Rick,

It depends on what you mean by recruit. I am not aware of any wholesale Confederate effort to bring Germans over as a group to fight for the Confederacy. First, it would have created a major international problem, and second, there was the logistical difficulty of actually getting through the blockade. I believe individual Germans, already here in America, made the decision to join companies to fight in the war.

There were about 18,000 Germans in the United States who lived in the South and fought for the Confederacy. Entire companies were raised consisting mostly of German soldiers- Richmond,Va. raised two, and I believe the 8th Alabama had one. Most of these Germans were fighting for the community where they lived in their new country (North and South). Not all Germans in the South fought for the Confederacy. Many who disliked slavery and/or secession made the decision to flee to the North.