Editing Lincoln Battalion

{{Short description|Volunteer unit of the Second Spanish Republic}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name = Lincoln Battalion<br />''Batallón Abraham Lincoln''
| image = Lincoln Battalion.jpg
| image_size = 300px
| caption = The Lincoln Battalion, Tom Mooney Company
| dates = 1936–1938
| country = {{flagu|United States|1912}}
| allegiance = {{Flagicon image|Flag of Spain 1931 1939.svg}} [[Second Spanish Republic]]
| branch = [[File:Emblem of the International Brigades.svg|25px]] [[International Brigades]]
| type = [[Battalion]] – infantry
| role = Home Defence
| size = • 2,500 troops
| command_structure = [[XV International Brigade]] (1937–1939)
| garrison = [[Albacete]]
| ceremonial_chief =
| colonel_of_the_regiment =
| nickname =
| patron = [[Abraham Lincoln]]
| motto =
| colors =
| march = [[Jarama Valley (song)|Jarama Valley]]
| mascot =
| battles = [[Spanish Civil War]]
| notable_commanders = [[Robert Hale Merriman]]<br />[[Milton Wolff]]
| website = {{URL|https://alba-valb.org/}}
| identification_symbol = [[File:International_Brigades-Abraham_Lincoln-1st_Batallion.svg|150px]]
| identification_symbol_label = Flag of the Lincoln Battalion
| identification_symbol_2 = [[File:Lincoln_Battalion-Tom_Mooney_company.svg|125px]]
| identification_symbol_2_label = Flag of the Tom Mooney Company
}}
The '''Lincoln Battalion''' ({{langx|es|Batallón Abraham Lincoln}}), the major component of what came to be known as the [[Abraham Lincoln Brigade]], was the 17th (later the 58th) [[battalion]] of the [[XV International Brigade]] that fought in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. Named after [[United States]] President [[Abraham Lincoln]], the battalion was organized by the [[Communist International]].{{sfn|Hayes|1951|p=117}}{{sfn|Richardson|1982|pp=31-47}} The XVth Brigade was one of many [[mixed brigades]] that comprised the [[International Brigades]].

The Lincoln Battalion was formed by American volunteers who served as soldiers, technicians, medical personnel, and aviators alongside the [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republican]] forces against the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]]-supported forces of General [[Francisco Franco]] and his [[Nationalist faction]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives - FAQs |url=https://alba-valb.org/who-we-are/faqs/ |publisher=ALBA}}</ref> Unlike the segregated U.S. Army in the 1930s, the Lincoln Battalion integrated white and black soldiers on an equal basis.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://alba-valb.org/online-lesson-african-americans-in-the-spanish-civil-war/ |title=Online Lesson: African Americans in the Spanish Civil War |publisher=ALBA (Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives)|access-date=30 October 2024}}</ref> Of the approximately 3,000 American volunteers who went to Spain, 681 were killed in action or died of wounds or sickness.<ref name=Victors_Write_History>{{cite journal |last1=Garcia |first1=Daniel Pastor |last2=Celada |first2=Antonio R. |title=The Victors Write History, the Vanquished Literature: Myth, Distortion and Truth in the XV Brigade |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14753820.2012.731576 |journal=Bulletin of Spanish Studies |number=89 |date=2012 |pages=307-321}}</ref>

==History==
===Creation===
[[File:First National Conference of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.jpg|thumb|250px|Washington, D.C., February 12, 1938. First National Conference of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. From left to right: Francis J. Gorman, President of the [[Textile Workers Union of America|United Textile Workers of America]]; Lieut. Robert Raven, wounded and blinded in Spain; and Commander Paul Burns.]]

The Spanish Civil War was fought from 17 July 1936 to 28 March 1939. The combatants were the Republicans—a political alliance referred to as the [[Popular Front (Spain)|Popular Front]], which was loyal to the [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republic]] (hence, also referred to as the Loyalists)—and the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalists]], a rebel movement led by General Francisco Franco, which was backed by the [[Fascism in Europe|fascist countries in Europe]]. The Spanish Civil War's triggering event was the [[Spanish coup of July 1936|coup of July 1936]] in which the Nationalists attempted to overthrow the elected Republican government.

On 26 July, less than ten days after the coup started, an international Communist conference was held in [[Prague]] to formulate plans to assist the Republicans. The conference attendees decided to raise a multinational brigade of 5,000 men and a fund of one&nbsp;billion francs.{{sfn|Hayes|1951|p=115}} At the same time, Communist parties worldwide launched a full-scale propaganda campaign supporting the Popular Front. The [[Communist International]] soon joined the activity, sending to Spain its leader [[Georgi Dimitrov]], as well as [[Palmiro Togliatti]], the chief of the [[Italian Communist Party|Communist Party of Italy]].{{sfn|Hayes|1951|p=117}}{{sfn|Richardson|1982|p=12}} The [[Soviet Union]] began supplying aid to the Republicans in August 1936. Over one ship per day arrived at Spain's Mediterranean ports carrying munitions, rifles, machine guns, hand grenades, artillery, and trucks. With the cargo came Soviet agents, technicians, instructors, and propagandists.{{sfn|Hayes|1951|p=117}}

The [[Communist International]] quickly started to organize the [[International Brigades]], taking care to conceal or minimize the Communist character of the enterprise. In keeping with Popular Front culture, the Republican cause was portrayed as a struggle for progressive democracy,{{sfn|Hayes|1951|p=117}} and the American soldiers in Spain named their units the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, the George Washington Battalion, and the John Brown Battery. Other countries used similar patriotic names, e.g., the [[Giuseppe Garibaldi|Garibaldi]] Battalion from Italy.{{sfn|Hayes|1951|p=117}} Besides the Americans who volunteered as soldiers, another 125 men and women served with the American Medical Bureau as nurses, doctors, and ambulance drivers.

