The Civil War
For minorities, as for other Americans, was an opportunity to prove their valor and loyalty. Among the first mustered into the Union Army were a De Kalb regiment of German American clerks, the Garibakdi Guards made up of Italian Americans, a "Polish Legion," and hundreds of Irish American youths form Boston and New York. But in Ohio and Washington, D.C., African American volunteers were turned away from recruiting stations and told, "This is a white man's war." Some citizens questioned the loyalty of immigrants who lived in crowded city tenements until an Italian American from Brooklyn turned that around. In the New York Senate, Democrat Francis Spinola had been a vigorous foe of ...
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one of many immigrants who earlier had fought for freedom in Europe and then joined Lincoln's army. Born in Upper Silesia and trained at Dresden, Germany, he was a veteran of democratic struggles - a Polish revolt at Krakow, the Polish Legion's battles against Austria, and the Hungarian fight for independence. Some nationalities contributed more than their share of Union soldiers.
Some immigrants earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. Italian American officer Louis di Cesnola, was the Colonel of the 4th Cavalry Regiment. At Aldie, Virginia, in 1863, he earned the Medal of Honor and was appointed a general. He charged unarmed at the foe, read his citation, "rallied his men ...until desperately wounded and taken prisoner in action." In 1879 Cesnola became director of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum then became, wrote a critic, "a monument to his energy, enterprise, and rare executive skill."
Italian American privates also won the Medal of Honor. Joseph ...
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The Civil War. (2007, September 25). Retrieved May 19, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Civil-War/71712
"The Civil War." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 25 Sep. 2007. Web. 19 May. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Civil-War/71712>
"The Civil War." Essayworld.com. September 25, 2007. Accessed May 19, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Civil-War/71712.
"The Civil War." Essayworld.com. September 25, 2007. Accessed May 19, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Civil-War/71712.
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