Author: CPT John O'Donnell-Rosales (AL)

This book is a compilation of Confederate soldiers of Spanish ancestry. It is a roster - a list of names designed to open the way to a forgotten history. The author is a descendent of PVT Kelvin Rosales of Louisiana, LA State Militia Reserves, who served throughout what the Foreword calls the Second American Revolution, and who surrendered with the last Confederate units in June 1865. That preface says: "This study will introduce the student to the sizeable contribution of the Hispanic community to the Confederate military. [John O'Donnell-] Rosales helps us see again that our beloved Southland has not been monolithic in its people or physical regions. It is hoped that others will gain from this work the understanding that our Confederate heritage belongs not to one race, religion, or ethnic group, but is a shared experience of the whole people of the South."

The preface includes insight into reasons for support of the Confederacy:

War for Southern Independence caught these settlers and many other businessmen, traders and sailors in a decisive situation. Should they support their respective States and the newly founded Confederate Government, or sit out the war as many foreigners did exempt from military obligations due to foreign nationality. The answer was to fight for their new found homes. One then gets into the question of slavery, the answer is simple, less than ten percent (10%) of Southerners owned slaves.... The Hispanic Confederate was not fighting for the right to keep ten percent (10%) of Southern Whites as slave owners. ... The question is then, why? The answer, I believe, is that they fought to maintain their way of life, and afterwards when the South was invaded to protect their families and homes. The concept of community and familial obligations runs deep in the Spanish tradition. That this was one of the reasons so many of these men joined the Confederate Military, due to perceived sociological responsibility is also a possibility that should be further researched. ...

Likewise, the rank and file of Southern soldiers were not slave owners. For those interested in the reasons why men fought in the Civil War, there is a recent book, For Cause and Comrades, by James M. McPherson, which goes into this subject in depth [Oxford University Press (1997) $25.00.]

This concept of various and diverse backgrounds and culture among Hispanics is further recognized by service of those who we may assume were Jews of the Sephardim. (These were Spanish all through the Middle Ages, and even after being expelled from Spain in 1492 they maintained a separate culture from those of other European backgrounds, Ashkenazi.)

Hispanic Confederates is designed to open the way to a study of Hispanic contribution to the Confederate military, a forgotten history.

Hispanic Confederates is copyrighted 1997 by the author and Rice Mango Publications, Mobile, AL. Copies may be purchased direct from the author, CPT John O'Donnell-Rosales, P. O. Box 667, Mobile, AL 36606. ($19.95)