5. A disproportionate number of black men and immigrants fought the Civil War.

It may surprise someone new to the history of the American Civil War that black men fought for the Confederacy, but it’s true. An estimated 3,000 to 6,000 fought as soldiers while another 100,000 supported the armies of the South as laborers and teamsters (though their motivation is in dispute).

By the end of the war, 10 percent of the Union Army and Navy was made up of black men.

Meanwhile, roughly 25 percent of recruits for the Union army were immigrants. By 1860, 13 percent of Americans were born overseas and 43 percent of the armed forces were either immigrants or the sons of immigrants.

Foreigners lined up at US diplomatic legations abroad to join the Union cause — so many that the US minister to Berlin had to put a sign up to tell people his office was not a recruiter, for example.