Little known fact. Over 60% of the Union dead were Irish immagrants right off the boat from Ireland. Check the names on the rolls of the dead, O'Hanlon/Dillon/O'Malley. They stepped off the boat in Manhattan and into a uniform. Funny thing is things were so bad in Ireland they were happy to do the fighting as long as they got fed. The Union Army was pretty much a mercenary group of Europeans. In terms of Noble Aspirations the Confederacy was fighting for their way of life; by that time the cotton gin was in use and slavery was no longer profitable anyway. By the year 1800 one cotton gin and a couple mules could clean more cotton in an hour than a team of men could in a day. Also the trade routes from India were supplying all the cotton Europe could use anyway. History is written by the victors.