In a message dated 8/24/2004 6:09:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, jan1940@wpa.net writes: That being said. How would someone serve in the Civil War who could not, speak, read, write, or understand English ? Nancy --- Nancy- In some cases there were entire companies of Irish or German immigrants and probably other nationalities as well. They learned quickly. There were plenty of English speaking American soldiers who couldn't read or write in any language. Joan