Should the term German-Americans still be used?

Try this: "A mercenary, sometimes known as a soldier of fortune, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, who takes part in military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests."

These guys were professionals serving in their principality's army, in recognized units of that army, commanded by officers in that army. They were sent to NA to serve with the British Army under the ultimate command of Howe/Burgoyne/Clinton and did so. Whether they were sent there because the Landgrave believed in the Crown's cause, because he was afraid that a successful rebellion in NA might cross the Atlantic to central Europe, because he was related to the House of Hanover, or because he saw a way to fatten the Hesse-Cassel public fisc, is irrelevant to the fact that they were performing their military duty. And you seem confused about why they "got pay". They "got pay" for following the orders of their C-in-C. You concede this at one point: "They fought because their Prince or King took a bag of gold coins from King George III and told them to march off to a war". Yep. It's called "following orders", which is what a professional soldier does. That's not what a "mercenary" does.
Well, like I said, I didn't know what mercenary means
 
I understand that many American hate hyphenated terms for Americans

If you were born in another country, English is your secondary language (or you don't speak it), strongly identify culturally with that ethnicity, and you live in a neighbor overwhelmingly of the same ethnicity then it seems quite reasonable to have a term that reflects that. Your lifestyle is categorically different from people who have become cultural mutts.

Recognizing that such differences exist, i.e. acknowledging reality, is a separate matter from whether those differences make one group superior or inferior to the other.

I my be over thinking this. The term 'German-Americans' simply had to go. I think the term 'German citizens' is mildly offensive and should go in to the trash as well. I am not sure about the current view of 'Americans of German heritage'. Also the term 'citizens of German heritage' does not to me appear to be overly offensive.

German citizens would not be accurate either. Some had become naturalized USA residents and the vast majority of the rest probably considered the USA their new permanent home. Plus there was no Germany in the 1860s of which they could be a citizens. (German as a language and ethnicity predates Germany as a country.)
 
Their contributions were significant to the war, but there's a cringe-factor in the full name of the USCT.
The problem is who assigned the word. If the leadership of the NAACP is comfortable with that title, given its membership and mission, that is their purview. But the USCT name was not coined by the Black troops who served in it, which makes it a little more problematic, you know?

United States Colored Troops and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People refer to the same ethnic group.

And now I guess they're "taking it back" with the increasing use of the term "people of color".

When "Colored" was on water fountains and restrooms, it wasn't the word on the signs that was offensive but rather the segregation and discrimination that the sign represented. The sign was no less offensive if it said Black or Negro instead of Colored.
 
Diversity is our strength: that is, we have available to us an entire range of varying experiences, insights and attitudes. We are not a one-size-fits all nation. The hyphen is simply a short cut to describing the type of American. There is no shame in that.
 
they're "taking it back" with the increasing use of the term "people of color".
And I think this is a really key point - it isn't what I decide a group wants to be called/should be called/ is or is not offensive. It's what that group wants. So while I may not find anything objectionable in hyphenated terms, there may be people who don't want their own group to be referred to that way. For many groups that has changed over time as people rethought how they wanted to be described. Being sensitive to those changes is a good thing.
 
United States Colored Troops and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People refer to the same ethnic group.

And now I guess they're "taking it back" with the increasing use of the term "people of color".

When "Colored" was on water fountains and restrooms, it wasn't the word on the signs that was offensive but rather the segregation and discrimination that the sign represented. The sign was no less offensive if it said Black or Negro instead of Colored.
I didn't ask for a lecture. I'm well aware of the history behind all of this.

It's not up to me what someone else finds offensive, or why it is found to be offensive. (Nor do I want to get particularly worked up by it.) All I can do is respect it and try to stay up to date.
 
How else would you describe them? There are at least 50 Millen POWs who were born in Germany. Should we also drop the terms Irish, English, Canadian, Swiss, etc? Signed a Volga German.
 
Well, like I said, I didn't know what mercenary means
The irony is that a better example of mercenaries might be guys like Lafayette, von Steuben, deKalb, etc. They were paid by the Americans as individuals and were not here as part of their own countries' armed forces (Lafayette and some other French officers were here before France entered the war).
 
My grandmother on my mother's side is of German-Dutch heritage. Although she personally does not describe herself as German-American or Dutch-American, I don't believe she would take any offense to it either.

