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True Sons of the Republic European Immigrants in the Union Army
Martin W. Öfele
ISBN: 0-275-98422-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-98422-9
240 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 2/28/2008
List Price: $49.95 (UK Sterling Price: £34.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
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    —      00/00/00
  • "Many will find it to be of interest, however. Appropriate for Civil War buffs...Recommended. Public and general collections."
    —CHOICE     2/1/2009
Description: Up to 500,000 Union soldiers, or one fourth of the Union army, had been born in Europe. These immigrants had left their home countries for a multitude of reasons, mostly economic and political. In the United States, they envisioned a country of freedom that would allow them to pursue their goals of acquiring wealth and participating in politics. Soon immersed in the great debate over the expansion of slavery, many immigrants found themselves forced to take sides and eventually rallied around the Union flag. Ethnic Americans joined the northern army out of the same motivations as their native-born comrades, with one notable difference. By defending the Union, immigrant volunteers hoped to tear down nativist obstruction against their assimilation into society and prove their worth as full citizens.

Declaring their unconditional loyalty, several groups entered into veritable competitions to raise separate regiments that would defend not only the Union but ethnic and national pride. Through their high visibility within the army, those units became synonymous with the ethnic war effort. The conduct of noticeable organizations such as the Irish Brigade or the partly German Eleventh Army Corps shaped public notions of immigrant participation in the war for decades to come, notwithstanding the fact that the large majority of foreign-born soldiers served in mixed and predominantly native American regiments. These new Americans contributed substantially to Union victory.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface and Acknowledgements
    Chapter 1: Nineteenth Century European Emigration: Poverty and Revolutions
    Chapter 2: Immigrants in American Society, 1840-1860
    Chapter 3: The Coming of the War
    Chapter 4: Serving Their Adopted Country
    Chapter 5: Ethnic Visibility in the Early War
    Chapter 6: To Fredericksburg: Slaughter and Glory
    Chapter 7: Chancellorsville to Missionary Ridge: Humiliation and Triumph
    Epilogue: The Aftermath of War
    Notes
    Bibliographical Essay
About the Author: Martin W. Öfele has taught history at the Universities of Leipzig and Munich. He is the author of several publications on the Civil War Era in Germany.
PDF Catalogs:
Praeger Public Library Spring 2008.pdf
Greenwood History Spring 2008.pdf
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