Canadians in The U.S. Army
The best recent estimates are that between 33,000 and 55,000 men from British North America (BNA) served in the Union army, and a few hundred in the Confederate army. Many of these men already lived in the United States; they were joined by volunteers signed up in Canada by Union recruiters.
Canada refused to return 15,000 American deserters and draft dodgers.
Calixa Lavallée was a French-Canadian musician and Union officer during the American Civil War who later composed the music for "O Canada", which officially became the national anthem of Canada in 1980. In 1857, he had moved to the United States and lived in Rhode Island where he enlisted in the 4th Rhode Island Volunteers of the Union army during the American Civil War, attaining the rank of lieutenant.
Canadian-born Edward P. Doherty was a Union Army officer who formed and led the detachment of Union soldiers that captured and killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Lincoln, in a Virginia barn on April 26, 1865, 12 days after Lincoln was fatally shot. Canadian born Sarah Emma Edmonds was a noted Union spy.
At least 29 Canadian-born men were awarded the Medal of Honor.
Read more about this topic: Canada In The American Civil War
Famous quotes containing the words canadians and/or army:
“The impression made on me was that the French Canadians were even sharing the fate of the Indians, or at least gradually disappearing in what is called the Saxon current.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)