Editing Union army (section)

===Ethnic composition===
[[File:Us colored volunteer infantry.jpg|thumb|The 26th U.S. Colored Volunteer Infantry of the [[United States Colored Troops|U.S. Colored Troops]] at [[Camp William Penn]] in present-day [[Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania]], in 1865]]
[[File:John Haag, Co. B, 26th Wis. Volunteer Infantry.jpg|thumb|John Haag, a 21-year-old immigrant from [[Germany]], affiliated with Company B of the [[26th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment]] in August 1862<ref>''Chippewa County, Wisconsin Past and Present'', Volume II.  Chicago:  S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.  p. 258.</ref>]]
Native-born White Americans made up roughly two-thirds of the soldiers in the Union army, with the rest of many different ethnic groups, including large numbers of immigrants. About 25% of the white men who served in the Union army were foreign-born.<ref name="McPherson, pp.36–37"/> The U.S. experienced its heaviest rate of immigration during the 1850s, and the vast majority of these people moved to the [[Northeastern United States|Northeastern]] states. 

Among these immigrants, [[German Americans in the American Civil War|Germans]] constituted the largest group with a million arrivals between 1850 and 1860, many of them [[Forty-Eighters]]. Nearly as many [[Irish Americans in the American Civil War|Irish]] immigrants arrived during the same period.<ref>Germans in the Civil War: The Letters They Wrote Home. (2009). United States: University of North Carolina Press. p. 2</ref> Immigrant soldiers were among the most enthusiastic in the Union army, not only from a desire to help save their adoptive home but to prove their patriotism towards it.<ref name=Axelrod73>Axelrod, A. (2017). Armies South, Armies North. United States: Lyons Press. p. 72-73</ref>  To help cement immigrant enthusiasm and loyalty to the Union, several generals were appointed from these communities, including [[Franz Sigel]] and [[Michael Corcoran]].<ref>Axelrod, A. (2017), p. 86-87</ref>

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:right;"
|+Ethnic composition of Union enlistments<ref>{{cite web|url=https://emergingcivilwar.com/2016/04/08/the-cosmopolitanism-of-the-union-army-what-did-it-mean/|title=The Cosmopolitanism of the Union Army: What Did It Mean?|first=Matt|last=Stanley|website=Emerging Civil War|date=8 April 2016|access-date=9 December 2022}}</ref> 
!Estimates
!Origin
|-
|1,400,000 || align=left |Native-born [[White American]]
|-
|216,000 || align=left |[[Germans]]/[[German-American]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGgrKlWxpu8C&pg=PA15|title=The Blessed Peace of Freedom: Europeans in Civil War America|first=Dean. B|last=Mahin|page= 15|date=2002|publisher=Potomac Books |isbn=9781574884845 }}</ref>
|-
|210,000 || align=left |[[African American]]
|-
|150,000 || align=left |[[Irish-American|Irish]]-born<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGgrKlWxpu8C&pg=PA21|title=The Blessed Peace of Freedom: Europeans in Civil War America|first=Dean. B|last=Mahin|page= 21|date=2002|publisher=Potomac Books |isbn=9781574884845 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oCYVCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA100|title=Civil War Citizens: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in America's Bloodiest Conflict|first = Susannah J.|last=Ural|page= 100|year= 2010|publisher=NYU Press |isbn=9780814785706 }}</ref>
|-
|18,000 – 50,000 || align=left |[[Canadian Americans|Canadian]]{{efn|Alternative estimates place the number of enlistees much lower.<ref name=Reid>Reid, R. M. (2014). African Canadians in Union Blue: Volunteering for the Cause in the Civil War. Canada: UBC Press. p. 229</ref><ref name=Winks>Winks, R. W. (1998). Civil War Years: Canada and the United States. Ukraine: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 179-185</ref>}}
|-
|50,000 || align=left |[[English Americans|English]]-born
|-
|49,000 || align=left |Other ([[Scandinavian American|Scandinavian]], [[Italian American|Italian]], [[Jewish American|Jewish]], [[Mexican American|Mexican]], [[Polish American|Polish]], [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]])
|-
|40,000 || align=left |[[French Americans|French]]/[[French-Canadian Americans|French-Canadian]]
|-
|colspan="2"|{{Notelist}} 
|}

