Mohammed Kahn

Mohammed Kahn or John Ammahail (b. 1830) was a Persian-born American soldier in the American Civil War, who was enlisted as a private in the 43rd New York Infantry and fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. Born in Persia and raised in Afghanistan he migrated to the US in 1861, where he soon enlisted after encouragement from some friends. After having fought in the Battle of Gettysburg he was separated from his unit as a Union guard arrested him because he didn't believe that non-White Kahn could really be serving in the 43rd Infantry which was a white unit. After his release a few days later he managed to jump a southbound train to D.C. where he rejoined his unit on the last day of the Battle of the Wilderness, where he was wounded. He spent the rest of the war as a sharpshooter, and applied for an army pension which was approved in 1881. He is one of a small number of Muslims who served in the American Civil War, and is known primarily from his pension application which is housed at the US National Archives