Join The Immigrants’ Civil War on Facebook
Early on the morning of April 3, 1865, immigrant Major General Godfrey Weitzel wrote, “a little before two o’clock I was awakened by General Shepley and informed that bright fires were seen in the direction of Richmond.” The fires indicated that the Confederate army was on the move. “Shortly after, while we were looking at these fires, we heard explosions,” he wrote later, presumably ammunition being blown up by the retreating army.1
Fires swirl beneath the Confederate Capitol designed by Thomas Jefferson.
A black teamster who was employed by the Confederates was captured and, Weitzel wrote, “[h]e informed me that immediately after dark the rebels began making preparations to leave, and that they had all gone.”2
Weitzel ordered his entire picket line forward to scout, and found the black informant’s intelligence corroborated. “I therefore directed all of my troops to be awakened and furnished with breakfast, and to be held in readiness to move as soon as it was light enough to see to pass through the lines of rebel torpedoes without injury” he reported.3
The army’s commander General Ord warned the German-born Union general that even if he did not encounter enemy troops on his movement, he still had to beware of other dangers. He was to keep his men off the roads and “look out for torpedoes and mines – it is now reported that large numbers of the former are put down on Chaffin’s farm and Bermuda front.” He advised Weitzel to “send cattle and old horses up the roads first” as primitive mine detection devices.4
Richmond was among the most heavily fortified cities in North America in 1865. Forts (A) and trench lines surrounded it. As the Confederates withdrew from their lines, they set fire to their supplies and other goods. These fires soon spread, burning down 10% of the city, primarily along the river (B). Union prisoners held at Belle Isle had already been moved south to Andersonville months before Weitzel’s corps occupied Richmond (C). The old Virginia State Capitol, designed by Jefferson, was used as the capitol of the Confederacy until April 2, 1865. It was there that Weitzel saw the refugees from the fires (D). The Confederate White House was turned into General Weitzel’s living quarters upon the occupation of the city. Lincoln visited here (E). Lincoln landed southeast of this point when he came to Richmond (E). He proceeded on foot from here to the center of the city.
As Weitzel moved towards the Confederate capital, he recalled, “the fires seemed to increase in number and size, and at intervals loud explosions were heard.” As his men entered the city he witnessed a scene of “perfect pandemonium.” Just hours after the Confederates had begun their escape, all order had broken down. Freed slaves, Confederate deserters, and now unemployed government workers mingled angrily on the streets. Weitzel described the scene:
Fires and explosions in all directions; whites and blacks, either drunk or in the highest state of excitement, running to and fro on the streets, apparently engaged in pillage or in saving some of their scanty effects from the fire; it was a yelling, howling mob.5
The Burned District of Richmond after the fires.
The Confederate decision to blow up their ammunition and set fire to military supplies had set off a blazing fire that would destroy hundreds of homes and busines
ses in the city. To add to the horror of the scene, Weitzel reported, “the convicts broke out of the penitentiary and began an indiscriminate pillage and cut the hose of some of the fire engines.” Many in the streets welcomed the general as a liberator from the looters. Weitzel says that “they rushed around us, hugged and kissed our legs and horses, shouting hallelujah and glory.”6
Women in mourning attire in Richmond after the fires.
