Beginning April 1, PBS will broadcast a new five-part series, Civil War: The Untold Story, that begins April 1.
The series, filmed on the very grounds where battles were fought, will highlight four critical battles, the causes and politics of war, the impact on Southern civilians and women, and the relatively unknown roles that African Americans played in the conflict, from enslaved to emancipated to soldier.
My great-great-grandfather James Young from Montreal was one of thousands of Canadians who served in the American civil war, which is why I plan to PVR this PBS series. Between 33,000 and 55,000 men enlisted from British North America, i.e., Canada before Confederation in 1867. James Young replaced a conscripted man, most likely paid by the man to do so, which is why many Canadians enlisted. Others lived in the US.
Gail,
Did you ever find out how the arrangement came about? Was James in the US at the time? Did he already know the fellow?
To my knowledge, James was living in Montreal, and Americans recruited in Montreal. James replaced a conscripted man in New York and then enlisted with a Connecticut regiment. I have tried to track down the conscripted man to find out if there was a connection, but there were more than three dozen conscripted men with the same name. So, I haven’t bothered… yet.