The Eighth Tribe, 1978 (5. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1978-07-01 / 7. szám

July, 1978

THE EIGHTH TRIBE

Page S

Major General Julius H. Stahel-Szamvald,, Civil War, was decorated with th Congressional Medal of Honor. He was also active in planning of the development of New York City and his suggestions helped shape the growth of this great metropolis.

At the end of the 18th century another interesting Hungarian visited North America. Count Maurice Benyovszky was one of the most adventurous Hungarians who turned up everywhere from Kamchatka to Madagascar.

With the advent of the 19th century, Hungarian activities become more general. In 1881 Alexander Farkas Boloni traveled here. He was secretary to Count Ferenc Beldy, a Transylvania magnate. At about the same time Nicholas Lenau, German poet, born in Hungary, also visited America. In 1835 Boloni published a book about his travels. It first appeared in Kolozsvár and was titled: “Travels in North America.” For our purpose the most important part of the book deals with Boloni’s contacts with Hungarians here in America. He mentions a Mr. King of Baltimore, who was born in Olasz-Liszka and was originally known as Király. He had been here so long that he had almost completely forgotten the Hungarian language. Some five or six additional Hungarians are mentioned, among them Indian traders.

When news of Kossuth’s battle against the Hapsburgs in 1848 reached America, the Hungarians of New York city, among them one Gábor Naphegyi, formed an organization to agitate for a free Hungary.

The first refugees of the Hungarian revolution were among those who capitulated at Komárom. John Prágai and Cornelius Fornet settled in Boston in

December of 1849 and the first book about the revolution in English was written by John Prágai in 1850. The translation was prepared by Dr. Charles Krajtsir who had taken part in the Polish revolution of 1830 and came to America with Polish refugees in 1831. He was the first Hungarian under whose name a book appeared in America.

The people of North America followed the course of the Hungarian Revolution with great interest and complete agreement. The American government was overly cautious and all it did was to send an observer who never got past Vienna.

The first large scale immigration took place after the failure of the Hungarian Revolution. When Louis Kossuth was freed from Turkish interment by United States intervention, he was greeted with such enthusiasm by the American people upon his arrival in New York city on December 6, 1851 that the demonstration even surpassed that given to LaFayette. There were at the time about 1,500 Hungarians in the United States. Only in 1956 did the Hungarian name and cause become as famous as at the time of Kossuth’s visit. Streets, villages and even counties were named after Kossuth and people rejoiced to get near him. Following LaFayette he was the first foreigner to address Congress. It was not his fault that he could not convince America to intervene. The past century has justified his stand. His vision and prophecies have been startingly fulfilled in our time. In May of 1852, bearing an alias and quite disillusioned, he returned to Europe. He was not disappointed in the American people. They agreed, but their government proved to be as shortsighted then as it is now.

The number of Hungarian Americans continued to increase and by the time of the Civil War in 1861 they numbered about 4,000. There were, in the meantime, many attempts to root Hungarian life on American soil. For example Gedeon Ács, a former Reformed chaplain, organized a congregation in New York city in 1851, but it only lasted for six months. In 1853 Charles Kornish began the first Hungarian language newspaper in New York, titled: “Hungarian Exiles’ Journal.” It only lasted a few issues. The first attempt to organize a Hungarian fraternal (sick benefit) society was in 1851.

Iowa became a state in 1851. In its climate similar to the Hungarian lowland, it would have awaited them with open arms. There were attempts made to establish Hungarian settlements, but only one, New Buda, succeeded, but for only a short time. It appeared on the maps of the time and its first post master was a Hungarian, László Újházi, former civilcommandant of the city of Komárom. Among the