The situation grew even worse as Weitzel proceeded into the heart of the city. With the authorities in full retreat, the criminals at the local prison who had broken out were uncontrolled. They even attacked firemen trying to control the raging fires. Finally, Weitzel reached the seat of the Confederate government at the old capitol, where he wrote:
A sad sight met us on reaching Capitol square. It was covered with women and children who had fled here to escape the fire. Some of them had saved a few articles of furniture, but most had only a few articles of bedding, such as a quilt, blanket, or pillow, and were lying upon them. Their poor faces were perfect pictures of utter despair. It was a sight that would have melted a heart of stone.7
Needing to restore order, Weitzel ordered the “The 5th Massachusetts Colored Cavalry”, which he described as “a very fine regiment about 900 strong,” to move in a disciplined march through the streets. The regiment was commanded Colonel Charles F. Adams, Jr., the greatgrandson of President John Adams and the grandson of John Quincy Adams. 8
Weitzel needed to break up the mob, end the looting, reassure African Americans that they were now free from slavery, and demonstrate to die-hard Confederates that the war, and the old racial order, were a thing of the past. The process would begin with the 5th Massachusetts’ disciplined procession through the city. Weitzel wrote that “this fine regiment of colored men made a very great impression on those citizens who saw it.”9
This photo, believed to have been taken shortly after the capture of Richmond, shows freed blacks in front of a building ruined in the fires set during the Confederate retreat. A white officer with Weitzel, Alonzo Draper, later recalled the scene when enslaved Richmonders were told that slavery had been ended; “A vast multitude assembled on Broad Street, and I was aroused amid the shouts of ten thousand voices, and proclaimed for the first time in that city freedom to all mankind. After which the doors of all the slave pens were thrown open, and thousands came out shouting and praising God…”
A division of his black corps was sent to put out the fires, and Weitzel says that he “directed my staff and headquarter orderlies to scour the city and press into service every able bodied man, white or black, and make them assist in extinguishing the flames.” Saving the city the Confederates had almost destroyed was the objective that day. Although the United States Colored Troops had helped put out the fires destroying Richmond, still, in the words of one Richmonder, “The white citizens felt annoyed that the city should be held mostly by Negro troops.” 10
Weitzel understood the irony of black Union soldiers saving the capital of the Confederacy:
Thus the rebel capitol, fired by men placed in it to defend it, was saved from total destruction by soldiers of the United States, who had taken possession. The bloody victories which opened the gates of Richmond to my command were won at Five Forks and on the left of the Army of the Potomac, but my men won equally as great a one in the city although it was bloodless.11
The battle flag of the 22nd Regiment of the United States Colored Troops, one of the black regiments that occupied Richmond. In 1862 Godfrey Weitzel had been reluctant to command blacks in combat. In 1864 he was placed in command of the largest black force of the war, the XXV Corps. On February 20, 1865 Weitzel had told the men of the XXVth that they were changing the way that Americans viewed blacks. “Let history record that on the banks of the James [River in Virginia] 30,000 freemen not only gained their own liberty, but shattered the prejudice of the world, and gave to the land of their birth peace, union and glory. Source: ORR Series 1 Volume 51 Part I p. 1202. In the year following the war, Weitzel gave his assessment of the use of blacks in his corps; “Its organization was an experiment which has proven a perfect success. The conduct of its soldiers has been such to draw praise from persons most prejudiced against color, and there is no record which should give the colored race more pride than that left by the 25th Army Corps.”
Weitzel soon moved most of his men outside of the city to minimize clashes with the civilians in Richmond. He was ordered to sell the tobacco that had been left behind to raise money to feed the poor there. He also worked to protect the water and gas systems. Then he made himself at home in the mansion that a day earlier had housed the Confederate President Jefferson Davis. A German immigrant and his black troops now occupied the White House of the Confederacy. 12
Two days after Confederate Richmond fell, two days after its black population was liberated, Abraham Lincoln arrived in the city. When Lincoln’s ship arrived at the wharves earlier than expected, the president was not met with a military guard and he decided to walk through the city with a handful of men from the ship. Although he was in the enemy capital, he was soon surrounded by friends. Newly freed slave formed an irregular guard around the president against any attempt to assassinate him. 13
Resource: First Person Account of Lincoln’s Arrival in Richmond
Admiral David Dixon Porter escorted President Abraham Lincoln into Richmond just two days after it was captured. In one of the most dangerous presidential visits to a war zone in United States history, Lincoln met with General Weitzel, spoke with newly freed former slaves, and tried to arrange for the cessation of the war with a Confederate leader. Porter left behind an account of that visit:
I proceeded with Mr. Lincoln in the flag ship the “Malvern” to Richmond on the 4th of April 1865. It was my intention to have made a grand entrance with all the gunboats and I accordingly made my preparations to do so. The river was carefully swept for torpedoes all the way up and the gun boats, torpedo boats, tugs and all, were directed to push on until near the city and await our arrival. We passed vessel after vessel as we proceeded up, all saluting the President with three cheers as the “Malvern” passed. It was a most beautiful sight and one which seemed to impress Mr. Lincoln very pleasantly…
When we had proceeded up the river about five miles we found…the river almost completely obstructed with sunken vessels leaving barely room for a single vessel at a time to get by. Here I took a tug full of marines and proceeded on up with only Mr. Lincoln and myself in the barge in tow…We saw few or no signs of our army in the lower part of the city and not knowing where to land we pulled on up until we got ashore among the rocks in the rapids which brought us to a standstill. The President laughed… [T]the sailors jumping overboard, soon pushed the boat off. We then put our head down stream again and landed in the only practicable looking landing that we saw, where 20 or 30 negroes were at work throwing up…dirt.
