What Did Italians Do in the American Civil War?

The American Civil War was a conflict that split the United States apart into approximately two halves. One northern union and one southern confederacy of states to do battle over the future of what the North American continent would look like. But it wasn't only Americans fighting in this conflict. Men and women from many different nations would take part and in today's episode in this series we'll look at that most quintessential of American immigrant groups, the Italians. There was other Italians? What of Americans? Says it right there on the paper. A very large proportion of Americans have Italian ancestry to this day. However, most of these would arrive following 1880. That doesn't mean that there weren't already Italians in the Americas by the start of the American Civil War. Following the 1848 revolutions that swept across Europe, many dissidents would escape to the New World, particularly to the United States, including many Italians who were fleeing further persecution in their homeland, which at that point was still split across many different kingdoms and empires. In 1848 the First Italian War of Unification would end in an Italian defeat, but around 10 years later in 1859 the Second War would break out and in 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi would lead the Expedition of the Thousand, resulting in 1861 with the Unification of Italy. Just about a month later in April of 1861, southern troops would fire on Fort Sumter, kicking off the American Civil War. Many of those Italian officers who had served under Garibaldi wanted to go over and fight for the Union in North America, seeing it as a war of unification, just like the one they had just fought. However, this wasn't accepted by the Americans, as Valentino de Belfiglio explains, because many of the volunteers had military training and experience, they asked for officer rank. Union officials, however, were more interested in them as enlisted men, since few Italian soldiers spoke English well. There was a financial deterrent to the recruitment of large numbers of Italians for military service in America. The Union was under an economic strain from the war and could not pay their expenses and wages. Few Italian soldiers of the lower ranks could afford to pay for the trip to America, so this language barrier led to these men being rejected from the Northern Army. However, in 2024 there is no reason for a language barrier to reject you from anything, and that's where today's video sponsor Lingopie comes in. Because had these officers in the 1860s Lingopie, they most certainly would have been up to scratch with their English in no time at all. 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We know of some 7,000 individuals who would go on to serve in the Union or Northern Army. Of those, around 200 were officers that were commanding troops and some 260 also served in the Union Navy fighting at sea and on the rivers. Today, most Americans with Italian ancestry come from the northeastern seaboard, particularly areas like New York and Boston. And back in 1861, the Union Army almost had as its commander none other than that famous Italian fighter Giuseppe Garibaldi to hopefully encourage them to sign up and lead them. However, Garibaldi's reply was characteristically principled. His secretary wrote that he, Garibaldi, said that the only way in which he could render service, as he ardently desired to do to the cause of the United States, was as commander-in-chief of its forces. That he would only go as such and with the additional contingent power to be governed by events of declaring the abolition of slavery. That he would be of little use without the first and without the second, it would appear like a war in which the world at large could have little interest or sympathy. In 1862, the United States once again reached out to Garibaldi and said, I take the liberty of addressing you the present letter, with the view of learning whether it would not enter into our plans to offer us your valiant arm in the contest which we sustain for the liberty and unity of our great republic. Your mission, which would be that of leading our brave soldiers to fight for the same principles to which you have nobly devoted your entire existence. However, when his reply came back, Garibaldi wrote, Sir, I am a prisoner and dangerously wounded. Consequently, it is not possible for me to dispose of myself. Still, the moment that I have obtained my liberty and that my wounds are healed, I shall seize the first favorable opportunity of satisfying my desire to serve the great American republic, of which I am a citizen, and which is now fighting for universal liberty. Garibaldi had misjudged Italian politics of the day and had been taken prisoner in La Spezia by the newly established Kingdom of Italy, where he was receiving treatment for a wound he had suffered earlier in the fighting. And he wouldn't actually go over to America, but in 1863, upon hearing of the Emancipation