===1937===
Seeking help to defeat the armed rebellion, the Republicans asked for volunteer fighters worldwide. The American volunteers, many of them Communists, started arriving in Spain in late 1936. Utilizing the name of Abraham Lincoln, they formed the Lincoln Battalion in January 1937 as part of the [[XV International Brigade]]. The battalion initially fielded three companies: two infantry and one machine gun. Sections of Latin American and Irish volunteers were also included, organized as the Centuria Guttieras and the [[Connolly Column]], respectively. After less than two months of training, the Lincolns took action in February 1937. Many of the volunteers recalled that training was rudimentary: "They give me a gun, and they give me 100 bullets, and they send me to fight."<ref name="npr.org">[[Jacki Lyden|Lyden, Jacki]] (October 8, 2006). [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6221378 "Spanish Civil War Volunteers Revisit Battlegrounds"]. ''National Public Radio''. accessed March 29, 2015.</ref>

The International Brigades were usually deployed as [[shock troops]], resulting in high casualties. As an example, the Lincoln Battalion lost 22.5% of its strength by war's end.<ref>Payne, Stanley G. ''The Spanish Civil War''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. 154.</ref> The Lincolns were especially depleted by the [[Battle of Jarama]]. On 27 February 1937, the unit lost two-thirds of its forces, including commander [[Robert Hale Merriman]] (who was badly wounded) in a futile assault on Nationalist positions. Merriman had begged Lieutenant Colonel [[Vladimir Ćopić]] (described as "rather inept") not to launch the attack, fearing slaughter. Ćopić insisted it proceed and promised air and armored support, which never came. Merriman was almost immediately wounded, and the Lincolns suffered 136 deaths.{{sfn|Clifford|2020|pp=93-94}} The battalion remained in combat and was slowly rebuilt while maintaining its front-line positions. The unit was finally pulled out of the lines for a brief rest before the [[offensive at Brunete]].

Joined by the newly trained George Washington Battalion, the XVth Brigade took action at [[Villanueva de la Cañada]] on the second day of the Brunete Offensive and secured the town after hard fighting. The Washingtons attacked the north end of the village, while the [[British Battalion|British]] and [[Dimitrov Battalion|Dimitrov]] battalions attacked from the south.<ref>Thorpe, Richard (2009) [http://www.lacolumna.org.uk/article_abriefhistoryof%20the%20bb.htm "A Brief History of the British Battalion of the International Brigades, 1936 -1938"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927221657/http://www.lacolumna.org.uk/article_abriefhistoryof%20the%20bb.htm |date=September 27, 2013}} Retrieved August 13, 2013.</ref>

The XVth Brigade then deployed against "Mosquito Ridge", but despite repeated assaults, they could not dislodge the Nationalist troops holding that critical piece of terrain. The Lincoln Battalion's commander [[Oliver Law]]—the first black commander of an integrated American army unit<ref>{{cite web |title=June 12, 1937: Oliver Law Became Brigade Commander |publisher=Zinn Education Project |last=Katz |first=William L. |url=https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/law-oliver/}}</ref>—was killed during this action. The XVth Brigade again sustained severe losses. Due to the high rate of casualties, the Lincoln and Washington Battalions were merged. Thereafter, the unit was officially known as the Lincoln-Washington Battalion, though it was more commonly referred to as the Lincoln Battalion.

From August–October 1937, the Lincoln-Washington Battalion fought in a series of battles in the [[Aragon Offensive]]. It fought well at both [[Quinto, Spain|Quinto]] and [[Battle of Belchite (1937)|Belchite]]. The engagement at Quinto was a combined arms action as the Lincoln-Washington Battalion was led into their second assault on the town by Soviet tanks, T-26 tanks, and Soviet crews. [[Belchite]] was a hard battle with house-to-house fighting that produced heavy casualties.

After Belchite, the XVth Brigade was again reorganized. The newly formed Canadian [[MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion]] joined the brigade, and the veteran [[Dimitrov Battalion]] departed. A majority of the volunteers in the "Mac-Paps" were Americans. On 13 October 1937, the XVth Brigade fought at [[Fuentes de Ebro]]. Men from the brigade's 24th (Spanish) Battalion rode Russian tanks into the attack. The remaining battalions were supposed to follow the tanks, but the attack fell apart because they did not coordinate their advance with the infantry. Casualties were especially heavy in the 24th and MacKenzie-Papineau Battalions. After Fuentes, the XVth Brigade was pulled back to a reserve position, receiving its first extended period of rest and relaxation since going into combat at [[Jarama]].

