In 1850, Johann Hermann established the town of Hermannsburg, Arkansas. An engineer by trade, Hermann had studied and worked across Europe and fought for democracy in Germany before moving to America. He bought the land to create a township in Arkansas, married his wife Nanni (Wilhelmi) Hermann, and brought her from Missouri to the new settlement.
They were soon joined by Johann’s brother, Karl Hermann, who had married Nanni’s sister, Lene (Wilhelmi) Hermann. The women’s brother, Julius, along with his family also moved to Hermannsburg. The community thrived as the group established its own post office, started a general store, and founded a water and then steam mill along with several wool-combing machines. Johann also served as a de facto doctor for the area. Karl Hermann recorded in his diary that the group had a good relationship with the nearby Cherokee.
When the talk turned to Civil War, the Germans urged their neighbors to vote against secession. Karl, known to the locals as Charlie, recalled the journey home after the vote in Cane Hill:
“On the way back from the polling place, in the company of several neighbors, ‘Malloy’—a fiery rebel with a nasal falsetto voice—asked triumphantly: ‘Well Charlie, how do you like the election?’ And in well-meant German frankness, I replied, ‘I do not like it at all,’ adding enthusiastically: ‘Never desert the old ship Union!’ An alarming silence followed that statement, and after I briefly mentioned the horrors of a civil war, it seemed advisable to me to drop the matter. Presumably the survivors of that ride later recalled my words with painful feelings.”
During the fighting, the German men left the settlement to hide in the nearby forest to avoid conscription into the Confederate army. The women and children were left to deal as best they could with the troops from both sides that traveled through Hermannsburg, demanding food and other resources. More terrifying were the marauders, who robbed Nanni’s family and threatened to murder them. When the German families had a chance to leave the area traveling with Union troops in 1862, they fled, never to return to Arkansas, although members of the family eventually settled in St. Louis.
In May of 2025, the event “Passport to History: Reconnecting German Settlers and their Arkansas Neighbors” was part of the Being Human Festival of the National Humanities Center, and a new historical marker was commissioned thanks to the generous support of the NHC and Historic Cane Hill.
A more complete history, The Hermanns of Old Hermannsburg, is available in English from the Washington County Historical society here. Readers of German can access the diaries and letters of the family from the period they spent in Arkansas here.
Quote above from: Hermann, Karl. Chronik der aus Ibra (Churhessen) stammenden Familie Johann Heinrich Hermann, 1650-1900. Leipzig: Merseburger, 1900. P. 104. Translation by Dr. Kathleen Condray.