Melting Pot SoldiersMelting Pot Soldiers is the story of the way immigrants responded to the drama of the Civil War. When the war began in 1861, there were, in most states in the North (primarily from Western Europe), large populations of immigrants whose leaders were active in American politics at the local, state, and national levels. Just as native born Americans, both individually and collectively, reacted to war, so did these newcomers. A characteristic feature of