Canada and the American Civil War

Part of a series on the
Military history of Canada
Military history of...
Army Navy Air Force Crown and Forces Militia Colonial New France Acadia Nova Scotia Peacekeeping
Conflicts
Beaver Wars Anglo-French War (1627–29) Acadian Civil War Anglo-Dutch Wars King William's War Queen Anne's War Father Rale's War King George's War Father Le Loutre's War Seven Years' War American Revolutionary War French Revolutionary Wars War of 1812 Pemmican War Rebellions of 1837–1838 Fraser Canyon War Chilcotin War American Civil War Fenian raids Red River Rebellion North-West Rebellion Second Boer War World War I Russian Civil War World War II Korean War Vietnam War October Crisis Oka Crisis Gulf War Somalia Yugoslav Wars Afghanistan Iraq War Libya Mali War ISIL
Installations
Air Force Armed Forces French forts Navy
Lists
Conflicts Operations Peacekeeping Victories Wars
Research
Bibliography Historiography Historians
Canada portal
v t e

At the time of the American Civil War (1861–1865), Canada did not yet exist as a federated nation. Instead, British North America consisted of the Province of Canada (parts of modern southern Ontario and southern Quebec) and the separate colonies of Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Vancouver Island, as well as a crown territory administered by the Hudson's Bay Company called Rupert's Land. Britain and its colonies were officially neutral for the duration of the war. Despite this, tensions between Britain and the United States were high due to incidents such as the Trent Affair, blockade runners loaded with British arms supplies bound for the Confederacy, and the Confederate Navy commissioning of the CSS Alabama from Britain.^[1]

Canadians were largely opposed to slavery, and Canada had recently become the terminus of the Underground Railroad. Close economic and cultural links across the long border, also encouraged Canadian sympathy towards the Union. Between 33,000 and 55,000 men from British North America enlisted in the war, almost all of them fighting for Union forces. Some press and churches in Canada supported the secession, and some others did not.^[2] There was talk in London in 1861–62 of mediating the war or recognizing the Confederacy. Washington warned this meant war, and London feared Canada would quickly be seized by the Union army.^[3]