Proclamation, he would write to Lincoln saying, Posterity will call you the great emancipator, a more enviable title than any crown could be, and greater than any merely mundane treasure. However, many Italians would go on to fight, such as in the 39th New York Infantry, which was largely inspired by Garibaldi's example, and would name one of its units the Garibaldi Guard. Unlike many of those Irish units that fought in the American Civil War, which were made up very largely or almost exclusively of Irishmen or the descendants of Irishmen, there weren't actually enough Italians to do quite the same thing at this point in the United States. And so even the Garibaldi Guard was largely made up of non-Italians. There were three companies of Germans and Hungarians respectively, a Swiss-French company, and then a Spanish and Portuguese company together, with one Italian company as well, meaning that only around 50 out of 350 of the men serving were actually Italians. Nevertheless, the way that they attired themselves was in the form of the Bersaglieri, which were these typical Italian troops of the time that Garibaldi had been leading. They also marched under an Italian flag that had the words Dio e Popolo, meaning God and the People, written on it, and the uniforms were inspired by the red shirts that had been worn by Garibaldi's troops in Italy during his campaigns. An important Italian of note is Edward Ferrero, who had been born in Spain to Italian parents but had emigrated to the United States. He would raise and lead the 51st New York Infantry, fighting at various engagements with some distinction. Unfortunately for his reputation, he is membered for his conduct at the Battle of the Crater during the Siege of Vicksburg, in which he was said to be drunk and in a shelter far behind enemy lines, while the troops under his command made an in vain attempt to capture the crater and were beaten back with many losses. An Italian which has been remembered in better terms is Francis Barretto Spinola. At the outset of the war, he would be made a brigadier general and raised a brigade called Spinola's Brigade, which was made up of several units from New York, the 158th, the 132nd, the 163rd and the 164th New York. He'd also be the first Italian American to be voted onto the US Congress. Another interesting Italian American to look at is Luigi Palma di Cesnola, who would, as many others did during this period, anglicize his name to Louis P. di Cesnola. He was a cavalryman who had fought in wars in Europe, including in the First War of Italian Unification and then in British service in the Crimean War. He joined up with the 4th New York Cavalry Regiment, serving with distinction at the Battle of Aldi, despite being wounded and taken prisoner. But because of his valiance, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. So those are Italians fighting for the North, but were there any that fought for the South? Well, there definitely were, but as you can see with the areas in which Italians settled in the United States, many of them coming after the Civil War, they skewed quite heavily in favor of those large cities in the Northeastern seaboard, with fewer coming to the South. However, that doesn't mean that there weren't Italians who also fought for the South, although these came in less large numbers than the North, and so are quite hard to identify outside of these Italian ethnic units. Because Italian unification and identity was still very much solidifying at this point, many of those who had emigrated earlier to the United States had been put down in the census as being Austrian, French, German, or Swiss, depending on which part of what would become Italy they came from, and some may be identified like this as well. Not everyone was in favor of Italian unification, separate Italianness at this point in time, so that makes identification a little bit difficult. One example of where this is possible was taken with just a reference to a young George. This was in a letter that was written to a headmaster in the Northern United States about a Confederate soldier, but with only the name young George to go on, it would be impossible to look through all the muster rolls and roll calls looking for an Italian sounding George. It would be a needle in a haystack. But one researcher, Joseph Cassino, has followed this right the way to the end, and found that young George later in 1880, there was reference in a New York newspaper to Signor George, who unfortunately for Signor George was found beheaded. In the police report of the murder, which was written in 1880, it mentioned that he had been born in 1810 in Italy, and that his birth name was Gennaro Giuseppe Carmina Priviccherio, who would come over to the United States in around the 1820s. Now, the Americans on board the ship that was taking Gennaro Giuseppe over to the United States were unfamiliar with the name Gennaro Giuseppe, and decided to rename him George as his surname. And that's the surname that Gennaro Giuseppe decided to take on. So instead