Two war memorials – one in Liverpool and the other in the US state of Virginia, where much of the fighting took place – are being proposed by a British group of historians.
Although Britain was officially neutral in the conflict, thousands of men born in Britain but living in America at the time fought for both President Lincoln’s anti-slavery Federals and the pro-slavery southern Confederates.
The 300,000 Britons who fought in the American Civil War are to be remembered on both sides of the Atlantic.
Basil Larkins of the American Civil War British Memorial Association is trying to raise £10,000 for the monuments.
He said: “The memorials are to honour those who took up arms to either preserve the Union or defend the South. It’s about time their service and efforts were marked.”
After the war, a monument to Scottish soldiers who fought for the North was unveiled in Edinburgh. It is the only tribute of its kind outside the United States.
But no memorial has ever been created to honour other Britons who took part in bloody land and naval battles between 1861 and 1865.
Under the Association’s plans, one stone monument would be erected in the Pamplin Historical Park at Petersburg, Virginia, which has backed the scheme.
Liverpool has been chosen as the site for the British memorial plaque because the rebel Confederate government opened a diplomatic mission there.
The city, along with Manchester, also had strong links to America and its cotton trade and, as a result, became deeply involved in the war.
In Liverpool, President Lincoln’s blockade of the South, which stopped the export of cotton, angered many businessmen who began to back the Confederacy by helping to smuggle supplies through the North’s blockade.
In Manchester, choking-off of cotton supplies from the South also had a terrible impact on the mill-workers of Lancashire. Despite this, they publicly declared their support for Lincoln and his battle against of slavery.
The Association is asking people to make donations via its website.
–The (U.K.) Telegraph