In late December, the Lincoln-Washington Battalion was alerted for service at [[Battle of Teruel|Teruel]]. The XVth Brigade was deployed to hold the recently captured city of [[Teruel]] against the expected Nationalist counterattack. The winter of 1937/38 was among the coldest on record, and many troops suffered frostbite during the campaign. The Lincoln-Washington's initially held positions overlooking Teruel that they called the North Pole. Later, they moved down into the city. During January, the Nationalists launched coordinated attacks against the Republican defenses. The XVth Brigade's British Battalion and MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion both lost an entire company attempting to hold the territory. Nationalist superiority in both numbers and [[materiel]] eventually pushed the XVth Brigade out of Teruel. The XV BDE, including the Lincoln-Washington Battalion, were pulled out of the line for rest after three weeks in the lines. But before the units could get to the rest areas, their trains and trucks were stopped, and they were redeployed to the front, where they participated in an offensive that was expected to relieve some of the pressure on Teruel. In a dawn attack, the XVth Brigade attacked a series of Nationalist fortifications at [[Segura de los Baños]]. While the attack succeeded, the Nationalist forces did not transfer any forces away from Teruel.

===1938-1939===
[[File:Abraham Lincoln Battalion button.jpg|thumb|A political button worn by supporters of the unit]]
March found the Lincoln-Washington in reserve positions in [[Aragon]]. Their rest proved short-lived as the XVth Brigade was swept up in the disaster known as "The Retreats".<ref>{{cite journal |title=In the footsteps of the Lincoln-Washington Battalion |last=Martí |first=Anna |date=1 July 2012 |url=https://albavolunteer.org/2012/07/in-the-footsteps-of-the-lincoln-washington-battalion/ |journal=The Volunteer}}</ref> Nationalist forces punched through the Republican lines and drove to the sea, cutting the Republic in two. The Lincoln-Washington Battalion was dispersed, reformed, and dispersed again in a confused series of holding actions and retreats in which it lost most of its personnel killed, captured, or missing. Robert Merriman and Dave Doran, two of the highest-ranking American officers in the XVth Brigade, were presumed captured and executed as Nationalist forces normally executed all international prisoners. The remnants of the Battalion gathered on the far side of the [[Ebro River]], where they were slowly reconstituted with a limited number of international volunteers from the hospitals and rear areas.

Spanish troops, many young conscripts, were drafted into the XVth Brigade's battalions to bring them fully up to strength. Spaniards were integrated into the Lincoln Battalion as early as Jarama. Spanish companies were added to the international battalions as the flow of volunteers from North America decreased. After the Retreats, Spanish troops were integrated across all battalions and comprised most of the XVth Brigade's strength in its last action.

In July 1938, the rebuilt Lincoln-Washington Battalion participated in the [[Battle of the Ebro|Ebro offensive]]. The XVth Brigade crossed the Ebro and rapidly advanced across the territory they had retreated through in March and April. However, the Nationalist forces quickly rallied, and the offensive stalled. The Republican troops returned to the defensive, contesting the area captured in the offensive. 

On 21 September 1938, [[Juan Negrín]], the [[Prime Minister of Spain|Spanish prime minister]], announced to the [[League of Nations]] the unilateral withdrawal of the International Brigades from battle. [[Juan Negrín]] was trying to negotiate peace as his only hope. He had been informed that the International Brigades were no longer of military value, Although he maintained a vain hope that the Nationalists would withdraw their German and Italian troops, Franco kept his German and Italian forces until the war's end.{{sfn|Clifford|2020|p=206}}

On 1 November 1938, International Brigadists received a warm farewell from the people in Barcelona, where 250,000 people gathered to say goodbye to the international brigades for freedom. In a famous farewell speech, [[Dolores Ibárruri]], "La Pasionaria", declared: "You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of democracy's solidarity and universality in the face of the vile and accommodating spirit of those who interpret democratic principles with their eyes on hoards of wealth or corporate shares which they want to safeguard from all risk."<ref>{{cite web |title='You are history. You are legend.' |url=https://international-brigades.org.uk/news-and-blog/you-are-history-you-are-legend/ |date=29 October 2023 |publisher=International Brigade Memorial Trust}}</ref>

Surviving Americans from across Spain were sent to Ripoll, where the International Red Cross and the US government verified their nationality before repatriating them. Many were able to participate in the farewell activities, including a parade in Barcelona where the International Brigades were officially disbanded. Most American volunteers returned to the US between December 1938 and January 1939. American [[prisoner of war|POWs]] were released after the fall of the Republican government, although the last POWs did not arrive in the United States until September 1939.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

[[File:Medal of the International Brigades.jpg|100px|right|thumb|Spanish Civil War Medal awarded to the International Brigades]]

==Composition==
3,015 Americans manned the Lincoln Battalion and its successor, the Lincoln-Washington Battalion. While several of these volunteers also held citizenship in other countries, they identified primarily as Americans. Approximately 1,681 also served in the Mackenzie-Papineau ("Mac-Pap") Battalion once massive losses in both battalions led to mergers and transfers of men.<ref name=":0">Sandvick, Clinton. [https://dailyhistory.org/The_Abraham_Lincoln_Brigade:_the_Historiography_of_the_American_soldiers_in_the_Spanish_American_War The Abraham Lincoln Brigade: the Historiography of the American soldiers in the Spanish American War] Dailyhistory.org (Updated September 28, 2021). Retrieved September 28, 2021.</ref>