of George being a first name, as had first been assumed by the researcher in question, young George would actually be Mr. George Jr., if that makes sense. By 1857, the Signor George had become a music teacher in Richmond, Virginia, and one of his students was then Joseph D. George, being young George, as in the son of the Signor George who had come over from Italy, i.e. young George. As Joseph Casino, the researcher in question, has written on this subject, despite the significant military emphasis in his educational preparation, however, Joseph D. George seems to have developed into a somewhat lukewarm confederate warrior. He enlisted at Camp Talbot near Norfolk, Virginia, on August 13, 1861, for one year in Captain Moore's company, Virginia Light Infantry, attached to the 41st Virginia Infantry. Soon after that, he was reported missing. A little later, George re-enlisted for the war to get the $5 bounty. On March 25, 1862, he transferred to the Virginia-Norfolk Light Battery. Reported sick in a Richmond hospital in September of 1862, George was then listed as a deserter in November and December of 1862. He was back in Richmond hospitals in February 1863, April 1863, and May 1863, with scabies and acute diarrhea. While still missing again in June 1863, he was taken prisoner in a skirmish at Fayetteville, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1863. It appears he may have deserted or had intentionally allowed himself to be captured in order to get himself out of the war. By August 1, 1863, he was a prisoner at Fort Delaware, and while there, he galvanized and joined the Union Army, perhaps the 3rd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, as so many Confederate prisoners there did, although that is not certain. It appears that according to one source, a Joseph D. George remained in the United States Army after the war, but then deserted from Company A, 1st U.S. Cavalry, on January 29, 1870. Other Italians who served in the Confederate Army may have had grudges brought over from Italy. Of course, Garibaldi's campaign had been waged against both foreigners and other Italians alike, even if they didn't necessarily associate themselves as Italians. And so we do see that some of the former opponents of Garibaldi and his men also came over to settle old scores against those Italians fighting in Garibaldi's name. In particular, we're talking about former soldiers of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies who had been taken prisoner by Garibaldi during the Second Italian War of Independence. In particular, some 2,000 of these were released by Garibaldi on the request of his comrade-in-arms, the Louisiana man Chatham Robodeaux Wheat, who had asked instead of leaving them to rot in Italian prisoners, can I take them over to the United States to go and fight for my state of Louisiana? Now, of course, this is rather interesting because Garibaldi himself was an outspoken supporter of the North, of the Union cause and the American Republic, even almost taking on the role of leading the Union army. But he still allowed his former comrades to take these men to fight for the other sides, to fight for the South, in particular for the state of Louisiana. These 2,000 men would be formed into one of the units that became known as the Louisiana Tigers, being led by wheat or wheat tigers, which had become quite a famous regiment down the years, or group of regiments, I should say, as this name, this moniker applied to several of them. And these Italians would go on to fight under his command. We find the most Italians in the South serving in regiments from Louisiana, particularly from New Orleans, as this was the biggest entry point of immigrants into the South during this time. One such we find are the 6th Louisiana Infantry Regiment, which had within them the Italian Guards Battalion. These would then also be known as the European Guards Battalion because many people of different nationalities served here. Initially, as with many of these sort of foreign units fighting for the Confederacy, they had signed up on the basis that they would only be serving in their home city or home state. And indeed, the European Guards Battalion were largely used for maintaining law and order inside New Orleans and the surrounding area. They would also sometimes become known as the Garibaldi Legion, although the historiography of this is a little bit murky, as some of those fighting the Italians inside this regiment obviously did not want to associate with Garibaldi, who was an ardent supporter of the Union, while others did. So the legacy is a little bit complex. They would be also led by an Italian, Joseph G. De La Valle, with the Italian Guards serving with several other units, such as the French Guards, the Hansa Guards, which likely were from northern Germany, British Guards, the Spanish Legion, the Austrian Company, and the French Regiment. So, an interesting mix to be sure. Ella Lon, in her work on foreigners in the Confederacy, writes on the European Brigade that it numbered about 4,500 distributed as follows. 