Christian G. Samito earned a law degree from Harvard Law School and a doctorate in American history from Boston College. He is the editor of Commanding Boston's Irish Ninth: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Patrick R. Guiney, Ninth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; "Fear Was Not in Him": The Civil War Letters of Major General Francis C. Barlow, U.S.A.; and Changes in Law and Society During the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Legal History Documentary Reader. He edits a series about the legal history of the Civil War era, teaches at Boston College and Boston University School of Law, and practices law in Boston.

By focusing on the importance of citizenship, Samito offers an important addition to scholarship on the Civil War era.... This is an outstanding book. It offers a terrific bottom-up approach to citizenship debates in the Civil War era and demonstrates the powerful role played by Irish American and African American men in creating new forms of American citizenship and nationalism in the mid-nineteenth century. It would be extremely useful in any course on the Civil War.(Journal of the Civil War Era) In this well-crafted, thoughtfully prepared book, Samito does a nice job of blending the Civil War experiences of African Americans and Irish Americans to draw his conclusions and to explore what it means to be an American, not only in the nineteenth century but in the twenty-first century as well. Anyone interested in Civil War history, American political history, or the American experience in general would do well to take a look at this work.(Journal of American History) One of the main positive and original assets of Samito's intelligently written and highly readable book is the fact that he combines the role and situation of Africamericans and Irish in relation to their being and becoming 'American'.... Samito's book adds significantly to our understanding of the Irish as well as the Africamerican experience of the Civil War, and should be on the required reading list whenever the issue of ethnicity is raised in connection with the Union side in the Civil War.- Wolfgang Hochbruck (Amerikastudien/American Studies) Samito argues that the United States underwent a 'crisis of citizenship' in the 1850s as local allegiances combined with rigid racism to produce a mélange of conflicting definitions of who was and was not an 'American.'... Thoroughly researched and elegantly written, this important work will be profitably read by students of nationalism and the Civil War era. Highly recommended.(Choice)

• Introduction1. The Crisis of Citizenship in the 1850s2. The Question of Armed Service3. African Americans in Arms4. Equal Rights and the Experience of Military Justice for African American Soldiers5. Irish Americans in Arms6. African Americans and the Call for Rights7. The Affirmation of Naturalized Citizenship in America8. The Affirmation of Naturalized Citizenship AbroadEpilogue: The Legacy of National Citizenship in the Era of the Civil War and ReconstructionNotesWorks CitedIndex

Christian G. Samito earned a law degree from Harvard Law School and a doctorate in American history from Boston College. He is the editor of Commanding Boston's Irish Ninth: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Patrick R. Guiney, Ninth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; "Fear Was Not in Him": The Civil War Letters of Major General Francis C. Barlow, U.S.A.; and Changes in Law and Society During the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Legal History Documentary Reader. He edits a series about the legal history of the Civil War era, teaches at Boston College and Boston University School of Law, and practices law in Boston.

By focusing on the importance of citizenship, Samito offers an important addition to scholarship on the Civil War era.... This is an outstanding book. It offers a terrific bottom-up approach to citizenship debates in the Civil War era and demonstrates the powerful role played by Irish American and African American men in creating new forms of American citizenship and nationalism in the mid-nineteenth century. It would be extremely useful in any course on the Civil War.(Journal of the Civil War Era) In this well-crafted, thoughtfully prepared book, Samito does a nice job of blending the Civil War experiences of African Americans and Irish Americans to draw his conclusions and to explore what it means to be an American, not only in the nineteenth century but in the twenty-first century as well. Anyone interested in Civil War history, American political history, or the American experience in general would do well to take a look at this work.(Journal of American History) One of the main positive and original assets of Samito's intelligently written and highly readable book is the fact that he combines the role and situation of Africamericans and Irish in relation to their being and becoming 'American'.... Samito's book adds significantly to our understanding of the Irish as well as the Africamerican experience of the Civil War, and should be on the required reading list whenever the issue of ethnicity is raised in connection with the Union side in the Civil War.- Wolfgang Hochbruck (Amerikastudien/American Studies) Samito argues that the United States underwent a 'crisis of citizenship' in the 1850s as local allegiances combined with rigid racism to produce a mélange of conflicting definitions of who was and was not an 'American.'... Thoroughly researched and elegantly written, this important work will be profitably read by students of nationalism and the Civil War era. Highly recommended.(Choice)

• Introduction1. The Crisis of Citizenship in the 1850s2. The Question of Armed Service3. African Americans in Arms4. Equal Rights and the Experience of Military Justice for African American Soldiers5. Irish Americans in Arms6. African Americans and the Call for Rights7. The Affirmation of Naturalized Citizenship in America8. The Affirmation of Naturalized Citizenship AbroadEpilogue: The Legacy of National Citizenship in the Era of the Civil War and ReconstructionNotesWorks CitedIndex