Washington Post Memorial Day Editorial: Amnesty Untold Millions Today Because of Immigration During the Civil War?
"The story [of Civil War immigrant soldiers] wasn't all
inspiring. While tens of thousands of Irishmen fought bravely for the Union, some of their newly arrived countrymen fomented ugly race riots in New York because of the draft. Some units of foreign-born soldiers fought well, some poorly. Having whole companies and regiments speaking different languages caused confusion on the battlefield at times. But the Union held, and without its immigrant soldiers, it could not have done so: It's estimated that over the course of the war perhaps a quarter of Lincoln's army consisted of foreign-born troops. Their presence was decisive," the Washington Post says in an editorial.
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