Many of the volunteers were either first or second-generation immigrants, and the battalion was at least one-third Jewish. The average age of Americans who served in Spain was 27.<ref name=":0" /> Still, there were volunteers as young as age 16.<ref name=Victors_Write_History/> The volunteers came from 46 out of 48 states in the U.S. New York City provided the single largest number of recruits, with 1/5th to 1/3rd being of or formerly from the city before going to Spain. Of the volunteers who could speak Spanish, most were from either New York City or [[Ybor City]] located in [[Tampa, Florida]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Nava |first=Carlos |title=Internationalism in the Barrios: Hispanic-Americans and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) |year=2020 |publisher=Southern Methodist University |via=SMU Scholar: History Theses and Dissertations |page=11 |url=https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=hum_sci_history_etds}}</ref>

Americans who applied were screened by the [[Communist Party USA]] with an in-person interview by a special committee. The committee tried to filter out "adventurers" and those who "lacked a political understanding of the anti-fascist struggle." In the Communist Party, joining the brigade was never mandatory. Secrecy was a high priority, and volunteers were given minimal information by Party leaders and only obtained information regarding their passports when they had passed their examination. The committee recommended that volunteers supply false information to customs and border officials about where they were travelling.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8ysL64pM54C |title=The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Americans in the Spanish Civil War |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0804722773 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Americans usually entered Spain by first emigrating to France because the U.S. Government was not issuing visas to Spain as part of a non-intervention policy regarding the Spanish Civil War. Few American volunteers arrived after September 1937.<ref name=Soto_article>{{cite journal |last=Soto |first=Isabel |title='I Knew that Spain Once Belonged to the Moors': Langston Hughes, Race, and the Spanish Civil War |journal=Research in African Literatures |volume=45 |date=2014 |pages=134-137}}</ref>

Battalion members fought for many different reasons. For the 85 African-American members of the battalion, the Nationalist forces represented some of the same injustices they faced back in the U.S. The Nationalist army primarily consisted of [[colonial troops]] from Spain's African colonies or of conscripted blacks who were desperate to escape poverty.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} Furthermore, Franco was supported by the Italian army and air force, which had only recently conquered the African nation of Ethiopia. Several leaders characterized the war as a crusade against the "Africanization" of Spain, although it was the Nationalists who relied on African fighters. [[Langston Hughes]], a journalist for the ''[[Baltimore Afro-American]]'' at the time, wrote, "Give Franco a hood, and he would be a member of the [[Ku Klux Klan]]."<ref name=Soto_article/> Though the Lincoln Battalion was, in large part, Jewish, it also included White and Black enlistees and was integrated.

Most of the original volunteers in the Lincoln Battalion were communists or Soviet sympathizers. It is difficult to list exactly how many members of the battalion were communists because political ideology was not a litmus test for serving in the war. Historians and veterans of the battalion estimate that between 50 and 80% of the battalion were actively communist. It is certain, though, that the vast majority of the commanding officers were communists and ethnically Jewish.<ref name=Victors_Write_History/> Unlike most of their European counterparts, the Americans in the International Brigade were more likely to be students who had never seen military service before the Spanish Civil War.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Abraham Lincoln Battalion |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abraham-Lincoln-Battalion |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |last=Bhutia |first=Thinley Kalsang |date=27 December 2017}}</ref>

Not all combatants were motivated by ideological or political concerns. As Mo Fishman, a veteran of the battalion, recalled in 2006, "Some men were running away from bad marital or love situations, but what united all of us was that we hated fascism." Anti-fascism, more than any other single factor, is what motivated and united the volunteers of the Lincoln Battalion, as well as Jewish antipathy.<ref name="npr.org" />

==Other American units==
[[File:Abraham Lincoln Brigade-unknown flag.svg|thumb|Flag of one of the military units of the Lincoln Battalion<ref>S. Herreros, ''The International Brigades in the Spanish War 1936-1939: Flags and Symbols'', fig. 36</ref>]]
===20th Battalion, 86th Brigade===
An American company served in the 20th International Battalion that was attached to the [[86th Mixed Brigade]]. This unit fought on the Cordoba Front. Most of the American volunteers were transferred from the unit to the XVth Brigade before the Brunete Offensive.{{sfn|Landis|1967|p=138–139}}

===George Washington Battalion===
The Washington Battalion was the second American battalion. The unit was merged with the Lincoln Battalion during the Brunete Campaign. It was commanded by Mirko Marković, and its commissar was Dave Mates.{{sfn|Landis|1967|p=169–173}}

===MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion===
The Mac Paps, as they were known, formed as the number of Canadiens fighting in the Lincoln and Washington battalions grew. Established on July 1, 1937 (Canada Day) at first there were more American soldiers in the ranks than Canadiens, but that 3-1 ratio soon shifted and the Mac Paps ended with a roll call of over 1500 Canadiens.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Baldwin |first1=Jerome |title=Canadians in Spain: The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion |url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/mackenzie-papineau-battalion/ |website=Warfare History Network |access-date=30 October 2024}}</ref> Its first commander was Robert Thompson, an American veteran of the Lincoln Battalion. [[Joseph Dallet]], also American, was the first Commissar.{{sfn|Landis|1967|p=304-305}}

===2nd Squadron, First Regiment de Tren===
The Regiment de Tren was a transportation unit supporting the Republican forces. The Second Squadron was predominately American. The commander was Durward Clark.

===John Brown Battery===
This unit's official title was the 14th Battery, 2nd Group, 11th Regiment. It was a heavy artillery unit operating 155mm guns. The battery commander was Arthur Timpson, with Jack Waters as Commissar.{{sfn|Landis|1967|p=144-146}}

===4th Group, 35th Battery===
Initially, this unit operated 155mm guns but was later equipped with 45mm anti-tank guns, which were included in the 129th International Brigade. The battery commander was Nathan Budish, and his Commissar was Sid Kaufman.

