Simplify the following text for a Grade 10 native English-speaking person.
Original: Belmont energetically supported the Union cause during the Civil War as a War Democrat , conspicuously helping Missouri congressman Francis P. Blair raise and equip the Union army 's first predominantly German-American regiment .
Simplified: Belmont energetically supported the Union cause during the Civil War as a War Democrat , helping Missouri congressman Francis P. Blair raise and equip the Union army 's first mainly German-American regiment .