The Union Army, unlike the Confederate Army, included large numbers of immigrants.
In Costa & Khan's sample of soldiers, for example, 75.5% were born in America, 7.1% were from Germany, 8.4% were from Ireland, 3.8% were from Britain, and 5.2% were born elsewhere.
Between a quarter and a third of the Union Army's forces were not from America. This actually ended up being a point that the Confederacy was happy to relay to European rulers, with the added claim that the Union was, in effect, sending their sons to die in battle, while the Confederacy's ~5% immigrant army represented Americans fighting for America.
Regardless of the propaganda involved, something else about these immigrant soldiers stands out: they were a lot more likely to be quitters.
Foreign-born soldiers in the Union Army were much more likely to leave their posts and desert their positions than their American-born counterparts.
Scandinavian immigrants were almost 50% more likely to desert than American soldiers, and the Irish were about two-thirds more likely, while other immigrants were nearly twice as likely. The best showing came from German immigrants, who were 'only' 20% more likely to desert the army than their American comrades-in-arms.
We can split the German sample in twain to better understand why they were some of the most committed foreign soldiers America had. The two categories are
- Regular German immigrants
- Forty-Eighters
Regular German immigrants are, as the name implies, just regular Germans who came to America. Forty-Eighters on the other hand, were largely liberal revolutionaries who participated in the 1848 revolutions that swept across Europe. These revolutions resulted in some changes, but not the total regime change revolutionaries had wanted. Accordingly, the lucky ones were just expelled from the continent.
When those Forty-Eighters arrived in America, they brought their revolutionary fervor with them. They furnished America with a huge number of its politicians and political organizers, and their descendants today are still overrepresented among American elites. In fact, they were overrepresented in the generation they arrived despite losing their possessions in their revolutions.
They were also much more likely to want to serve in the Union Army than their regular non-Forty-Eighter German peers, and, in fact, they were even more likely to serve than people born in America! It makes sense, too: These men were capable and they were committed to the belief that America was the world's greatest hope for republicanism.
So they fought and campaigned, increasing recruitment substantially in the process. As they fought, they also balanced the other side of the equation: through their words and their valor, they convinced the soldiers who fought alongside them to stay in the fight.
When a Forty-Eighter was assigned to lead a company of soldiers, the desertion rate plummeted to 75% of the base desertion rate. Even when a Forty-Eighter was a mere private, they somehow managed to convince their compatriots to stay in the fight, reducing the desertion rate to 89% of the base desertion rate.
These committed elite liberal immigrants played a major role, not only through their own service, but though encouraging others to participate in the war. When people claim the Union Army couldn't have won without its immigrants, the Forty-Eighters represent some of the best proof that they're right.
If you'd like to learn more, I have a new post on the disproportionate and multifaceted influence of these sorts of elite immigrants: cremieux.xyz/p/the-cultural…
Sources:
web.archive.org/web/2023032603…
web.archive.org/web/2020071000…
Wiki on foreign soldiers in the American Civil War: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_e…
In Costa & Khan's sample of soldiers, for example, 75.5% were born in America, 7.1% were from Germany, 8.4% were from Ireland, 3.8% were from Britain, and 5.2% were born elsewhere.
Between a quarter and a third of the Union Army's forces were not from America. This actually ended up being a point that the Confederacy was happy to relay to European rulers, with the added claim that the Union was, in effect, sending their sons to die in battle, while the Confederacy's ~5% immigrant army represented Americans fighting for America.
Regardless of the propaganda involved, something else about these immigrant soldiers stands out: they were a lot more likely to be quitters.
Foreign-born soldiers in the Union Army were much more likely to leave their posts and desert their positions than their American-born counterparts.
Scandinavian immigrants were almost 50% more likely to desert than American soldiers, and the Irish were about two-thirds more likely, while other immigrants were nearly twice as likely. The best showing came from German immigrants, who were 'only' 20% more likely to desert the army than their American comrades-in-arms.
We can split the German sample in twain to better understand why they were some of the most committed foreign soldiers America had. The two categories are
- Regular German immigrants
- Forty-Eighters
Regular German immigrants are, as the name implies, just regular Germans who came to America. Forty-Eighters on the other hand, were largely liberal revolutionaries who participated in the 1848 revolutions that swept across Europe. These revolutions resulted in some changes, but not the total regime change revolutionaries had wanted. Accordingly, the lucky ones were just expelled from the continent.
When those Forty-Eighters arrived in America, they brought their revolutionary fervor with them. They furnished America with a huge number of its politicians and political organizers, and their descendants today are still overrepresented among American elites. In fact, they were overrepresented in the generation they arrived despite losing their possessions in their revolutions.
They were also much more likely to want to serve in the Union Army than their regular non-Forty-Eighter German peers, and, in fact, they were even more likely to serve than people born in America! It makes sense, too: These men were capable and they were committed to the belief that America was the world's greatest hope for republicanism.
So they fought and campaigned, increasing recruitment substantially in the process. As they fought, they also balanced the other side of the equation: through their words and their valor, they convinced the soldiers who fought alongside them to stay in the fight.
When a Forty-Eighter was assigned to lead a company of soldiers, the desertion rate plummeted to 75% of the base desertion rate. Even when a Forty-Eighter was a mere private, they somehow managed to convince their compatriots to stay in the fight, reducing the desertion rate to 89% of the base desertion rate.
These committed elite liberal immigrants played a major role, not only through their own service, but though encouraging others to participate in the war. When people claim the Union Army couldn't have won without its immigrants, the Forty-Eighters represent some of the best proof that they're right.
If you'd like to learn more, I have a new post on the disproportionate and multifaceted influence of these sorts of elite immigrants: cremieux.xyz/p/the-cultural…
Sources:
web.archive.org/web/2023032603…
web.archive.org/web/2020071000…
Wiki on foreign soldiers in the American Civil War: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_e…
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