Lincoln disembarked at Rockett’s a short distance east of Richmond. The area was used as a Confederate shipyard during the war.
[They] stopped to look at us as we hauled in to the landing and one old fellow who had received some description of the President, immediately threw down his shovel and cried out – “Bress de Lord, dar comes de Messiah. Dar is Massa Abram Linkum sure enuff!” and with that they all dropped work and rushed to the boat to shake hands… I never knew how it was done but no electric wire could have carried the news of the Presidents arrival sooner than it was circulated through Richmond. As far as the eye could see the streets were alive with negroes and poor whites rushing in our direction, and the crowd increased so fast that I had to surround the President with the sailors with fixed bayonets to keep them off.
Because Lincoln arrived in Richmond ahead of schedule there was no military escort to meet him. Instead he walked through the streets of Richmond with only a small guard of sailors and marines to protect him.
They all wanted to shake hands with Mr. Lincoln or his coat tail or even to kneel down and kiss his boots! The crowd were frantic and in their joy at beholding the President there was danger of our being crushed to death. For the first time I realized the danger in which the President was placed. It would have been so easy for an assassin to put a knife in his back. I longed for the time when I could have him safe under a military escort. Strange to say although Richmond was under military rule there was hardly a soldier to be seen in the lower part of town, nor could I find a cavalry man whom I could send on in advance to announce the arrival of the President of the United States….
Lincoln’s visit is commemorated by this statue of the president and his son Tad in Richmond.
I could see by Mr. Lincoln’s countenance that he felt uneasy, for there were bad featured white men surrounding us… The capture of Richmond had not subdued them and it looked to me as if the only thing that would make them civil would be a few stands of grape and canister fired into their midst. Every window was thrown up in the streets through which we passed, and at every opening was a crowd of eager curious faces. Hatred, contempt, anger, and merriment were depicted on the countenance of the various persons who were looking at the man they had been taught to believe was a monster in human shape, but who in fact carried the kindest of hearts within him and whose soul was overflowing with the most generous sentiments towards the Southern people.
One little incident, and only one, showed that there was a spark of good feeling towards the President and the Union. It was like the fallen tear from the repentant sinner…. A young and pretty girl rushed through the crowd and seizing the President by the hand kissed it and said “God bless you only friend of the South.” Mr. Lincoln must have been a stoic not to have been struck by the conduct of this innocent and pretty girl. He referred to it again when we returned to the ship.
When African Americans bowed to him, Lincoln reportedly told them that they no longer had to bow to any man.
With all the noise and confusion there was no disreputable act committed or one disrespectful word used towards the president or our party. Still forcing our way through the dense crowd we finally came to a squad of cavalry and I requested one of them to go to head quarters and announce the coming of the president. In ten minutes a company of horsemen with General Shepley or Weitzel at their head, came galloping down the street and we were safe from the crowd. “Save me from my friends!” is the old saying…
Disagreeable as it was on some accounts, there was a spontaneous manifestation of pleasure among the crowd of negroes, not to be met within the planned receptions extended to our public men at the north which latter are either for political effect or organized by persons who have “axes to grind.” I should have preferred to see the President of the United States entering the subjugated stronghold of the rebels with an escort more befitting his high station, yet that would have looked as if he came as a conqueror to exult over a brave but fallen enemy. He came instead as a peacemaker, his hand extended to all who desired to take it. Kindness beamed upon his face, a face that overlooked every man in the crowd and could not be seen by all. I doubt if there was a person in Richmond who saw the President that day who did not say “This cannot be the man who has been represented to us as a monster, we see no horns or hoofs and there is less of the dirt about him than there is in Jefferson Davis.”
I was glad when the President was safely housed at Jeff Davis’ head quarters, a rather handsome house fitted up with some pretence of presidential style. There surrounded by the army, I felt that he was secure. In the meantime, the crowd of upturned faces around the house was growing thicker. The blacks and poor whites mingling together were all vociferating for the President who came to the door, bowed to them and was received with three cheers.