The rest of my ancestry is Italian, and I regularly describe myself and my family as Italian-American, although my last name is super Italian looking and sounding, so it's usually obvious. lol
 
I never hear the term German-American, Italian-American or most of the others. African-American is used some. Many seem to accept that for some reason. Being a Appalachian-American, I would take consider such offensive.
 
I study Michigan Civil War era militia companies. Part of what I do is keep a data base. I understand that many American hate hyphenated terms for Americans, so some time ago I search my data base for "German-American" and deleted the words. Now I am looking for a less offensive way to describe these Michigan militia companies.

This is an example from my data base; "The Steuben Guard (Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County) became Company E of the 1st​ Michigan Three Month Volunteer Infantry Regiment. All company members were reportedly of being of German heritage." I am thinking of deleting "All company members were reportedly of being of German heritage." To start with 'German heritage' is still somewhat offensive. The Steuben Guard was a Michigan militia company and some how hanging "German" on them serves no real purpose. Next Germany was not a single nation at the time and "German" is not really accurate. The down side is the newspapers sometimes referred to them as "the German company" so deleting "All company members were reportedly of being of German heritage" could lead to confusion when reading local newspapers.

The next example; "The Scott Guard (Detroit, Wayne County) was given the honor of being Company A of the 2nd​ Michigan Infantry Regiment. They had formed in 1841 and were a well-known pre-war unit, being considered an elite militia company. Germans citizens were specifically recruited and they were known as a German company. Germans citizens were specifically recruited and they were known as a German company." Again this is likely offensive. Many of the members were born in the United States and could not be considered German citizens, they were American citizens by birth. They are a Michigan militia company, not a German militia company. In my defense it was the Detroit newspapers that considered them Germans and the newspapers often wrote articles calling them 'the German company'. So should I delete "Germans citizens were specifically recruited and they were known as a German company"?

I will use one last example; "The Williams' German Light Artillery, a.k.a. Company C, Williams' Battalion a.k.a. the German Company a.k.a. the German Artillery of Lansing (Lansing, Ingham County) formed in 1859; they ranked in Class III of the Michigan Uniformed Militia." This is harder to deal with because of the name. I could delete all "German" terms and call them the Artillery Company of Lansing, however the period newspapers never called them such. When the Michigan Uniformed Militia had their yearly muster the newspapers call the company the Williams' German Light Artillery Company not the Lansing Artillery Company.

To date I have eliminated the term "German-American" from my data base. I am working to eliminate "German citizens" from my data base. The term "a militia company made up of citizens of German heritage" probably needs to go as well. One of the things I do in my data base is list the uniforms Michigan militia companies wore. Would it be worth deleting the fact that a certain company chose "German style" uniforms? I guess I could simply describe what they wore, but the fact that the company selected uniforms in the German style seems to be relevant.

I my be over thinking this. The term 'German-Americans' simply had to go. I think the term 'German citizens' is mildly offensive and should go in to the trash as well. I am not sure about the current view of 'Americans of German heritage'. Also the term 'citizens of German heritage' does not to me appear to be overly offensive. Next I need to work on the Michigan militia companies that had all or most members born in Ireland. Then comes the 'French' companies (one company wore copies of French Infantry uniforms).

In the Midwest -American seems primarily a historical term,that I've never known anyone to take offense to, usually it conveys ethnic pride.

Historically the slurs for Germans here would have been Dutch or Hessian, usually with an expletive attached, though I know of a community historically refered to as Calftown, as apparently they didn't pen their livestock.

Same for other ethic groups, the actual common slurs are rather separate from -Americ

I study Michigan Civil War era militia companies. Part of what I do is keep a data base. I understand that many American hate hyphenated terms for Americans, so some time ago I search my data base for "German-American" and deleted the words. Now I am looking for a less offensive way to describe these Michigan militia companies.

This is an example from my data base; "The Steuben Guard (Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County) became Company E of the 1st​ Michigan Three Month Volunteer Infantry Regiment. All company members were reportedly of being of German heritage." I am thinking of deleting "All company members were reportedly of being of German heritage." To start with 'German heritage' is still somewhat offensive. The Steuben Guard was a Michigan militia company and some how hanging "German" on them serves no real purpose. Next Germany was not a single nation at the time and "German" is not really accurate. The down side is the newspapers sometimes referred to them as "the German company" so deleting "All company members were reportedly of being of German heritage" could lead to confusion when reading local newspapers.

