A large majority of the citizens also preferred him for mayor of Worms, but the otherwise liberal Jaup ministry failed to confirm him due to intrigues by the opposition party.

This drove him into the hands of the German Revolutionary party of 1848, and when the revolution broke out in Baden, he led an insurgent corps in spite of the poor prospects.

[1] As commander of the Freischaren (Free Corps), he took Ludwigshafen (May 10, 1849), occupied the city of Worms, and made an unsuccessful attack on Landau.

When the Prussian troops entered the Electorate of the Palatinate, he fought in several of the engagements in Baden, but after the suppression of the revolution was compelled to flee with other leading revolutionaries like Germain Metternich, Ludwig Bamberger, and Franz Zitz to Switzerland, whence he emigrated to the United States.

In a letter to the Illinois Staatszeitung, Gustav Struve defended Blenker on this score, i.e. with regard to a charge that he got $100 a month from each of the sutlers he had licensed to service his troops.

Stories appeared in the German-language press and the New York Tribune accusing Blenker's troops of looting the countryside of edibles and theft of items of no military worth.

Alexander Schimmelfennig, a fellow officer, referred to him as a "bum," and there was much controversy between supporters of Schurz, Blenker and Franz Sigel.

He was mustered out of service March 31, 1863, and died in October of injuries sustained while with his command at Warrenton, Virginia,[2] leaving behind his wife, son and three daughters in dire circumstances.