Căutare Avansată

Caută în Domenii

Căutare Detaliată

Doi moldoveni pe frontul războiului de secesiune

  • Subiect: This paper deals with two of the four Romanians who took part in the American Civil War. These two were Moldavians. One of them was Nicolae Dunca, born around 1838 in Jassy, with a long pedigree of Maramureş nobility. He first volunteered in 1860 in Garibaldi's army, being one of the celebrate „One Thousand”. He enlisted in a hussar regiment of the Hungarian Legion, where, due to his bravery displayed during the campaign of the two Sicilies, he was commissioned captain. After a duel with a Hungarian officer, he had to resign and left Italy, returning for a short time to his own country. He offered his services to the Romanian army but he was refused. His rank was questioned in routine terms as not having been obtained in the course of a long career and because he was not a graduate of a military school (which was in fact true). Saddened by the proposal of degradation of the epaulets, which he gained in glorious battles and under the command of such a magnificent general as Garibaldi - whose name was then synonymous with "Liberty" - he left for America. Although he was only 22 years old, his rank was acknowledged and he joined the 8th New York Infantry Volunteers. His qualities as an officer were very quickly noted and he was appointed aide-de-camp of General John C. Fremont, commander of the Mountain Department. His courage and brave behaviour in the battles of Centreville (July 18, 1861) and the first battle of Bull Run (July 21, 1861) were praised in the annals of the war. The heavy losses of his regiment in these battles required its withdrawal for recovery. From this very period, dates the two letters which Captain Dunca sent to Romania to be published in "Românulu" one of the well-known newspapers in Bucharest. In his letters - one dated April 21st, 1862, the other dated May 11th, 1862 - he presents to the Romanian readers, the conditions of the war, its causes, the political background, as well as the military forces confronted. Minute details are given about the structure of the Union army: the system of volunteering; the way of mustering; the number of men in a regiment, a company and a battery; the way the officers are commissioned etc. He also presents the up-to-date situation of the armies. On the 8th of June, 1862, he was killed in the line of duty, while carrying a message from his commander, at the battle of Cross Keys, Virginia. He was then only 24 years of age. He was buried in the Union Church graveyard of Cross Keys, but a short time after the war his remains were moved to the Staunton National Cemetery, Virginia. His countenance was unknown until recently when, by good fortune, we have discovered two old photographs. One of them, from the depot of the Museum of History of the City of Bucharest, shows Captain Dunca at ease, wearing the hussar's dress. His uniform is composed of a short jacket with five trimmings and the three golden galloons arranged in a knot on the sleeves, indicating his rank, a forage cap with peak, very large trousers and a heavy sabre. This uniform, and also his wounded left hand, indicate that the photo was taken prior to his departure for the United States in the studio of an unidentified photographer, one A. Berno. In the second photo, found in a private collection, Dunca is accompanied by two other captains, all of them wearing the same jacket and cap. Unlike his comrades who are wearing "basans" (cavalry trousers tightened with leather below the knees) Dunca has grey trousers with welts. The three officers are numbered and their names are inscribed on the back of the photo: 1. Gyra, 2. Seiter, 3. Dunka. This photo gives also more information than the first one about the photographer. His name is printed also on the back: "ALPHONSE BERNOUD, Photographe Médaillé et Breveté, SGDG", followed by the towns and addresses of his branches: Naples, Florence, Livourne. Dunca's first photo was, no doubt, taken in the same studio. The other Moldavian, Eugen Ghika-Comăneşti (1840-1914), was the son of one of the oldest and wealthiest boyar families. Being disappointed with his studies in Berlin, and also with the fact that his family refused to pay his debts, he had volunteered in the Union Army. Although he did not speak English at first, he was appointed corporal in a cavalry regiment of General Fremont's army. He was a friend of Captain Nicolae Dunca and served in the same Mountain Department. Ghika-Comăneşti also took part in the West Virginia Campaign of 1862, during which he was wounded. He also witnessed Dunca's body being brought into the camp, after the battle of Cross Keys, and it was he who announced Dunca's sister about his comrade's heroic death. Then Ghika-Comăneşti enlisted in the 5th Infantry, in the Ullmann Brigade, where he was breveted captain. He served with the Black troops in the Port Hudson Campaign of 1863. There they served as corps of engineers. The long and bloody campaign, with few victories and unpleasant duties, bothered the young Romanian officer, so that he resigned at the end of the year. He returned to Romania and dedicated himself to politics being elected senator for many years. His countenance was also forgotten for a time. We have discovered his photograph in a private collection in Bucharest. This image dates from a later period, around 1900, showing Eugen Ghika-Comăneşti at an old age, with grey hair and moustache. Both Nicolae Dunca and Eugen Ghika-Comăneşti, along with the other two Romanians who took part in the Civil War - George Pomuţ and Emanoil Boteanu - fought bravely for a foreign country whose ideals were the same as those of their own country, Romania: liberty, equality and national unity.
  • Limba de redactare: română, engleză
  • Secţiunea: Studii şi materiale
  • Vezi publicația: Memoria Antiquitatis: MemAntiq
  • Editura: Complexul Muzean Judeţean Neamţ
  • Loc publicare: Piatra Neamţ
  • Anul publicaţiei: 1977-1979
  • Referinţă bibliografică pentru nr. revistă: IX-XI; anul 1977-1979; subtitlu: Acta Musei Petrodavensis
  • Paginaţia: 363-378
  • Navigare în nr. revistă:  |<  <  20 / 58   >  >|