Title: Hispanics and the Civil War (U.S. National Park Service)
Headings: Hispanics and the Civil War
Hispanics and the Civil War
Civil War Defenses of Washington , Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, Pecos National Historical Park, Stones River National Battlefield
Context for Conflict
Spanish Roots in American Soil
Soldiers in the Southeast
Soldiers in the North
Sailors: North and South
Immigrants Fighting under Different Flags
Soldiers in the Southwest
Hispanics on the Homefront
From Civil War to Civil Rights
Conclusion

Content: French, Spanish, Caribbean, American Indian, African, German, and Anglo American. These "Creoles" were often well-to-do planters with plantations or established merchants with homes in the bustling ports of New Orleans and Mobile. Many held slaves. Others made their money through the cotton trade that relied on the "peculiar institution" of slavery. Part of the aristocracy of the region, these citizens joined their like-minded southern neighbors and actively fought to preserve their way of life. In Louisiana, Hispanics lent their arms to actions both nearby and far afield. Many Hispanics in Louisiana had immigrated from the Canary Islands in the late 1700s. New Orleans mustered nearly 800 Hispanics as part of the "European Brigade," a home guard of 4,500 to keep order and defend the city. The brigades of Brigadier General Harry T. Hays's and Brigadier General William E. Starke, popularly known as the "Louisiana Tigers," included native Louisianans of Anglo and Creole descent, plus men from Spain, Cuba, Mexico, and other Latin American countries. Both brigades campaigned with Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and fought at battles such as Antietam and Gettysburg.