Swiss American Historical Society Review
Keywords
Switzerland, Swiss history, European history
Abstract
In no foreign conflict since the Battle of Marignano in 1515, except Napoleon's Russian campaign, have as many soldiers of Swiss origin fought as in the American War of Secession. It is an undertaking of great merit to rescue this important and little known fact from oblivion and it is a privilege for me to introduce this concise study by my friend Heinrich L. Wirz and his co-author Florian A. Strahm. The Swiss, mostly volunteers, who went to war either to preserve the Union against the secession of the southern States or for the independence of those same States , all risked their lives for an honorable cause. They fought for their new homeland to which they or their ancestors had emigrated in search of freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Contrary to the widely held and completely wrong view, they did fight neither for the abolition nor for the preservation of slavery, but for the same political ideals that are the foundation of our own freedom and independence . They, therefore, all deserve our respect.
Recommended Citation
Vogelsanger, David
(2015)
"Swiss in the American Civil War A Forgotten Chapter of our Military History,"
Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 51:
No.
3, Article 5.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol51/iss3/5