After resting awhile Generals Shepley and Weitzel proposed a promenade around the town and packing the President and myself into a carriage and surrounding us with a guard we visited what was left of Richmond which had been set fire by the retreating rebels. It has not yet been ascertained who gave the barbarous order to burn the town as the rebels fled, but it was given and thousands were left destitute by the inhuman act. At 4 p.m. I got the President safely back on board the “Malvern,” determined that he should not go on shore again while I had charge of him. Source: Porter Papers
Resource: Weitzel’s account of his actions during the occupation of Richmond can be found at ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL
Video: Author Jay Winik on Lincoln’s Visit to Richmond
Sources:
1. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
2. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
3. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
4. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
5. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
6. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
7. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
8. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
9. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
10. City Under Siege: Richmond in the Civil War by Mike Wright quoting John Jones Published by Cooper Square Books (1995) p. 270; ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
11. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
12. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
13. ENTRY of THE UNITED STATES FORCES into RICHMOND, VA. April 3, 1865 CALLING TOGETHER OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE AND
REVOCATION OF THE SAME by GODFREY WEITZEL Major, Corps of Engineers AND Brevet Major General, United States Army published by The Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (1965).
The Immigrants’ Civil War is a series that examines the role of immigrants in our bloodiest war. Articles will appear twice monthly between 2011 and 2017. Here are the articles we have published so far:
1. Immigrant America on the Eve of the Civil War – Take a swing around the United States and see where immigrants were coming from and where they were living in 1861.
2. 1848: The Year that Created Immigrant America – Revolutions in Europe, famine and oppression in Ireland, and the end of the Mexican War made 1848 a key year in American immigration history.
3. Carl Schurz: From German Radical to American Abolitionist– A teenaged revolutionary of 1848, Carl Schurz brought his passion for equality with him to America.
4. Immigrant Leader Carl Schurz Tells Lincoln to Stand Firm Against Slavery.
5. …And the War Came to Immigrant America -The impact of the firing on Fort Sumter on America’s immigrants
6. The Rabbi Who Seceded From the South
7. The Fighting 69th-Irish New York Declares War
8. The Germans Save St. Louis for the Union
9. New York’s Irish Rush to Save Washington
10. Immigrant Day Laborers Help Build the First Fort to Protect Washington-The Fighting 69th use their construction skills.
11. Carl Schurz Meets With Lincoln To Arm the Germans
12. Immigrants Rush to Join the Union Army-Why?– The reasons immigrants gave for enlisting early in the war.
13. Why the Germans Fought for the Union?
14. Why Did the Irish Fight When They Were So Despised?
15. The “Sons of Garibaldi” Join the Union Army
16. The Irish Tigers From Louisiana
17. Immigrant Regiments on Opposite Banks of Bull Run -The Fighting 69th and the Louisiana Tigers
18. The St. Louis Germans Set Out To Free Missouri
19. Wilson’s Creek Drowns Immigrant Dream of Free Missouri
20. English-Only in 1861: No Germans Need Apply
21. After Bull Run: Mutineers, Scapegoats, and the Dead
22. St. Louis Germans Revived by Missouri Emancipation Proclamation
23. Jews Fight the Ban on Rabbis as Chaplains
24. Lincoln Dashes German Immigrants Hopes for Emancipation
25. When Hatred of Immigrants Stopped the Washington Monument from Being Built
26. Inside the Mind of a Know Nothing
27. The Evolution of the Know Nothings
28. The Know Nothings Launch a Civil War Against Immigrant America
29. The Know Nothings: From Triumph to Collapse
30. The Lasting Impact of the Know Nothings on Immigrant America.
31. Lincoln, the Know Nothings, and Immigrant America.
32. Irish Green and Black America: Race on the Edge of Civil War.
33. The Democratic Party and the Racial Consciousness of Irish Immigrants Before the Civil War
34. The Confederates Move Against Latino New Mexico
35. Nuevomexicanos Rally As Confederates Move Towards Santa Fe—But For Which Side?
36. The Confederate Army in New Mexico Strikes at Valverde
37. The Swedish Immigrant Who Saved the U.S. Navy
38. The Confederates Capture Santa Fe and Plot Extermination
39. A German Regiment Fights for “Freedom and Justice” at Shiloh-The 32nd Indiana under Col. August Willich.
40. The Know Nothing Colonel and the Irish Soldier Confronting slavery and bigotry.
41. Did Immigrants Hand New Orleans Over to the Union Army?
42. Did New Orleans’ Immigrants See Union Soldiers As Occupiers or Liberators?
43. Union Leader Ben Butler Seeks Support in New Orleans-When General Ben Butler took command in New Orleans in 1862, it was a Union outpost surrounded by Confederates. Butler drew on his experience as a pro-immigrant politician to win over the city’s Irish and Germans.
