Diskussion:Friedrich Wilhelm Vattmann

Pardon my English. Was he related to Father Edward J. Vattmann who emigrated to the USA as a young priest and had an extraorinary career.

A “Brilliant Career” is how US Army Chaplain Monsignor Edward J. Vattmann’s life was proclaimed in the newspaper headline of his 1919 obituary. And while this is a true and fitting tribute, perhaps the words that best describe Chaplain Vattmann’s life are those expressed in the personal handwriting of his good friend, US President Theodore Roosevelt, when Teddy wrote a private letter to him in 1916 and said:

"You have been a good soldier and a good priest; a most useful citizen and one of the staunchest of American patriots -- and in addition a true and loyal friend. What higher praise can be given any man?"

Indeed, what higher praise can be given to Chaplain Vattmann for his service of God and Country? When Teddy wrote those words, perhaps he was reflecting back upon the defining events that shaped the character of our nation in the years between the Civil War and World I: Indian Wars, Industrial Labor Disputes, Spanish-American War, European Immigration and Presidential Politics. Teddy knew that his friend Chaplain Vattmann had played a role in every one of those moments and, yet, still had time to help his local community by serving on the school board, park district, library and Boy Scout troop.

Chaplain Vattmann earned the praise of “Good Soldier,” “Good Priest,” “Most Useful Citizen,“ “American Patriot” and “Loyal Friend” over a lifetime of service. During the Indian Wars, he came to the aid and comfort of the Sioux victims of the massacre at Wounded Knee, just one month after it occurred. He was affectionately known by the Sioux as “the Large Pine Tree.” During the violent labor battles of the 1880’s, Chaplain Vattmann found peaceful ways to resolve the most significant labor strike in US history at the Pullman factory in Chicago, Illinois. After the Spanish American War, he traveled to the Philippines and Puerto Rico on behalf of United States Presidents. He listened to the local people, he learned how they were abused by the local Friars of the Catholic Church and he found them in revolt over land ownership. Chaplain Vattmann supported their cause all the way to the Vatican. Pope Leo referred to him affectionately as a “typical American.” During the era of massive European immigration to the US, he played an influential role with the Catholic Colonization Society and, he even has a town in Texas named after him, which still celebrates a “German Thanksgiving” each year. As a loyal friend, Chaplain Vattmann was called and rushed to the side of Teddy Roosevelt when he was shot by an assassin’s bullet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin during a speaking engagement during Teddy’s return to politics on the Bull Moose Ticket.

Indeed, by these acts and many others like them, Chaplain Vattmann lived a brilliant career. He was: • highest ranking Roman Catholic Chaplain in the US as a Major, • veteran chaplain at Fort Sheridan, Illinois • friend and confidant to six Presidents (Hayes, Garfield, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson), • sent to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation just one month after the massacre at Wounded Knee, he learned the Teton Sioux language, translated the US Soldier Manual into Sioux and so successfully obtained Army jobs for Sioux that just 10 months later he had so favorably influenced US Soldiers of the 7th Cavalry and Sioux warriors, who were former enemies, that they sat together at the same tables to celebrate Thanksgiving, • asked to perform high level diplomatic missions for US Presidents to the Philippines, Puerto Rico and the Vatican, • called upon to aid soldiers during the violent Pullman worker strike in Chicago and helped resolve the historic labor dispute by his work with the local parish priests of the strikers, • Secretary of the Catholic Colonization Society and helped German immigrants settle a region in Texas that bears the name of Vattmannville, • an accomplished linguist who could understand Greek and Hebrew and converse freely in Latin, German, French, Italian, Spanish and the Teton dialect of Sioux, • one of the founders the first Boy Scout Troop west of the Alleghenies, Troop 1 of Wilmette, Illinois, • original member of the Wilmette Park District serving from 1908 to 1918, and • early member of the School Board of one of the nation's best high schools, New Trier Township High School, which was founded in 1900, he served from 1907 to 1919.