Immigrant Soldiers

Most soldiers who fought in the Civil War, whether wearing the blue garb of the Union Army or the gray colors of the Confederates, were native-born Americans. These men, however, were joined by tens of thousands of foreign-born soldiers from virtually every part of the globe. In the case of the Federal military in particular, immigrant soldiers came to comprise a sizable portion of the overall force. By the end of the war in 1865, one out of four men who fought for the Union were foreign-born.

Foreign-Born Yankees

The American Civil War erupted at a time when families were emigrating from Europe to U.S. shores in never before seen numbers. This exodus from Europe, spurred by political upheaval, the Irish potato famines, and America's blossoming reputation as a meritocracy, funneled huge numbers of immigrants into the North. Most immigrants chose Northern cities and states because industrialization—and the associated promise of jobs—was proceeding at a far more rapid pace in those places than in the South, and because farm land was both more abundant and more affordable in the North than in the plantation-oriented South. By 1860 nearly one out of three men living in the North was foreign-born.

This resource could not be ignored when it came time for the Federal government to muster an army to put down the insurrection in the South. President Abraham Lincoln handed out military commissions to immigrant generals, which proved an effective tool in increasing enlistments in immigrant neighborhoods. Of course, many foreign-born Americans did not need such inducements to volunteer; swayed by financial and patriotic considerations, immigrants flooded many Union recruiting offices in the opening months of the conflict. Another burst of immigrants joining the military occurred in 1863, when Congress passed conscription laws that required immigrants who had sworn their intention to become naturalized citizens to register for military service.

Armies of Multiple Nationalities

As the war progressed, some Union camps became highly polyglot. As historian Bell Irvin Wiley reported in his seminal The Life of Billy Yank, Company H of the 8th Michigan included seven Canadians, five Englishmen, four Germans, two Irishmen, one Dutchman, one Scotsman, and one enigmatic individual who listed his nationality as "the ocean." This assortment of nationalities was by no means unusual. One Union regiment had so many men of different nationalities in its ranks that the commanding officer had to give orders in seven languages. On more than one occasion, these language barriers hindered the performance of Union units in battle.

Other Yankee regiments consisted almost entirely of foreign-born soldiers. The 79th New York infantry, for example, was made up primarily of Scottish immigrants—a fact that led them to become known simply as "the Highlanders." Similarly, every soldier in the 9th Wisconsin infantry was from Germany, and both New York State and Ohio produced several regiments that were almost entirely composed of German immigrants. All told, it is believed that over 200,000 Germans marched under the Union banner.

Another 150,000 Irish immigrants fought for the Union, and at least twenty regiments were composed almost entirely of men from Ireland. Throughout the war, numerous Union generals remarked on the unique aspects of handling Irish soldiers. They griped about their bluster and resistance to authority, but also spoke admiringly of their cheerful and resilient demeanor in the face of war's myriad horrors and discomforts.

In addition to the German and Irish contingents, other nationalities well represented in the Union military included Englishmen and Canadians (an estimated 60,000 soldiers combined). Immigrants from France, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, and even various Asian nations further fleshed out the Yankee ranks.

The number of foreign-born soldiers in the Confederate ranks was much smaller. The Rebel army included one brigade of Irishmen, several German regiments, and even boasted a Louisiana brigade with a strong French presence that was commanded by a French count with the colorful name of Camille Armand Jules Marie, Prince de Polignac.

Motivations

Foreign-born soldiers were sometimes treated with disdain by their native-born counterparts. The latter's hostility was in many cases nothing more than bigotry, though in other instances animosity stemmed from impatience with language barriers and other perceived impediments to efficient military performance.

Despite the sometimes cold reception they received from American-born comrades, however, few foreign-born soldiers seemed to question their decision to take up arms in defense of the Union and the republican principles it represented. A German soldier attached to the 8th Missouri, for example, declared that he "grasped the weapon of death for the purpose of doing my part in defending and upholding the integrity, laws and the preservation of my adopted country from a band of contemptible traitors who would if they can accomplish their hellish designs, destroy the best and noblest government on earth" (Wiley 1975, p. 79). An Irish immigrant attached to the 28th Massachusetts expressed similar sentiments about the stakes involved in the War between the States. "This is my country as much as the man who was born on the soil," he declared. "This is the first test of a modern free government in the act of sustaining itself against internal enemys…. If it fail all tyrants will succeed[;] the old cry will be sent forth from the aristocrats of Europe that such is the common lot of all republics…. Irishmen and their descendents have… a stake in [this] nation" (Welsh 1986, pp. 65–66). These strongly held convictions were essential to the morale and brave performance of the great majority of the Civil War's foreign-born troops.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Davis, William C. Rebels and Yankees: The Fighting Men of the Civil War. New York: Smithmark Publishers, 1991.

McPherson, James M. For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Welsh, Peter. Irish Green and Union Blue: The Civil War Letters of Peter Welsh, ed. Lawrence Frederick Kohl and Margaret Cossé Richard. New York: Fordham University Press, 1986.

Wiley, Bell Irvin. The Life of Billy Yank, the Common Soldier of the Union. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1951.

Wiley, Bell Irvin. The Common Soldier of the Civil War. New York: Scribner, 1975.

Kevin Hillstrom