Many immigrant soldiers formed their own regiments, such as the [[Irish Brigade (United States)|Irish Brigade]], including the [[69th Infantry Regiment (New York)|69th New York]], 63rd New York, 88th New York, 28th Massachusetts, 116th Pennsylvania; the Swiss Rifles (15th Missouri); the [[55th New York Volunteer Infantry|Gardes de Lafayette]] (55th New York); the Garibaldi Guard (39th New York); the Martinez Militia (1st New Mexico); the Polish Legion (58th New York); the [[German Rangers]]; Sigel Rifles (52nd New York, inheriting the 7th); the Cameron Highlanders ([[79th New York Volunteer Infantry]]); and the Scandinavian Regiment (15th Wisconsin).<ref name=Axelrod73/> But for the most part, the foreign-born soldiers were scattered as individuals throughout units.<ref>[http://52ndnysv.com/ The 52nd New York State Volunteers]</ref>

The Confederate army was less diverse: 91% of its soldiers were native-born white men and only 9% were foreign-born white men, with Irish being the largest group, other groups included Germans, French, British, and Mexicans. Most Mexicans happened to have been born when the [[Southwestern United States|Southwest]] was still part of [[Mexico]]. Some Confederate propaganda condemned foreign-born soldiers in the Union army, likening them to the German [[Hessian (soldiers)|Hessian]] troops who fought alongside the [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War]]. A relatively smaller number of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], including members of [[Cherokee]], [[Chickasaw]], [[Choctaw]] and [[Muscogee]] peoples, fought for the Confederacy.

====Italian Americans in the Union army====
{{Main|Italian Americans in the Civil War}}
The great majority of [[Italian Americans]], for both demographic and ideological reasons, served in the Union army (including generals [[Edward Ferrero]] and [[Francis B. Spinola]]). Six Italian Americans received the [[Medal of Honor]] during the war, among whom was Colonel [[Luigi Palma di Cesnola]], who later became the first Director of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Arts]] in New York (1879–1904). Most of the Italian-Americans who joined the Union army were recruited from [[New York City]]. Many Italians of note were interested in the war and joined the army, reaching positions of authority. Brigadier General [[Edward Ferrero]] was the original commander of the [[51st New York Volunteer Infantry|51st New York Regiment]].<ref>Belfiglio, p. 169</ref> He commanded both brigades and divisions in the [[Eastern Theater of the American Civil War|eastern]] and [[Western Theater of the American Civil War|western]] theaters of war and later commanded a division of the [[United States Colored Troops]]. Colonel Enrico Fardella, of the same and later of the [[85th New York Volunteer Infantry|85th New York]] regiment, was made a [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] brigadier general when the war ended. [[Francis B. Spinola]] recruited four [[regiment]]s in New York, was soon appointed Brigadier General by President [[Abraham Lincoln]] and given command of the [[Spinola Brigade]]. Later he commanded another unit, the famed [[Excelsior Brigade]].
[[File:March past of the 'Garibaldi Guard' before President Lincoln, 1861-1865 (c1880).jpg|thumb|Review of the [[Garibaldi Guard]] by President [[Abraham Lincoln]]]]

