Defending the Union: Immigrant Soldiers in the Civil War

Immigrants have played a vital role in the American military since the founding of our country. From the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 to its end in 1865 foreign-born men made up one-quarter of the Federal army. Native Americans and French-Indian “metis” also served by the thousands. In this new exhibit created by the Civil War Museum staff, military records and personal narratives of Union veterans explain why so many men from so many places joined the Union Army. Though from different continents, countries, ethnicities and backgrounds, they all chose to leave their homelands in the mid-1800s, and to fight as Americans in the Civil War.