Canada’s Civil War

Read and listen to letters to and from Canadians who fought in the American Civil War.

Confederate raiders photographed in Montreal in 1864.
Credit: St. Albans Historical Society.

As writer Pierre Home-Douglas pointed out in an article in the April-May 2014 issue of Canada’s History, Canada had a deep connection to the American Civil War.

While most Canadians sympathized with the Union side, there were pockets of support for the Confederates in Montreal and other cities.

There were also about 40,000 British North Americans who fought in the war.

The Ontario Archives has letters relating from Canadians relating to that conflict. To see them or hear recorded excerpts from the letters, go here.

You can read Home-Douglas’s story in the April-May 2014 issue of Canada’s History.

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