2,500 Frenchmen, 800 Spaniards, 500 Italians, 400 Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians, and 500 Swiss, Belgians, English, Slavonians, and others. Organization was completed by the election of Colonel Paul Juge as Brigadier General. Before the excitement had died down, three European brigades in all had been formed, one exclusively for Frenchmen, the other two of Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Belgian, and English citizens. The three Brigadier Generals to command these brigades, whom Picayune tenderly called the Three Guardsmen of the Crescent City, were selected from among the French residents. Altogether, their numbers amounted to around 10,000 men. The First Brigade may not properly be regarded as wholly foreign, as about 2,000 of the 3,000 members were Creoles, and are therefore not counted in the calculation of 10,000. They would go on to fight until the fall of New Orleans to Union troops. Another interesting Italian to mention is Captain A. Moroso, who is noted in a list of other Italians, noted by Valentino J. Belfiglio writing on Italians in the American Civil War. He notes the highest ranking officers of Italian birth known to have fought with Confederate Army were captains. Captain A. Silvestre Festorazzi commanded Company K of the 21st Alabama Southern Guards, and Captain A. Moroso organized a company of Italian laborers as Company D, 1st Regiment Home Guards Virginia. Captain Alfred Pico headed as Italian Company with the 19th Virginia Reserve Troops. In 1861, an ambitious project was begun to form a legion composed exclusively of Italians. However, by February 1862, this outfit, called the Garibaldi Legion, had been formed with only one company, containing a full complement of Italian-born officers. The company was commanded by Captain Joseph Santini. So we see that Garibaldi is quite an interesting figure when it comes to the American Civil War because even in the South there were certain units that were named after him, the Garibaldi Legion, as well as of course in the North. And both those in the South and the North who were in this Garibaldi unit took on the attire of the Bersaglieri. I don't think these ever met, in fact I'm quite sure that they didn't, but it would have been interesting for sort of Italians peering over the trench dressed in their Bersaglieri finery in, I don't know, Virginia or Pennsylvania to just see another Bersaglieri but fighting for the other side. In any case, it is rather interesting because, as mentioned several times, Garibaldi was a strong supporter of the North and yet he still remained this important figure that people wished to emulate even in the Southern armies, those Italians that were fighting there. In 1865, indeed, Garibaldi noted when the Union victory was announced, I have always considered from the that the American question was one which concerned all humanity and the whole world. The principle of the emancipation of the slaves, applause to the North Americans who showed themselves to be the instrument of providence in carrying out that sublime idea. So that is the story of the Italians in the American Civil War. The last word to Valentino J. Belfilio, whose article was incredibly helpful for researching this video. He writes, The deeds of Brigadier General Luigi di Cesnola are especially noteworthy. Although born in Italy, he was deeply committed to the preservation of the American Union and fought bravely for the Northern victory. After the war, di Cesnola became a leading American citizen. The roles played by di Cesnola and other Italian volunteers in the American Civil War should be acknowledged in textbooks on American history along with those of other European volunteers. All right, everyone. So that is my video on Italians and Italian-Americans in the American Civil War. Did you know about their role already, that they fought on both sides in the Civil War, that several prominent Italian-Americans in New York were so important in raising some early regiments? And did you know as well that Garibaldi had been offered the position to lead Union forces in the Civil War? I most certainly didn't know about that, so I thought that was quite interesting in researching this, and that was the case. Remember to check out Lingopie, which is the sponsor of today's video. You can go and test it out. I would highly recommend it for learning languages, and it does help me out as well if you go out and check out sponsors, which means I can spend more time, invest more time into making these videos. Let me know in the comments as well, what would you like to see, any other nationalities you would like to see represented in this series on the American Civil War. I have few ideas already, but I always love to see yours, and if you have any more interesting anecdotes, fun facts, and things that I missed, please do let me know as well. All right, everyone, thank you so much for watching. I have been Hilbert, and this has been The History. Arrivederci.