44. Union General Ben Butler Leverages Immigrant Politics in New Orleans
45. Thomas Meager: The Man Who Created the Irish Brigade
46. Thomas Meagher: The Irish Rebel Joins the Union Army
47. Recruiting the Irish Brigade-Creating the Irish American
48. Cross Keys: A German Regiment’s Annihilation in the Shenandoah Valley
49. The Irish Brigade Moves Towards Richmond-The Irish brigade in the Peninsula Campaign from March 17 to June 2, 1862.
50. Peninsula Emancipation: Irish Soldiers Take Steps on the Road to Freedom-The Irish Brigade and Irish soldiers from Boston free slaves along the march to Richmond.
51. Slaves Immigrate from the Confederacy to the United States During the Peninsula Campaign
52. The Irish 9th Massachusetts Cut Off During the Seven Days Battles
53. Union Defeat and an Irish Medal of Honor at the End of the Seven Days
54. Making Immigrant Soldiers into Citizens-Congress changed the immigration laws to meet the needs of a nation at war.
55. Carl Schurz: To Win the Civil War End Slavery
56. Carl Schurz: From Civilian to General in One Day
57. Did Anti-German Bigotry Help Cause Second Bull Run Defeat?
58. Immigrant Soldiers Chasing Lee Into Maryland
59. Scottish Highlanders Battle at South Mountain
60. Emancipation 150: “All men are created equal, black and white”– A German immigrant reacts to the Emancipation Proclamation