==American Medical Bureau==
{{main|American Medical Bureau}}
[[File:American Medical Bureau armband.svg|thumb|120px|AMB [[armband]].]]
Organized by Dr. [[Edward K. Barsky]], the American Medical Bureau (AMB) recruited doctors, dentists, nurses, administrators, and ambulance drivers to support the Spanish Republic. In its fundraising events, the names 'American Medical Bureau to Save Spanish Democracy' and 'Medical Bureau & North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy' were also used.<ref>[https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt:31735061540856 Medical Bureau & North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy Flyers]</ref>

In the United States, the AMB staged events to shift public opinion away from supporting the aid boycott to the Spanish Republic imposed by the American government following the agreements of the [[Non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War|Non-intervention Committee]]. In Spain, the AMB was assigned to hospitals and medical centers of the Spanish Military Medical Services (''Cuerpo de Sanidad''), such as the [[Gómez Ulla Military Hospital]] in Madrid, and also to front-line locations. AMB members, who also included women, treated both international as well as Spanish combatants.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Medical Aid to the Spanish Republic During the Civil War (1936-1939)|first=Martin F.|last=Shairo|date=July 1, 1982|journal=Ann Intern Med|volume=97|issue=1|pages=119–124|doi=10.7326/0003-4819-97-1-119|pmid=7046552 }}</ref>

By the end of the war, a majority of both the Spanish aid committees and the leadership councils of the AMB were women. Many women leaders in the aid movement were wives of prominent American leftists or soldiers in the Lincoln Battalion. Katherine Duncan, wife to Governor La Follette's secretary, and Peggy Dennis, a communist party leader, were leaders in the active Madison, Wisconsin chapter. Marion Merriman, wife to Abraham Lincoln Battalion commander Robert Merriman (the supposed inspiration of Hemingway's hero in ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls]]''), was the chairwoman of the extensive San Francisco branch of the organization. She and [[Fredericka Martin]] were the only women to receive officer commissions from the Spanish Republic. Evelyn Hutchins, an active member of the AMB, agitated for years to be a hospital driver on the front-lines. Still, Spanish Republican policies prevented women from serving on the front-lines until 1938, when Hutchins won the right to serve as a driver.<ref>Graham, Helen. ''The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, 40–45.</ref><!--==Internal conflict==

Volunteers in the Lincoln Battalion faced scrutiny and persecution from the very beginning from the U.S. Government, their commanding officers, Spaniards wary of foreigners, and the Comintern, which believed most of them to be Trotskyists.

Soldiers in the battalion went to Spain because they believed in overthrowing hierarchy and tyranny, and because of this, very few were supportive of the top-down command structure that the Spanish Republic imposed on them. Like other Republican units in the war, the Lincoln Battalion often required that most soldiers vote for orders before they were carried out. As a result, the Republic, guided by the Comintern, appointed political [[commissar]]s or "comic stars" as the soldiers called them to instill discipline and morale. The commissars were infamous for leading forced chants of "professionalism, follow orders and faith in triumph".<ref name=Victors_Write_History/> Volunteers often believed these commissars were secret informants seeking to purge disloyal soldiers.

As the war dragged on and defeat became more imminent, the battalion faced the same crisis of morale and desertion that the Republican forces as a whole did. One commanding officer in Aragon had to call for reinforcements to execute deserters because too few of his remaining men would cooperate. Republican commanders feared the possibility of the battalion disbanding or, worse, giving support to the Nationalists. The Republic began to incorporate new Spanish recruits into international units until the loyalty of the battalion could be ensured. By the war's end, more Spanish soldiers were serving in the Lincoln Battalion than Americans. There was much friction between the veteran Americans and the new Spanish recruits. Americans routinely mocked the untrained Spaniards.<ref name=Victors_Write_History/>

Before the battalion even formed, the Comintern was suspicious of American Communists. Bertram Wolfe, a founder of the American Communist movement and eventual CO in the Lincoln Battalion, supported the POUM, a Spanish Communist Party critical of Moscow. As a result, the Soviet Union spied on Wolfe and all other American commanders during the Civil War.<ref name="Jackson, Gabriel 1939">Jackson, Gabriel. ''The Spanish Republic and Civil War, 1931–1939''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012, 76.</ref> Throughout the war, the Comintern would purge at least 500 international combatants.<ref>Payne, Stanley G. ''The Spanish Civil War''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.</ref>

Once the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, the veterans of the Lincoln Battalion were divided by the official Comintern policy of non-intervention in the war against Hitler. Until Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Moscow ordered all communists to oppose joining the war in Europe between the Anglo-French alliance and Nazi Germany. Many veterans who had risked their lives fighting fascism believed that Hitler needed to be stopped immediately and not later. Milton Wolff, the leader of the communist-aligned veterans' organization of Americans, claimed that those who now supported war with Hitler had "[stabbed] Republican Spain in the back" by supporting countries like [[United Kingdom|Britain]] and [[Third French Republic|France]]. He and other American communists would assert that veterans who supported war had deserted the Republic, causing her defeat to the Nationalists.<ref name="Jackson, Gabriel 1939"/>-->