The [[Garibaldi Guard]] recruited volunteers for the Union army from Italy and other European countries to form the [[39th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment|39th New York Infantry]].<ref>''Images: A Pictorial History of Italian Americans''. New York, 1986, p.26</ref> At the outbreak of the American Civil War, [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] was a very popular figure. The [[39th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment]], of whose 350 members were Italian, was nicknamed ''Garibaldi Guard'' in his honor. The unit wore red shirts and ''[[Bersaglieri|bersaglieri plumes]].'' They carried with them both a Union Flag as well as an [[Italian flag]] with the words ''Dio e popolo,'' meaning "God and people."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Belfiglio |first1=Valentino J. |title=Italians and the American Civil War |journal=Italian Americana |date=Spring–Summer 1978 |volume=4 |issue=2 |page=164 |jstor=41330626 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41330626 |access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref> In 1861 Garibaldi himself volunteered his services to President [[Abraham Lincoln]]. Garibaldi was offered a major general's commission in the U.S. Army through the letter from Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]] to [[Henry Sanford|H. S. Sanford]], the U.S. Minister at [[Brussels]], July 17, 1861.<ref>Mack Smith, Denis, Garibaldi, Prentice-Hall, 1969, pp. 69&ndash;70</ref>

Colonel [[Luigi Palma di Cesnola]], a former Italian and British soldier and veteran of the [[Crimean War]], commanded the 4th New York Cavalry and would rise to become one of the highest ranking Italian officer in the Union army.<ref>Belfiglio, p. 167</ref> He established a military school in New York City where many young Italians were trained and later served in the Union army. Di Cesnola received the [[Medal of Honor]] for his actions during the [[Battle of Aldie]].<ref>{{cite web |title=LOUIS PALMA DI CESNOLA |url=https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/louis-p-di-cesnola |publisher=Congressional Medal of Honor Society |access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref> Two more famous examples were Francesco Casale and Luigi Tinelli, who were instrumental in the formation of the [[39th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment|39th New York Infantry Regiment]]. According to one evaluation of the [[Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies]], there were over 200 Italians who served as officers in the U.S. army.<ref>Belfiglio, p. 167</ref>

====African Americans in the Union army====
{{Main|Military history of African Americans in the American Civil War|United States Colored Troops}}
[[File:Unidentified African American Union soldier with a rifle and revolver in front of painted backdrop showing weapons and American flag at Benton Barracks, Saint Louis, Missouri LOC 5229147154 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Portrait of an African American Union soldier at [[Benton Barracks]]]]
By 1860, the [[African American]] or Black population of the United States consisted of four million [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved]] and half a million [[Free Negro|free Blacks]].  When the Civil War began, many freedmen in the North attempted to enlist in federal service but were barred from doing so. Popularly-held prejudices doubted whether Black people could be effective soldiers, and President Lincoln believed allowing their enlistment would anger Northern whites and alienate not just the South but the [[Border states (American Civil War)|Border States]] too.  However he eventually changed his mind and persuaded Congress to authorize the first official Black enlistment system in late 1862, which evolved into the [[United States Colored Troops]].<ref name=USCT>American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [6 Volumes]: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection. (2013). United States: ABC-CLIO. p. 10-12, 14–15</ref>

Before they were allowed to enlist, many Black people volunteered their services to the Union army as cooks, nurses, and in other informal roles, and several volunteer regiments of Black troops were raised by the states. These included the [[1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment]], the first Black regiment to be raised and the first to engage in combat; the [[1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union)|1st Louisiana Native Guard]], raised from both freedmen and escaped slaves after the [[Capture of New Orleans]]; and the [[54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment]], which became the most famous Black unit after their valiant participation in the [[Battle of Fort Wagner, Morris Island|Battle of Fort Wagner]].  Their efforts helped to dispel the notion that Black soldiers were a liability, allowing about 200,000 Black soldiers to serve in the Union army during the Civil War.<ref name=USCT/>

Even as they served their country, Black soldiers were subject to discrimination. They were more often assigned to menial labor. Some Union officers refused to employ them in combat, but when they were they often had to use inferior weapons and equipment.  Black soldiers were paid less than white soldiers ($10 vs $16 per month) until Congress yielded to public pressure and approved equal pay in June 1864. Black units were led predominantly by white officers, and while more than a hundred Black men were eventually made officers (not counting those [[Passing (racial identity)|passing]] as white), none were promoted to a rank higher than major.  If captured by Confederate forces, Black soldiers risked being made slaves or [[summarily executed]].<ref name=USCT/>