Italian Confederate General William B. Taliaferro

In the United States of the 1860’s the Italian immigrant and Italian-American population was overwhelmingly concentrated in the north, due to port cities like New York and Boston being the place most immigrants flocked to. This was due to the ethnic diversity that already existed in these areas as well as the availability of jobs for unskilled laborers in the factories and shops of the north. In contrast, the slave-holding southern states had little need for cheap immigrant labor. When the American Civil War broke out most Italian immigrants and Italian-Americans were in the north and fought for the United States. However, there were also Italians, mostly in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana (the biggest southern port city) which formed the Garibaldi Legion in the Confederate States Army. There were also at least a few long established Italian-American families in the Old South and one of these was the Taliaferro family which was to produce a prominent Confederate general in the “War Between the States”.

His name was William Booth Taliaferro, a native of Gloucester County, Virginia. He had English and Italian ancestors (from Venice) and the presence of the Taliaferro family in Virginia went back to the Seventeenth century. He was born in 1822 and was part of the southern “aristocracy”. His uncle was James A. Seddon, a prominent congressman who would go on to become Secretary of War for the Confederate States of America. William B. Taliaferro had the very best upbringing, attending Harvard University in the north and William and Mary College in the south, graduating in 1841. He volunteered for the U.S. Army during the war with Mexico and served in the infantry, gaining a respectable reputation as a soldier. After coming home he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates and in 1856 campaigned for the presidency of James Buchanan. Still, he did not neglect his military duties and was a commander in the Virginia militia, taking command of the Harpers Ferry region after the bloody raid on the arsenal there by John Brown and his radical abolitionists.

When Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861 Taliaferro was given command of the 23^rd Virginia Infantry with the rank of colonel. In the opening clashes with Union troops he earned praise and a promotion to brigadier general. He aided in the southern victory at the battle of Greenbrier River in 1861 and by 1862 had been promoted to command a division in the army corps of the famous General “Stonewall” Jackson. In this unit he was part of a winning team and one of the most legendary fighting forces in the Confederacy. General Taliaferro was a brave man who led from the front, a fact which almost cost him his life at the Second Battle of Manassas Junction where he was badly wounded. However, he could not be kept from the fighting for long and was back with Jackson in time for the Battle of Fredericksburg, one of the greatest Confederate victories of the war. Jackson and Taliaferro did not always get along. Taliaferro often felt that the famous general was too harsh toward the soldiers and his subordinates and Jackson considered Taliaferro too proud. Yet, Jackson respected Taliaferro’s abilities and knew he could be trusted with important commands.

When it came to his own men, General Taliaferro was not always beloved by all of his soldiers. He was a strict commander who expected perfect discipline and some complained that he was too cold and haughty. However, as long as a general can win battles, most troops would overlook any flaws. And that, General Taliaferro could do. After the battle of Fredericksburg he was transferred to Georgia to command the District of Savannah and was highly praised for repulsing a major attack on Morris Island outside Charleston, South Carolina at Battery Wagner in 1863. Despite being outnumbered nearly 5 to 1 his men held their ground and inflicted devastating losses on the Union forces. The next year, in 1864, he was given command of the East Florida District and was just in time to face another Union invasion force. The result was the Battle of Olustee in northern Florida which was another decisive victory for Taliaferro and the Confederates.

In 1865 Taliaferro was surrendered with the army of General Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina and returned to his home in Virginia. After the war he continued his distinguished career in civilian life, being elected against to the House of Delegates. He was later elected to a judgeship and served on the board of William and Mary College and the famous Virginia Military Institute. He died at his home at the age of 75 on February 27, 1898 probably the most prominent Italian-American in the Confederate Army.

Italians in the American Civil War

During the American Civil War, the Italian-American community was well represented on both sides of the north-south divide. Due to the majority of the immigrant population being in the north, most served on the side of the Union but there were Italians who fought for the Confederacy as well, although they tend to be less well known. Most of the Italians in the Union army were recruited from New York City and included prominent Italians such as Francesco Casale, Luigi Tinelli, Enrico Fardella and Eduardo Ferrero. Casale was the father of the "Italian Legion" and later helped organize the most famous Italo-American unit of the war, the Garibaldi Guard. Francesco Spinola, another leading Italian-American, helped recruit a number of militia units and was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to be their general. Four prominent Italian-Americans rose to general rank in the Union Army, including General Luigi Palma di Cesnola who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. At the time, with the division of America coinciding with the unification of the Kingdom of Italy, there was no more prominent Italian than Giuseppe Garibaldi, both for his actions in South America and his battles to unite the Italian nation. President Abraham Lincoln offered Garibaldi the rank of major general in the Union army but Garibaldi politely refused because he would not have complete independence and Lincoln would not declare that the purpose of the war was to eradicate slavery.

The most famous Italian-American unit was the 39th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, better known as the Garibaldi Guard. Although its ranks included a number of ethnic groups, the majority were Italians and that was shown in their name, the Italian tricolor (shown above) they carried into battle and the flamboyant uniforms they adopted, patterned somewhat after the famous Bersaglieri (Italian light infantry). The Garibaldi Guard fought in almost every major action of the eastern theatre of war including such famous battles as Harper's Ferry in 1862, Gettysburg in 1863, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor and the siege of Petersburg in 1864. They were also present at the final Appomatox campaign in 1865.

In the south, the largest city and biggest port was New Orleans, Louisiana and so it is not surprising that many immigrants landed there, including a number of Italians. When Louisiana left the union a call went out for volunteers to defend the new Confederacy and among the most prominent recruiters in New Orleans was Captain Joseph Santini and many Italians volunteered. They formed the Garibaldi Legion, led by Santini and with other Italian-Americans as his top officers, they too showed their ethnic pride by wearing cocked hats with plumes in the Italian national colors as well as adopting the uniform red shirts of Garibaldi's famous "Thousand" (The Garibaldi Guard in the north wore Union blue). They paraded in New Orleans for the first time in March of 1861. The problem with the Garibaldi Legion and Guard was that there were not enough Italians in America at that time (especially in the south) to maintain their numbers throughout the long and bloody conflict. In the south, the Garibaldi Legion was brigaded together with another ethnic unit called the "Spanish Hunters" (in Spanish of course) in the Louisiana militia, later grouped as the 6th Regiment of what was called the "European Brigade" of the Confederate army. They fought with great courage and tenacity up until the capture of New Orleans by General Benjamin Butler, USA.

All of this came, of course, before the largest waves of Italian immigrants touched American shores, yet, whether they landed in the north or the south they showed themselves willing to fight for their new country while still remaining attached in their hearts to their own homeland which was only then becoming a reality as a united, Italian nation.