==Aftermath==
During and after the Spanish Civil War, members of the brigade were generally viewed as supporters of the [[Soviet Union]].{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} After returning to the United States, many joined the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (VALB). However, the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] caused a division among the Lincoln Brigade veterans. Some of them, adopting the official Communist line, joined with the [[American Peace Mobilization]] in protesting American support for Britain and France against Nazi Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alba-valb.org/volpdf/vol_1941_02b.pdf |date=February 1941 |title=Lincoln Veterans Condemn 'Lend-Lease' Present Views in Washington |publisher=The Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206011824/http://www.alba-valb.org/volpdf/vol_1941_02b.pdf |archive-date=December 6, 2006 }}</ref> Others persisted with the [[anti-Fascism|anti-Fascist]] line which they had followed to Spain. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the VALB changed its stance and fully backed the war. Former Lincoln-Washington commander [[Milton Wolff]] volunteered in 1940 for the British [[Special Operations Executive]] and arranged the provision of arms for the [[Resistance during World War II|European resistance organizations]].<ref name="Haynes, John Earl 2002">[[John Earl Haynes|Haynes, John Earl]] & [[Harvey Klehr|Klehr, Harvey]] (September 2002). [https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+myth+of+%22premature+antifascism%22.-a091467190 "The myth of 'premature antifascism{{'"}}], ''[[The New Criterion]]''. '''21''' (1): 41. via [[The Free Library]].</ref>

During the [[World War II|Second World War]], the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]] considered former members of the brigade to be security risks. FBI Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] requested that President Roosevelt ensure that former ALB members fighting in U.S. Forces in World War II not be considered for commissioning as officers or to have any positive distinction conferred upon them.<ref name="Haynes, John Earl 2002" /> In 1947, the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade were placed on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations.<ref>{{cite news |title=Here is List of Groups Branded as Subversive |date=December 5, 1947 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rRJKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fB4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=976%2C6036615 |work=Modesto Bee |page=12}}; cf. Goldstein 2008, p. 62, 66</ref> The veterans would be one of only five groups that would stay intact to at least 1970 after receiving this designation.<ref>Goldstein 2008, p. 66</ref>

Once the United States entered World War II, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] recommended that all veterans of the Lincoln Battalion be denied military promotion to prevent communists from rising in the armed forces. After World War II ended, veterans of the Lincoln Battalion were denied military enlistment and government jobs. The [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] blacklisted the names of all veterans of the Lincoln Battalion. The Brigade was also included in the [[Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations]] on April 29, 1953. Veterans were fired, spied upon, harassed, labeled communists to employers, denied housing, and refused passports for decades.<ref name="npr.org" /><ref>Rosenstone, Robert A. "The Man Who Swam Out of History: Spain". Reviews in American History, Vol. 37, No. 4 (December 2009), pp. 641-658</ref> The FBI has denied that it maintained any files on the veterans of the Lincoln Battalion, but veterans groups claim that the federal government is merely covering up its crimes.<ref name="Haynes, John Earl 2002" />

In 1985, in an interview with [[E. W. Scripps Company|Scripps-Howard]] editors, President [[Ronald Reagan]] said that most Americans believed that their fellow Americans who fought with the Loyalist forces were on the wrong side.<ref>{{cite news |title=Remark by Reagan on Lincoln Brigade Prompts Ire in Spain |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/10/world/remark-by-reagan-on-lincoln-brigade-prompts-ire-in-spain.html |work=The New York Times |date=May 10, 1985}}</ref>

The last known surviving member of the Lincoln Battalion, [[Delmer Berg]], died on February 28, 2016, at the age of 100.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/us/delmer-berg-last-survivor-of-abraham-lincoln-brigade-dies-at-100.html|title=Delmer Berg, Last of American Volunteers in Spanish Civil War, Dies at 100|date=March 3, 2016|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=June 12, 2016}}</ref>

==Anthem: "Valley of Jarama"==
{{main|There's a Valley in Spain called Jarama|l1=Valley of Jarama}}
Members of the [[XV International Brigade]] adapted a song by [[Alex McDade]] to reflect the losses at the [[Battle of Jarama]]. Sung to the tune of the traditional country song ''Red River Valley'', it became their anthem.

==Members==
===Lincoln Battalion commanding officers===
* James Harris
* [[Robert Hale Merriman]]
* Martin Hourihan
* [[Oliver Law]]
* Mirko Markovics
* [[Steve Nelson (activist)|Steve Nelson]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Eby |first=Cecil D. |title=Comrades and Commissars: The Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0271029108 |pages=184-185}} A communist, Nelson became commander of the battalion on the first day (July 6, 1937) of the [[Battle of Brunete]], replacing Martin Hourihan who was badly wounded.</ref>
* Hans Amlie
* Leonard Lamb
* Phil Detro
* David Morris Reiss<ref>{{cite web |title=REISS, David Morris |url=https://sidbrint.ub.edu/en/content/reiss-david-morris |website=SIDBRINT |publisher=[[University of Barcelona]] |access-date=October 21, 2018}}</ref>
* Aaron Lopoff
* [[Milton Wolff]]<ref>{{cite news |first=Douglas|last=Martin |title=Milton Wolff, 92, Dies; Anti-Franco Leader |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/obituaries/17wolff.html |work=The New York Times |date=January 17, 2008 |access-date=March 25, 2008 }}</ref>

