I've read the papers from Europe and the complaints.
"...The New Englanders, who are enthusiastic about the war, have sent some of their best blood to be poured out on the altar of sacrifice; but that there is a prodigious mass not enthusiastic about the war is proved by the reluctance to make up the rolls. In proportion, therefore, as the native element is disinclined for fighting, the foreign element becomes increasingly valuable. The German and the Irishman, cajoled and bullied as a voter, and despised by those who could not secure his vote, becomes suddenly of immense value as a soldier. There is no longer any Know-nothing coldness to scowl a churlish welcome on his arrival; he is invited, petted, carassed, and his pockets at once loaded with money, to the weight of which they had never been accustomed. Increasing inducements are offered to tempt him to cross the Atlantic, and extra facilities are offered for his naturalisation.
Until now, America has never had occasion to trouble itself about promoting immigration. The new comers came unasked. There was a fund which brought them over, and this fund was chiefly provided by the country, but it was not provided by the Government. Private remittances did the work effectually. In one year not less than a million sterling was sent to Ireland to pay the passages of the friends and relatives of those who sent the money. But now the supply of labour has fallen short of the demand. The need of the Government is urgent. The natural immigration still continues, but it is not enough. More men are wanted to keep down the rapidly rising prive of labour which embarrasses the financial administration, and to fill the gaps caused in the army by disease, desertion, and death. We see, therefore, the novel phenomenon of the Government of the United States touting for immigrants. This process is familiar enough to our colonial Governments, most of which have tried it in one shape or another, bu the Great Republic never had to stoop so low. It attractions needed no aid from hired lecturers. But now the Government at Washington is employing agents to beat up recruits, and prodigious efforts are being made to collect and ship as many men as can be got. No complaint is made about their nationality or their creed. All are good fish that come into the net; and, according to the accounts we receive, the haul seems to be prodigious." June 15, 1864.
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"...Mr Seward's new immigration bill contains a clause to naturalize immigrants in one year after their arrival, and for importing them free of expense (they refund the amount of their passage money form the war bounty of 900 dollars, if they choose). 25,000 Irish people had arrived within a month. Seward wants 250,000 a month. He expects to empty Ireland, strenghten America, and weaken England." April 14, 1864.
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[Emigration to the United States. The London Times Wants The Irish to Remain in Ireland. From the London Times. January 6, 1864.]
"A bounty of 150 {pounds} down and an allotment of land in prospect constitute inducements enough to outweigh the other contingencies of campaigning. So the stream of emigration, as Mr. Lincoln truly states, and as we shall presently explain more particularly, began to flow once more, and is now rushing along in full volume. Still, however, as is confessed, the president suggests that, instead of taking it as it comes, the Federal government should now itself adopt measures to attract and increase it...It appears that about 60,000 Irish sailed to the United States, from Liverpool, and it is computed that 26,000 more were carried to the same destination form the Irish ports of call. Perhaps, upon the whole, we may conclude that as many as 100,000 persons were transported from Ireland to America in the course of a year. But this- even imagining them to be all adults of military age, and all disposed to take service- would only give a supply of some 2,000 men a week; whereas, the waste of the Federal armies was recently declared by a New York statesman to amount to 1000 men a day. If we take the two years (1862 and 1863) together, we shall find that some 200,000 persons emigrated from Liverpool to the States- a supply from which only a moderate contribution could be made to a levy of 1,500,000 men."
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The methods used to enlist the Europeans makes me think that the death tolls for the North were much much higher than is being represented in historical documents. Without immediate family here in the United States, thousands of these foreign individuals, could be killed and buried and there would be no one to notify or account to.
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David Upton