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There were indeed many immigrants put into the war upon arrival in the US. There were also a lot of US-born men who entered the service of the North. Most of the immigrants, as I recall were of either German or Irish descent. There were some who fought for the Confederacy but the vast majority of the immigrants were put in service in the Union. "Most" of the men who fought for the Confederacy were Born & Raised in the South.

My own home state of TN was Greatly Divided. They supplied more men to the Union than most of the New England states, except for a few of the larger ones, yet supplied even more to the Confederacy. The first Secessionist vote in TN failed to pass. When Lincoln called on us to supply our share of the 75,000 troops he was raising to "Invade" the South a 2nd vote was taken & it passed overwhelmingly.

One question I would like to see answered, "IF" the only issue of this war was to "Free the Slaves" WHY was Lincoln so Dead Set against allowing the Black People to join the army & help fight their own Battle? Think extremely deep on that one before you answer, less you stick your foot so deep in your mouth you won't ever be able to get it out!

The Civil War was never about freeing the slaves, at least not as most people think of it. The cause was purely political, same as most wars. The southern democrats decided to secede because the northern republicans were pushing for new states who wanted to enter the Union to abolish slavery before being able to enter, thus diminishing the power (i.e. congressional votes) of their political rivals in the south.

Once secession was declared and war broke out, the north (The United States) had no choice but to eliminate the threat to it's very survival. The existence of the Confederacy was not a benign entity, where everyone could just leave one another alone and live in harmony. From the very beginning the Confederacy was trying to ally itself with Britain, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, or any other European power that would lend an ear. Allowing what was essentially a hostile government to exist, with potential foreign allies who were increasingly resistant to U.S. world influence, within marching distance of your capital would have been national suicide.

Sounds like ol'Honest Abe had some racial over tones about him...

What say lAw dog spOt...ready to chew on that foot again ?

I had always heard one reason the South lost the war was because we refused outside help from Foreign countries ?

Even before the beginning of hostilities the Confederacy was counting on foreign aid as it's means to win the war. They were hopeful that the dependence of Britain, France and other European nations on southern cotton for their textile industry would cause them to at the very least recognize the legitimacy of the Confederacy, if not enter the war on their side.

Foreign nations never viewed the south as having a realistic hope of winning the war and therefore did not offer the aid that was hoped for. By doing so would have meant a declaration of war with the United States, and the European nations were not willing to risk that without guaranteed success.

It is very similar to how France finally entered the Revolutionary War on the side of the fledgling US. It was only after it became clear the colonies could gain their independence from Britain, that France decided to enter on their behalf.

One thing that many do not realize was that up to this point in time, the "Entire" Federal budget was derived from Tariffs. Approximately 80% of these tariffs were on Southern products, so the South was paying about that 80% of the Federal Budget, A new Tariff law had passed through Congress which would up the tariff from around 10-13% to as much as 40% on some items. The house had a large northern majority so it passed readily through the house. The Senate was evenly divided, but one traitor from my home state of TN voted for it, Andrew Johnson, who would later become Lincoln's VP.

The major difference between the Revolution was that the revolutionaries cried Taxation Without Representation, the South did have representation, just not enough to keep from being run over in a Roughshod manner, They finally had enough.

It is totally true that Slavery was an issue in the nation at the time. It was however not the "Sole" reason for the war, in Fact, not even the Major issue.
One further comment on what Flintfan said. The vast amount of territory which was acquired as a result of the Mexican war had been won primarily by Soldiers made up from the South, in Fact, this was when TN gained its Nickname as the "Volunteer" state. When it was proclaimed that all these territories would remain Slave Free until such time as they might attain statehood, the South was not so STUPID (Not directed toward you Flintfan), as to not realize this would Skew the Balance of Power even further away from them & toward the North.

the war certainly did not begin about slavery...but it certainly ended about slavery...

may i recommended a book to you all...

"the battle cry of freedom", by james mcpherson...

it is the best single volume on the subject that i have ever read...the first 100 or so pages provides a history of the growing conflict over slavery, during the 50 years before the war...

after reading that, one realizes that an intense hatred by many in the north and south had grown to a point where they were ready to get it on, so to speak...it explains to me why vast armies on both sides were so quickly formed by eager volunteers...

Miller, folks have been squabbling about causation since the war started. Growing up in the South, I always heard one side of the story from family and school. It weighed heavily on the tariff/states' rights side. I began to hear the other side at a family dinner over 20 years ago with my late father-in-law and his brother, both from the deep south,southern to the core, and serious students of history. My wife's uncle was William Wright Abbot one of the nation's premier authorities on the history of Colonial America and George Washington. He also knew more about the history of the Civil War than anyone I knew. I opined that it was caused by tariffs or states' rights and wasn't about slavery. I then heard the other side of the story. Four of the seceding states, Georgia, SC, Mississippi and Texas filed in addition to the articles of secession, declarations of why they did it and slavery topped the list. These can be easily found on the internet. At least for these 4 states, others may make a reasonable conclusion as to causation differing from yours. In 1861, Alexander Stephens, veep of the CSA and former senator from Ga. who resisted the efforts of secession but went whole hog afterwards made a speech in Savannah, his famous Cornerstone Speech. Stephens stated the cause of the war was slavery and that slaves were clearly inferior to the white race, the slave masters, and that it was the natural order of things for them to be enslaved. https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-...ate-battle-flag
Gil

Thanks GLS. I mentioned those secession statements 5 pages ago. But I believe they are documents many would rather forget about.

Whatever the cause, the enduring struggle to be human triumphed, it's people collectively and collaboratively made a great country.