the great scholars of the New World. I want to earn the
right to call myself a citizen of the United States of North America."
When the civil war broke out in 1861, Turchin volunteered for the Union
Army.
His superiors knew he was an experienced army man and ordered him to form
and train a regiment. Turchin did what he was told to do and was commissioned
to command a four-regiment brigade. He became Colonel of the Union Army.
His wife became a nurse and also went to the front.
Ivan Turchin proved he was a good soldier. Many times his brigade saved
the day for the Yankees. The commander-in-chief appreciated his efforts.
Turchin was waiting for a promotion. But a new development impeded his
career.
Other officers were envious and started plotting against Turchin. They
needed a pretext for lashing out against him. And they found one. One of
the brigade regiments was to protect the small city of Athens. Confederate
forces attacked it and killed almost all its men. Turchin hurried up to
Athens only to find out that the local residents had helped the southerners
to butcher his troops. No one knows exactly what Turchin did but one thing
is known for certain: he took action against Athens. His ill wishers accused
him of cruelty and took his case to court. Colonel Turchin was expelled
from the Union army.
Yankee media editions raised a ruckus. They demanded that Turchin be reinstated
in his rights. The case was submitted to President Lincoln's attention.
It took Lincoln little time to figure out who was right and who was wrong.
He reinstated Turchin in his rights and made him Brigadier General. Turchin
became the first foreign-born General of the US army.
The war was almost over when Turchin suffered a sun stroke that put an
end to his career. He returned to Chicago and held a civilian job at the
Grand Central Train Station. He hardly made both ends meet. When they learned
of that, his comrades-in-arms appealed to Congress which earmarked 50 dollars
a month in a benefit payment to the retired Brigadier General.
Ivan Turchin died at the age of 79. He was buried with military honors
at the army cemetery of Mount City, Illinois. One of his comrades-in-arms
said what would have made an appropriate epitaph on his plain tombstone:
"He was one of the best-educated and knowledgeable soldiers of the United
States. He loved this country more than many American-born citizens did."
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