George Pomutz

George Pomutz (May 31, 1818 - October 12, 1882) was an ethnic Romanian officer during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. He was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War, and a diplomat. Early life George Pomutz was born in the Habsburg Empire in Gyula, Hungary; he was of Romanian descent in a town with a strong ethnic Romanian population at that time. After the 1848 revolution, in which Pomutz took an active part, he migrated to America. Civil War At the beginning of the Civil War, Pomutz enrolled in the Union Army as a first lieutenant in the 15th Iowa Infantry. He was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh. In May 1864 Pomutz was appointed Provost Marshal of the 17th Iowa Infantry. In August 1864, he returned to the 15th Iowa Infantry, which he commanded in the Battle of Atlanta. He was appointed a brevet brigadier general on March 13, 1865. Trivia: During the Washington Parade, marking the end of the Civil War, the handsome General George Pomutz was awarded the special honour to open the Parade on a nice white horse. Postbellum carrer After the end of the Civil War, Pomutz returned to Keokuk. On February 16, 1866, he was appointed Consul of the United States in Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia, serving in that capacity until September 30, 1870. During that period, he was involved in the negotiations for the Purchase of Alaska. Later he became the American consul general in Saint Petersburg, serving from June 1874, until his death there, in 1882. He was buried in Smolensk, Russia. A Liberty ship launched on august 3, 1944, was named SS George Pomutz . On August 14, 2004, a statue of Pomutz was unveiled at the Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio.

Quotation From the address by Emil Constantinescu, President of Romania, at a Joint Meeting of the United States Congress, July 1998: I would like to close with a true story. One hundred and fifty years ago, a young Romanian who had fought for freedom in the 1848 revolution, emigrated to America. His name was George Pomutz, which in Romanian means "little tree." Once on American soil, he volunteered for Lincoln's Army and fought in some of the key battles of the Civil War including Vicksburg and Atlanta. Our "little tree" went on to become a general in your army and later an American diplomat, serving in Russia where he helped negotiate the American purchase of Alaska. In 1944, long after his death, the Romanian community in the United States donated money to build a battleship, named for Romanian-American General George Pomutz. The ship named for the "little tree" served in peace and war, always a symbol of strength and vigilance. Another Romanian who took part in the American Civil War is Nicolae Dunca was born in 1837, in Transylvania, Romania, and came to the United States in December 1861. He enlisted in the Union Army in March 1862 and, due to his past military experience, was appointed captain of the 12th Infantry Regiment, U.S. Volunteers from New York. He was later assigned as aide-de-camp to Major General John C. Fremont, whose army was operating in the Shenandoah Valley. Dunca was shot and killed by a Georgian on picket duty at the Battle of Cross Keys on June 8, 1862. When the picket searched Dunca's personal effects, it was discovered that he was carrying a dispatch outlining Gen. Fremont's order of march for the day. Dunca was still a Romanian citizen at the time of his death. He was buried at Perkeys Farm, Cross Keys, Virginia, and his remains were later transferred to the Staunton National Cemetery