Union Army

The Union Army refers to the United States Army during the American Civil War. The Union Army is also known as the Northern Army or the Federal Army.

Ethnic groups in the Union Army

The Union Army was comprised of many different ethnic groups, including large numbers of immigrants. About 25% of the whites who served in the Union Army were foreign-born.

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Of the approximately 2.2 million Union soldiers:

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• 1 million (45% of all Union soldiers) were native-born Americans of British ancestry.
• 516,000 (23% of all Union soldiers) were Germans, with about 216,000 being German-born.
• 210,000 (10% of all Union soldiers) were Black. Half were freedmen who lived in the North, and half were ex-slaves or escaped slaves from the South. They served in more than 160 colored regiments. One such colored regiment is dramaticized in the film Glory.
• 200,000 (9% of all Union soldiers) were Irish.
• 90,000 (4% of all Union soldiers) were Dutch.
• 50,000 (2% of all Union soldiers) were born in Canada.
• 50,000 (2% of all Union soldiers) were born in England.
• 40,000 (2% of all Union soldiers) were French or French Canadian. About half were born in America, the other half in Quebec
• 20,000 (1% of all Union soldiers) were Scandinavian (Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes)
• 7,000 were Italian
• 7,000 were Jewish
• 6,000 were Mexicans
• 5,000 were Poles
• 4,000 were Native American
• Several hundred were: Hungarians, Portuguese, Chinese, Indians (born in India), and other nationalities.

Many immigrant soldiers formed their own regiments, such as the Swiss Rifles (15th Missouri); the Gardes Lafayette (55th New York); the Garibaldi Guard (39th New York); the Martinez Militia (1st New Mexico); the Polish Legion (58th New York); and the Scandinavian Regiment (15th Wisconsin). But for the most part, the foreign-born soldiers were scattered as individuals throughout units.

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For comparison, the Confederate Army was not very diverse. 91% of Confederate soldiers were of British Isles extraction, and only 9% were foreign-born.

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