Changes

The formations of regiments during the Civil War, by both the Union and Confederate armies, followed a template that was used during the Revolutionary War whereby regiments were created in each state. Soldiers from Tennessee would generally fight in a Tennessee regiment, soldiers from New York in New York regiments, etc. But the United States had already changed significantly, in terms of demographics, by the time the Civil War began in 1861. A large number of European immigrants who came to the United States in the decades during the Antebellum Period made creating army regiments a bit more complicated. Instead of just organizing soldiers according to their home states, the Union army, and to a lesser extend extent the Confederate army, also organized their fighting men according to their ethnicities and national origin. Most of the Union’s ethnic regiments were Irish and German, but Scandinavian immigrants volunteered in great enough numbers that they were able to form several companies and even one complete regiment – the 15the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer regiment. The reasons why Scandinavian immigrants volunteered to fight in the Union army were as diverse as the army itself, but the primary reasons were ones that can be seen in previous and later periods of American history. Scandinavians believed in the Republic, were ardent supporters of President Abraham Lincoln, and wanted to prove to their generational American neighbors that they too belonged in the United States. Along with the ideological reasons, many Scandinavians also joined for personal advancement and glory.