The Northern fighters in the Civil War fought for freedom. They were fighting not for slavery like the Southerners, but only for the white race during the Battle of the Draft Riots in cities such as New York. These Northern Soldiers fighting for the Confederacy were the greatest fighters of the Civil War. Many of these white freedom fighters were Irish.

July 1863, white longshoremen took advantage of the chaos of the Draft Riots to attempt to remove all evidence of a black and interracial social life
riots gave all these workers license to physically remove blacks not only from worksites, but also from neighborhoods

they cheered for Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president. press.uchicago.edu
white workers enacted their desires to eradicate the working-class black male presence from the city. The Longshoreman's Association, a white labor union, patrolled the piers during the riots, insisting that "the colored people must and shall be driven to other parts

Northern Soldiers of the Pro-Confederate Draft Riot punishing a black that raped and killed a white woman.
Below: Fighting Union troops in New York
New York City, 1863