The next example; "The Scott Guard (Detroit, Wayne County) was given the honor of being Company A of the 2nd​ Michigan Infantry Regiment. They had formed in 1841 and were a well-known pre-war unit, being considered an elite militia company. Germans citizens were specifically recruited and they were known as a German company. Germans citizens were specifically recruited and they were known as a German company." Again this is likely offensive. Many of the members were born in the United States and could not be considered German citizens, they were American citizens by birth. They are a Michigan militia company, not a German militia company. In my defense it was the Detroit newspapers that considered them Germans and the newspapers often wrote articles calling them 'the German company'. So should I delete "Germans citizens were specifically recruited and they were known as a German company"?

I will use one last example; "The Williams' German Light Artillery, a.k.a. Company C, Williams' Battalion a.k.a. the German Company a.k.a. the German Artillery of Lansing (Lansing, Ingham County) formed in 1859; they ranked in Class III of the Michigan Uniformed Militia." This is harder to deal with because of the name. I could delete all "German" terms and call them the Artillery Company of Lansing, however the period newspapers never called them such. When the Michigan Uniformed Militia had their yearly muster the newspapers call the company the Williams' German Light Artillery Company not the Lansing Artillery Company.

To date I have eliminated the term "German-American" from my data base. I am working to eliminate "German citizens" from my data base. The term "a militia company made up of citizens of German heritage" probably needs to go as well. One of the things I do in my data base is list the uniforms Michigan militia companies wore. Would it be worth deleting the fact that a certain company chose "German style" uniforms? I guess I could simply describe what they wore, but the fact that the company selected uniforms in the German style seems to be relevant.

I my be over thinking this. The term 'German-Americans' simply had to go. I think the term 'German citizens' is mildly offensive and should go in to the trash as well. I am not sure about the current view of 'Americans of German heritage'. Also the term 'citizens of German heritage' does not to me appear to be overly offensive. Next I need to work on the Michigan militia companies that had all or most members born in Ireland. Then comes the 'French' companies (one company wore copies of French Infantry uniforms).

The identity of those units was based on the ethnic heritage of the members of those units and is a part of the history of those units. Immigrants of the time sought to stay together for a sense of belonging, security, familiarity. Many immigrants formed whole communities based on the communities from which they or their parents emigrated from in Europe. This carried over into joining the military.

There were 38 different Germanic states and 4 cities between 1815 & 1866. I find nothing offensive at all by identifying units and their members collectively as being of German origin or German immigrants or first generation Americans of German descent. To do other wise and be specific as to origin, you would have to start naming/identifying units and members by states and cities. Prussian? Hessian? Saxon? Bavarian? Austrian? From the Rhineland-Palatinate? Alsatian? From Hamburg? And what do you call units comprised of members from multiple regions?
 
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German citizens would not be accurate either. Some had become naturalized USA residents and the vast majority of the rest probably considered the USA their new permanent home. Plus there was no Germany in the 1860s of which they could be a citizens. (German as a language and ethnicity predates Germany as a country.)
German as an ethnicity would be an accurate description.

Identifying of unit by political division would have to be by state/city (38 states & 4 cities at the time) or by ethnicity/language which would be German. I suspect that identification of the units is by the latter - as the units were composed of individuals who often had German as their first language and shared a common ethnicity.
 
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I never hear the term German-American, Italian-American or most of the others. African-American is used some. Many seem to accept that for some reason. Being a Appalachian-American, I would take consider such offensive.
I think frequency of use of things like German-American, Irish-American, Scottish-American may be regionalized and dependent upon the size or "newness" of the immigrant community. It seems where I am, the children of immigrants being the first generation born in the US, will often identify as (Nationality/ethnicity)-American. We have Irish-American social clubs, German-American social clubs, Scottish-American social clubs, etc. still in existence here, all still very active, all still keeping traditional foods, music, literature, and other cultural links to Europe alive. I live in an area with fairly large Irish/British/Scottish/German communities. We have quite a number of shops specializing in the foods and products specific to those regions. Even our local grocery stores carry some of the more frequently sought after products. In fact, I just got off the phone with the Scottish butcher as I needed to place an order for haggis, bridies, and Lorne sausage for an upcoming holiday.
 
Perhaps even more important than cultural links back to Europe are the links to family and friends. Both those back in the old country and those also here.
That harkens back to earlier immigrants looking for security and familiarity. I was an expat for a while (5 years). While I did participate in local cultural events and even worked in the community, I also looked for the familiarity and security of being with other Americans.
 
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