===Lincoln Battalion commissars===
* [[Phil Bard]]
* George Brodsky
* Archie Brown<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/25/obituaries/archie-brown-79-union-leader-in-landmark-case-on-communists.html "Obituary"], ''The New York Times'', November 25, 1990. Retrieved June 10, 2014.</ref>
* Dave Doran<ref>[https://alba-valb.org/volunteers/dave-doran/?searchterm=doran Biography k-Doran, Dave] Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, accessed October 31, 2020</ref>
* Carl Geiser <ref>[https://alba-valb.org/volunteers/carl-frederick-geiser/ "Geiser, Carl Frederick"], Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.</ref>
* David E. Jones
* Fred Keller
* Fred Lutz
* Steve Nelson
* [[Harry Haywood]] (Regimental Commissar)
* John Q. Robinson
* Sam Stember
* George Watt

===Other notable members===
[[File:Batallón Lincoln.jpg|thumb|250px|American veterans.]]{{maincat|Abraham Lincoln Brigade members}}
* [[Eddie Balchowsky]] – Artist, poet, & pianist, and inspiration for [[Jimmy Buffett]] song "[[He Went to Paris]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wn.com/eddie_balchowsky_and_the_spanish_civil_war|title=Eddie Balchowsky and The Spanish Civil War|access-date=June 12, 2016}}</ref>
* [[James Walker Benét]] – Author and journalist (''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'').<ref name=sfgate>{{cite news|first=Carl|last=Nolte|title=Author, activist James Benét dies at 98 |url=https://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Author-activist-James-Benet-dies-at-98-4141164.php |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=December 22, 2012 |access-date=January 8, 2013}}</ref>
* [[Delmer Berg]] – Union organizer.
* [[Alvah Bessie]] – Hollywood screenwriter who was one of the [[Hollywood blacklist#Hollywood Ten and beyond|Hollywood Ten]].
* [[Herman Bottcher]] – Earned two [[Distinguished Service Cross (United States)|Distinguished Service Crosses]] in World War II.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/valb.html|title=Guide to the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Records ALBA.019|access-date=June 12, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207031151/http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/valb.html|archive-date=February 7, 2012}}</ref>
* [[Edward A. Carter, Jr.]] – Earned the [[Medal of Honor]] in World War II.
* [[Carmelo Delgado Delgado]] – [[Puerto Rican nationalist]], among the first U.S. citizens to die in the war.
* [[Leo Eloesser]] – US thoracic surgeon.
* [[Mosess Fishman|Moe Fishman]] – Co-founder and executive secretary/treasurer of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
* [[Walter Benjamin Garland]] – U.S. Army veteran and radio producer, commanded a machine gun battalion.
* [[John Gates]] – Political commissar of the battalion, later editor of ''[[The Daily Worker]]''.
* [[William Lindsay Gresham]] – Novelist and non-fiction author particularly well-regarded among noir readers.
* [[William Herrick (novelist)|William Herrick]] – Novelist.
* [[Robert Klonsky]] – One of the defendants in the [[Smith Act]] trial of the mid-1950s.
* [[Rolando Masferrer]] – Cuban politician and guerrilla leader.
* [[Conlon Nancarrow]] – Composer.
* [[Harry Wayland Randall]] – Chief photographer of the Photographic Unit of the 15th International Brigade.
* [[Edwin Rolfe]] – Poet and author of first history of Americans in Spain, ''The Lincoln Battalion'' (1939).
* [[George Sossenko]] – Also fought in the [[Durruti Column]].
* [[Robert G. Thompson]] – Awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in World War II; among the 1950s Smith Act trial defendants.
* [[Albert Prago]] – Captain. Professor of History, City University of New York, Columbia University.

==Recognition==
===Memorials and awards===
* Currently, four memorials are dedicated to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade veterans.
** The first is located on the [[University of Washington]] campus in Seattle.
** The second is in James Madison Park in [[Madison, Wisconsin]].<ref>[http://www.alba-valb.org/announcements/madison_monument_dedication.html ALBA – Announcements – Madison Monument dedication<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007130132/http://www.alba-valb.org/announcements/madison_monument_dedication.html |date=October 7, 2007 }}</ref>
** A third memorial to the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was dedicated on the Embarcadero in [[San Francisco, California]] on March 30, 2008. Among the speakers were San Francisco mayor [[Gavin Newsom]] and a few of the several ALB veterans still living.
** The fourth memorial commemorates the students and faculty of [[The City College of New York]] (CCNY) who fought in the Spanish Civil War, including the thirteen alums who died in that war. The memorial is located in the North Academic Center of CCNY.

===In museums===
In 2007, the exhibit ''Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War'' at the [[Museum of the City of New York]] examined the role that New Yorkers played in the conflict, as well as the political and social ideologies that motivated them to participate in activities ranging from rallying support, fundraising, and relief aid, to fighting—and sometimes dying—on the front lines in Spain.

