16. A Southern soldier was more likely to have been born in the United States
Immigrants served in both armies of the Civil War, but far more so in the Union armies than those of the South, largely because there were many more of them in the Northern cities when the war began. The typical southern soldier was from an agricultural background, born in the state in whose regiments he served, and owned little or no real property. Most of the southern soldiers were not large slave owners, and many had never owned any slaves at all. By 1863 the majority of the Confederate troops were conscripts, rather than volunteers, and were enlisted to serve for the duration of the war, a situation similar to that of their Union counterparts.