Muslim soldiers in the Civil War.

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Being the start of the holy month of Ramadan, it might be a good time to reflect on Islamic soldiers and the Civil War.

The US population of Muslims during the Civil War was limited, so the number of Muslim soldiers was never too high.

I do wonder how their fellow soldiers saw their Islamic brothers in arms. Many Christians pray several time per day, so a Muslim praying five times per day perhaps did not seem unusual. Fasting from sun up until sun down for the holy month of Ramadan may have seemed a bit odd. Some Christians did not drink alcohol, so a Muslim not doing so would not be all that strange. Fellow soldiers might have thought not eating pork was odd.

All in all, Muslim soldiers may well have fit in fairly well in Civil War armies.
 
Being the start of the holy month of Ramadan, it might be a good time to reflect on Islamic soldiers and the Civil War.

The US population of Muslims during the Civil War was limited, so the number of Muslim soldiers was never too high.

I do wonder how their fellow soldiers saw their Islamic brothers in arms. Many Christians pray several time per day, so a Muslim praying five times per day perhaps did not seem unusual. Fasting from sun up until sun down for the holy month of Ramadan may have seemed a bit odd. Some Christians did not drink alcohol, so a Muslim not doing so would not be all that strange. Fellow soldiers might have thought not eating pork was odd.

All in all, Muslim soldiers may well have fit in fairly well in Civil War armies.
We had a past thread on this subject and apparently very few Moslem soldiers were ever enlisted. The first major influx of Moslem immigrants didn't come about until maybe the turn of the Century per a Saudi Arabian brochure on Moslems in America
It was even then fairly small. Perhaps @Pat Young has details on the first group of Moslem immigrants to the US who were Albanian.
Also if memory serves most if not all of the few Moslem soldiers served in the USCT.
Leftyhunter
 
No harm no foul. Also we should keep in mind there was no political controversy about Islam until well over a hundred latter.
Leftyhunter

Huge political controvery....The U.S. literally built a navy to combat the Barbary Coast pirates and sultans...An excellent book on the subject would be Six Frigates by Ian W. Toll.....
 
The Barbary Coast pirates were Muslims, but the US did not battle them over their religion, the issue was piracy and paying for safe passage. I am not sure slavery or religion had much to do with it.

Still I fail to see how this impacted Muslims living in the United States serving during the Civil War. It seems like the biggest issue was that the Muslim population in the United States was relatively small during the Civil War, so the number of Muslims in the military was small.

It does seem that Muslims did serve in reasonable numbers for their US population. I have not heard of them being barred from serving, nor have I read of any issues involving Muslim soldiers during the Civil War. They were apparent ready to serve their adoptive home.
 
The Barbary Coast pirates were Muslims, but the US did not battle them over their religion, the issue was piracy and paying for safe passage. I am not sure slavery or religion had much to do with it.

The Barbary Pirates were the Slave Trade unless you converted to Islam...Slavery and religion had everything to do with it....but nothing to do with the Civil War..

Wa 'alaykum al-salaam
 
According to Amir N Muhammad there are 292 Muslim names in the muster roles and around 15% of African slaves brought to America practiced Islam. Of course we all know the name Hajji Ali, the camel driver responsible for the training of the camel military corps.
 
Huge political controvery....The U.S. literally built a navy to combat the Barbary Coast pirates and sultans...An excellent book on the subject would be Six Frigates by Ian W. Toll.....
No because the conflict was against piracy sanctioned by some Emirates in North Africa. One of the first nations to recognize the United States was the Sultan if Morocco . The United States never sought to colonize not forcibly convert Moslem nations. The conflict was not against Islam. The Islam / US conflict would not come about until very recently.
Leftyhunter
 
According to Amir N Muhammad there are 292 Muslim names in the muster roles and around 15% of African slaves brought to America practiced Islam. Of course we all know the name Hajji Ali, the camel driver responsible for the training of the camel military corps.
One could argue we simply will never know how many Moslems in effect did what countless Spanish and Portuguese Jews and Muslims did in the New World and that is at least pretend to adopt Christianity.
Leftyhunter
 
I'm curious to know if it's possible that Benjamin Franklin knew there were Muslim slaves. Any evidence of that? A little OT I know. Sorry.
 
I remembered reading about a Turkish born Massachusetts resident who served in the Navy, however upon refinding him and his story for this thread it turned out he was Armenian and was married at the "Church of the Messiah", so definitely not a Muslim.
However I still feel posting him in this thread is at least acceptable given his interesting birth in the Ottoman Empire.


However, some quick research turned up,
Captain Moses Osman who was the highest ranking Muslim of the US Civil War and served in the 104th Illinois Infantry.
Sergeant Nicholas Said aka Mohammed Ali ben Said who was born in Bornou and converted to Islam, but later was enslaved and forced to convert to Russian Orthadox Christianity by his Master. He worked as a teacher in Detroit and enlisted in the 55th Massachusetts Colored Regiment.
Hajji Ali who was recruited from the Ottoman Empire by the US government to drive camels for the US Army in the Southwest.
W.B. Osman who died in 1865 and was interred in the Popular Grove National Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia.
 
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The Barbary Pirates were the Slave Trade unless you converted to Islam...Slavery and religion had everything to do with it....but nothing to do with the Civil War..
The treaty that followed it was very clear that the issue was not religion.
"Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen, - and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

That war was a very simple question of pirates attacking US merchant shipping and taking both ship and crew and keeping them for ransom. The pirates could have been wort shipping the flying spaghetti monster and it would not have changed anything.
And had a Christian state done the same, the result would have been the same. (like the war of 1812)

A number of European powers (including Denmark) send warships at different points in time to force treatises on the pirates to stop them and/or make a deal with them.

It it really not that much different than warships patrolling off the cost of Somalia today. (only that there is no central authority to make similar treatises with)
 
I would like to see evidence of Muslim soldiers being enlisted in American Civil War Armies, at all? :nah disagree:
Some of the kidnapped people came from areas in west Africa that was Muslim.
(Or a mix of Muslim and local faiths, as is often the case in Africa both then and today)
So it is in no way unlikely that some slaves where still Muslim. (or a mixed faith)
And as a result it is likely that some USCT was Muslim.

This book mention a few.
 
I would like to see evidence of Muslim soldiers being enlisted in American Civil War Armies, at all? :nah disagree:


Why? It's an ancient religion, why the scoffing? This country was founded on a few principles- a cornerstone was and is freedom of religion. Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Quakers- all got shoved around elsewhere and found ( relative ) freedom here. Guessing @Pat Young has an answer or knows where to find it although it shouldn't be necessary. No one asks for sources when we're discussing Catholic or Lutheran or soldies of any other religion.
 
No because the conflict was against piracy sanctioned by some Emirates in North Africa. One of the first nations to recognize the United States was the Sultan if Morocco . The United States never sought to colonize not forcibly convert Moslem nations. The conflict was not against Islam. The Islam / US conflict would not come about until very recently.
Leftyhunter
However the Western World/Muslim conflict had been going on for some time...….remember those crusade things?...…...there were several

History detectives claim 10-15% of slaves imported from Africa were Muslim, but adds the caveat that most converted to Christianity as any Muslim worship had to be done in secret

 
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Still the holy month of Ramadan is a great time to honor those civil War soldiers who were Muslims. I am sure some/many of our forum members have celebrated Ramadan with their Muslim friends, fellow soldier, and coworkers. When we celibate Ramadan with our fellow Americans of the Islamic faith, it would be a good time to remember the service of Muslims in the armed forces to include the Civil War. Great food at Ramadan and who can resist great food?
 
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