The Blues, the Greys, and the Red & Whites
The Blues, the Greys, and the Red & Whites

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the Polish contribution to the building of US Army from the War of Independence to the Civil War. The author focuses especially on the later as it was the largest armed conflict in the US. Having explained the origins and motivations of the individual immigrant groups who decided to join the Union or the Confederation, the author attempts ascertaining their actual contribution to the war of 1861–1865. The problem with defining the actual number of soldiers of Polish origin fighting on both sides is highlighted, as the number is frequently strongly understated even by Polish historians. Furthermore, the article is an essay in showing that wherever they fought, Polish soldiers – although bereft of fatherland – were devoted to the ideal of fighting for freedom, even despite numerous proofs of intolerance and cases of negative bias of American society they encountered.

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