Quote:
Originally Posted by NorCal
Why is that even a statistic? If we are talking about "Dogs eat Dogs", why are Cats brought into the statistic? Shouldn't you just use the Union Numbers to compare the other wars so, because technically the Confederate were a different "nation", having succeeded from the United States of America.
Theoretically, most of the Union soldiers were not Native Born Americans; quiet a few of them were foreign immigrants just arriving through Elise Island.
Oh and "God Bless the Republicans who fought for Emancipation".
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A lot of the manpower the North used to over power the South did come from recent immigrants. A common inducement to enlist was the proviso that as soon as they "took up arms" on behalf of the Federal government of the United States they became citizens.
Even today, you can lose your U.S. citizenship if you "take up arms" in a foreign army. Those dead Irish boys laying on the field at Gettysburg were as much Americans as the commanders who ordered them into battle.
Even while the Southerners were "in rebellion" against the U.S., they were still considered American citizens by the Federals. The Federals were fighting in fact, with the aim of imposing U.S. Federal citizenship upon the Southerners. That was the purpose of the North's fight. "Emancipation" was the underlying and unavoidable theme, but the sovereignty of Washington over the South was the direct aim.
... Just the observations of an
Ancient & Classical History major. Everything that has happened since about 500 A.D. is "new stuff" to me.