61. The Irish Brigade at Antietam
62. Private Peter Welsh Joins the Irish Brigade
63. Preliminaries to Emancipation: Race, the Irish, and Lincoln
64. The Politics of Emancipation: Lincoln Suffers Defeat
65. Carl Schurz Blames Lincoln for Defeat
66. The Irish Brigade and Virginia’s Civilians Black and White
67. The Irish Brigade and the Firing of General McClellan
68. General Grant Expells the Jews
69. The Irish Brigade Moves Towards Its Destruction At Fredericksburg.
70. Fredericksburg: The Worst Day in the Young Life of Private McCarter of the Irish Brigade
71. Forever Free: Emancipation New Year Day 1863
72. Private William McCarter of the Irish Brigade Hospitalized After Fredericksburg
73. The Immigrant Women That Nursed Private McCarter After Fredericksburg
74. Nursing Nuns of the Civil War
75. The Biases Behind Grant’s Order Expelling the Jews
76. The Jewish Community Reacts to Grant’s Expulsion Order
77. Lincoln Overturns Grant’s Order Against the Jews
78. Irish Families Learn of the Slaughter at Fredericksburg
79. Requiem for the Irish Brigade
80. St. Patrick’s Day in the Irish Brigade
81. Student Asks: Why Don’t We Learn More About Immigrants in the Civil War?
82. Missouri’s German Unionists: From Defeat to Uncertain Victory
83. Missouri Germans Contest Leadership of Unionist Cause
84. German Leader Franz Sigel’s Victory Earns a Powerful Enemy
85. Immigrant Unionists Marching Towards Pea Ridge
86. German Immigrants at the Battle of Pea Ridge: Opening Moves
87. Pea Ridge: The German Unionists Outflanked
88. German Immigrants at the Battle of Pea Ridge
89. The Organization of the “German” XI Corps
90. The Irish Brigade on the Road to Chancellorsville
91. The “German” XI Corps on the Eve of Chancellorsville
92. The “Germans Run Away” at Chancellorsville
93. The New York Times, the Germans, and the Anatomy of a Scapegoat at Chancellorsville
94. An Irish Soldier Between Chancellorsville and Gettysburg
95. Lee’s Army Moves Towards Gettysburg: Black Refugees Flee
96. Iron Brigade Immigrants Arrive at Gettysburg
97. Iron Brigade Immigrants Go Into Battle the First Day at Gettysburg
98. The “German” XI Corps at Gettysburg July 1, 1863
99. An Irish Colonel and the Defense of Little Round Top on the Second Day at Gettysburg
100. A Prayer Before Death for the Irish Brigade at Gettysburg: July 2, 1863
101. The Irish Regiment that Ended “Pickett’s Charge”: July 3, 1863
102. Five Points on the Edge of the Draft Riots
103. Before the Draft Riots: The Cultivation of Division
104. The New York Draft Riots Begin
105. Convulsion of Violence: The First Day of the New York Draft Riots
106. The Draft Riots End in a Sea of Blood-July 14-15, 1863.
107. Pat Cleburne: The Irish Confederate and the Know Nothings
108. Killing Pat Cleburne: Know Nothing Violence
109. Pat Cleburne: Arresting a General, Becoming a General
110. The Immigrant Story Behind “Twelve Years a Slave”
111. A German Immigrant Woman’s Gettysburg Address
112. Pat Cleburne: The Irish Confederate’s Emancipation Proclamation
113. Pat Cleburne: The South Can’t Use Black Soldiers Without Ending Slavery
114. The Suppression of Pat Cleburne’s Emancipation Proposal
115. An Irish Immigrant Colonel’s Warnings Ignored at Chickamauga
116. An Immigrant Colonel’s Fighting Retreat at Chickamauga
117. August Willich: German Socialist at Chickamauga
118. Hans Heg:at Chickamauga: Norwegian Commander on the Eve of Battle
119. Ivan and Nadine Turchin: Russian Revolutionary Aristocrats at Chickamauga
120. German Immigrants Pinned Down at Chickamauga
121. Hans Heg: To Die for His Adopted Country at Chickamauga
122. Patrick Guiney: An Irish Colonel on the Edge of the Wilderness
123. Immigrants March Out of The Wilderness and Into a Wicked Hail of Gunfire
124. Peter Welsh in the Irish Brigade’s Purgatory at Spotsylvania
125. Peter Welsh: What Sacrifice Must the Immigrant Make for His Adopted Land?
126. A Second Irish Brigade’s Catastrophe at a Forgotten Fight Near Fredericksburg
127. An Irish Man and a French Woman Between Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor
128. Two Irish Brigades Swept Away by a Hurricane from Hell at Cold Harbor
129. Petersburg: The Start of a Ten Month Siege that Devoured Men and Disabled the Irish Brigade
130. A Volcano in Virginia: The Battle of the Crater
131. 1864 Election: The Immigrant Voter & Abraham Lincoln
132. August Belmont: The German Jewish Immigrant Who Led the Opposition to Lincoln’s 1864 Reelection
133. Lincoln and the Superiority of the “Negro” over the Irish
134. Lincoln’s Germans and the Election of 1864
135. Lincoln’s German Lawyer Comes Out Swinging in the Election of 1864
136. Lincoln Wins the Election of 1864 With Immigrant Votes
137. American Refugee Camp in Civil War Kentucky Destroyed by Union Soldiers
138. Kentucky Civil War Refugee Camp Reborn and Reconstructed After Expulsions
139. Immigrant German “Hamburgers” Tormented and Captured at Petersburg
140. German General Weitzel and His African Canadians at Petersburg
141. Irish Regiment at the Beginning of the End of the Confederacy at Five Forks
142. Richmond Burning: The German Immigrant and Black Troops Who Saved the City
Cultural
Painting of the Return of the 69th from Bull Run Unearthed
Blog Posts
The Real Story Behind The Immigrants’ Civil War Photo
Why I’m Writing The Immigrants’ Civil War
The Five Meanings of “The Immigrants’ Civil War”
The Fallout from No Irish Need Apply Article Spreads Worldwide
No Irish Need Apply Professor Gets into a Fight With Our Blogger Pat Young Over Louisa May Alcott
Books for Learning More About The Immigrants’ Civil War
Free Yale Course with David Blight on the Civil War
Cinco de Mayo Holiday Dates Back to the American Civil War
New Immigrants Try to Come to Terms with America’s Civil War
Important Citizenship Site to be Preserved-Fortress Monroe
Should Lincoln Have Lost His Citizenship?
The First Casualties of the War Were Irish-Was that a Coincidence?
Civil War Anniversaries-History, Marketing, and Human Rights
Memorial Day’s Origins at the End of the Civil War
Germans Re-enact the Civil War-But Why Are They Dressed in Gray?
Leading Historians Discuss 1863 New York City Draft Riots
The Upstate New York Town that Joined the Confederacy
Civil War Blogs I Read Every Week
First Annual The Immigrants’ Civil War Award Goes to Joe Reinhart
Damian Shiels Wins Second Annual The Immigrants’ Civil War Award
Mother Jones: Civil War Era Immigrant and Labor Leader
Immigration Vacation -Civil War Sites
Fort Schuyler-Picnic where the Irish Brigade trained
The Fallout from No Irish Need Apply Article Spreads Worldwide
No Irish Need Apply Professor Gets into a Fight With Our Blogger Pat Young Over Louisa May Alcott
Books for Learning More About The Immigrants’ Civil War
Free Yale Course with David Blight on the Civil War
Cinco de Mayo Holiday Dates Back to the American Civil War