==See also==
{{Portal|Spain|United States|Modern history}}
{{Div col}}
* [[International Brigades order of battle]]
* [[Irish Socialist Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War]]
* [[Jewish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War]]
* [[Polish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War]]
* [[Songs of the Lincoln Battalion]]
* [[Spanish Republican Air Force]]
* [[Spanish Republican Army]]
* [[Yankee Squadron]]
{{Div col end}}
==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book |last = Clifford|first = Alexander |year=2020 |title = Fighting for Spain: The International Brigades in the Civil War, 1936-1939 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |isbn=978-1526774385}}
* Goldstein, Robert Justin (2009). ''American Blacklist: The Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations''. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. {{ISBN|978-0700616046}}
* {{Cite book |last= Hayes |first=Carlton J.H. |author-link=Carlton J. H. Hayes| date= 1951|title=The United States and Spain. An Interpretation |publisher=Sheed & Ward; 1ST edition |asin=B0014JCVS0}}
* {{cite book|last=Landis|first=Arthur|title=The Lincoln Brigade|location=New York|publisher=The Citadel Press|year=1967}}
* {{cite book |last = Richardson |first = R. Dan |year=1982 |orig-year = first published as an academic thesis in 1969 |title = Comintern Army: The International Brigades and the Spanish Civil War |url = https://archive.org/details/cominternarmyint00rich |url-access = registration |publisher = University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington, Kentucky |isbn=978-0813154466 }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|2}}
* [[Antony Beevor|Beevor, Antony]]. ''The Battle for Spain'', 2006.
* Bermack, Richard. ''The Front Lines of Social Change: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade'', [[Heyday Books]], 2005.
* [[Alvah Bessie|Bessie, Alvah]]. ''Men in Battle: A Story of Americans in Spain'', 1939.
* Bradley, Ken. ''International Brigades in Spain 1936–39'', [[Osprey Publishing]], 1994.
* Brandt, Joe (Ed.). ''Black Americans in the Spanish People's War Against Fascism 1936–1939''. New Outlook Publishers, 1976.
* Carroll, Peter N. ''The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade'', Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994.
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter N. |author2=James D. Fernández |title=Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War |year=2007 |publisher=New York University Press}}
* Eby, Cecil. ''Between the Bullet and the Lie: American Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War'', New York: [[Holt, Rinehart & Winston]], 1969.
* Geiser, Carl. ''Prisoners of the Good Fight'', Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill and Company, 1986.
* Glazer, Peter. ''Radical Nostalgia: Spanish Civil War Commemoration in America''. New York: [[University of Rochester Press]], 2005.
* Hochschild, Adam. ''[[Spain in Our Hearts]]: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939'', [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]], 2016.
* Johnson, Verle B. ''Legions of Babel'', University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1967.
* [[Orwell, George]]. ''Homage to Catalonia'', 1938.
* [[Abraham Osheroff|Osheroff, Abraham]]. ''Dreams and Nightmares'', 1974.
* [[Edwin Rolfe|Rolfe, Edwin]]. ''The Lincoln Battalion: The Story of the Americans Who Fought in Spain in the International Brigades'', New York: [[Random House]], 1939.
* Rosenstone, Robert A. ''Crusade of the Left'', New York: Pegasus, 1969.
* [[Hugh Thomas (writer)|Thomas, Hugh]]. ''The Spanish Civil War'', 4th Rev. Ed. 2001.
* Yates, James. ''Mississippi to Madrid: Memoir of a Black American in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade''. Seattle: Open Hand Publishing, 1989.
{{Refend}}

==Suggested listening==
* ''Songs of the Spanish Civil War Vol. 2: Songs of the Lincoln Brigade'' ([[Smithsonian Folkways|Folkways]]) (1962)
* ''Songs of the Lincoln and International Brigades'' ([[Stinson Records|Stinson]]) (1962)

==External links==
{{Commons category|Abraham Lincoln-1st Batallion}}
{{wikisource}}
* [https://albavolunteer.org/ The Volunteer, the quarterly journal of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives]
* [https://albavolunteer.org/category/blog/ The ALBA Blog]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140805233024/http://www.unc.edu/~chaos1/intlbrigade.pdf "Some Men Put Up Their Lives"]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050831012554/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/history/pdf/chr_vol1.pdf Columbia Historical Review "Dutch Involvement in the Spanish Civil War"]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050712075043/http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/tam/alba_names.html List of Abraham Lincoln Brigade Volunteers] [[New York University]] Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070209070939/http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/tam/alba_guides.html Online guide] to the Lincoln Brigade, Tamiment Library (New York) archives.
* [https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/k6np22cq/?query=Abraham%2520Lincoln%2520Brigade Finding Aid to the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Bay Area Post records, 1928–1995 (bulk 1937–1988)], [[The Bancroft Library]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070509030949/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07%2F04%2F30%2F1321243 Fighting Fascism: The Americans – Women and Men – Who Fought In the Spanish Civil War] (''[[Democracy Now!]]'' show, aired April 30, 2007)
* FBI monograph: [https://www.governmentattic.org/docs/FBI_Veterans_of_Abraham_Lincoln_Brigade_1937-1948.pdf Summary Memorandum on The Veterans of The Abraham Lincoln Brigade 1937 – 1948]
* McArdle, Joe. ''[http://depts.washington.edu/depress/spanish_civil_war_pnw.shtml The Spanish Civil War and the Pacific Northwest]'', Great Depression in Washington State Project.
* [https://scwnyc.stuy.edu Stuyvesant's Spanish Civil War Archives]
{{XV International Brigade}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:African-American history of the United States military]]
[[Category:Anti-fascism in the United States]]
[[Category:Communism in the United States]]
[[Category:Communist Party USA]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1936]]
[[Category:International Brigades]]
[[Category:Spain–United States relations]]
[[Category:Abraham Lincoln Brigade members| ]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1938]]