قراءة كتاب The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen

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The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen

The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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Post, New York, acquitted themselves with ample credit in their respective spheres. The 11th New York was more than half composed of men of Jewish faith. In the 2d Pennsylvania Artillery, serving under Captain R. M. Goundy, who lives in this city, there were three Jewish soldiers; Lieutenant Liebschutz, who served throughout the war and was promoted for gallantry on the field, now living in this city to-day; Leo Karpeles, who is now a clerk in the Post Office Department, to whom a special medal was awarded by Congress for bravery and for the capture with his own hands of rebel flags on the field of battle, and Simon Stern, who died lately in this city and whose widow has been granted a pension. George Stern, who died from disease contracted in the service, also left a widow, now pensioned. Dr. A. Behrend, of this city, who served in our army with great ability, not only as a hospital steward, but as an officer in the field, tells me that in 1863 a general order was issued permitting Jews to be furloughed over their Holy Days, and that at Fairfax Seminary he furloughed eleven on that occasion. Dr. Herman Bendall, of Albany, a prominent citizen of that city, was promoted to the grade of Lieutenant-Colonel in recognition of his meritorious services and was subsequently appointed by General Grant superintendent of Indian affairs of Arizona. Jacob Hirsch, of this city, died from disease contracted in the service and his orphan children are now receiving a pension for their father's sacrifice; Captain Cohn, of New York City, now connected with the Baron de Hirsch Trust Fund, was as brave an officer as ever did duty. M. L. Peixotto, of the 103 Ohio (a brother of the well-known Benjamin F. Peixotto), died last year in consequence of wounds received and disease contracted in the service. Mr. Bruckheimer, now a practicing physician in this city, Charles Raum, one of our leading merchants, Mr. Hoffa, Sol Livingston, M. Erdman, M. Augenstein, and S. Goodman, all of this city, Edward S. Woog, a clerk in the Interior Department; Morris Cohen, clerk in the War Department; Henry Blondheim, of Alexandria, Va., were soldiers in the late war. Captain Morris Lewis, of the 18th New York Cavalry, now living in this city, served on General Kearney's staff; he receives a special pension, having been shot through the body and paralyzed in his lower limbs. August Bruckner was killed at the second battle of Bull Run. Colonel M. Einstein and Colonel M. Friedman, both of Philadelphia, commanded regiments; Uriah P. Levy was Commodore of the United States Navy. Jacob Hayes, of the city of New York, Mr. Phillips, son of the sexton of the Portuguese congregation of that city, E. J. Russell, of the 19th Indiana, a resident of this city, and so severely wounded as to render him almost incapable of work; L. Myers, of the same regiment, and Julius Steinmeyer, of the 7th United States Infantry "stood shoulder to shoulder" at the front. General William Meyer, editor of several New York papers, served with credit and distinction during the draft riots in the city of New York, and has in his possession an autograph letter from President Lincoln thanking him for his eminent services during those hours of darkness. William Durst, of Philadelphia, is one of the few survivors of the memorable fight between the Monitor and the Merrimac; when volunteers were called for he went to his duty with death staring him in the face, and Admiral Worden himself told me some months ago that Durst was a man of distinguished bravery, whose services should be specially recognized by Congress. Major Joseph G. Rosengarten, of Philadelphia, is a soldier of national reputation and an author of ability, whose brother Adolph G. Rosengarten was killed at Stone River while acting as staff officer. Quartermaster Rosenfield, of the 13th Kansas, not only discharged the duties of that office with ability, but served also in the ranks. Lieutenant Rosenberg, of this city, is now dead, and his widow is pensioned. Colonel H. A. Seligson, who died some two months ago, led a Vermont regiment during the war, and achieved a high reputation as a soldier. Captain Frederick Leavy, of the 1st New York Infantry; Captain Max Conheim, of New York, and now of San Francisco, and Major H. Kœnigsberger, of Cincinnati, were officers of distinction, and so, too, were David Ezekiel and Lieutenant Louis Blumenthal, of New Hampshire. Sergeant Elias Leon Hyneman, of the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry, was one of the heroes of the war, in which he served from the beginning. In June, 1864, during a cavalry sortie about Petersburg, while his command was retreating before the main body of the enemy, he hurried to the relief of a dismounted and wounded comrade. He lifted him into his own saddle and enabled him to escape, and started to make his own way on foot. On his way he met another comrade, barefooted and bleeding; he took off his own boots and gave them to the sufferer. But he himself was captured, and after months of agony in Andersonville, he died.

Frederick Kneffler, a resident of Indianapolis, attained the rank of Major General; he commanded the 79th Indiana, and was conspicuous for bravery at the battle of Chickamauga. As a further list of officers and privates in the various commands, I may yet add the names of Lieutenant Suldman, 44th New York; Captain Gremitz, 62d Pennsylvania; Corporal Gisner, 142d Pennsylvania; Lieutenant Evan Davis, 115th Pennsylvania; Sergeant Myers, 62d Pennsylvania; Captain A. Goldman, 17th Maine; Lieutenant A. A. Rinehard, 148th Pennsylvania; Lieutenant Nieman, 103d New York; M. S. Asher, 103d New York; Lieutenant George Perdinger, 39th New York; Lieutenant Philip Truffinger, 57th New York; Lieutenant Herman Musschel, 68th New York; Lieutenant Herman Krauth, 103d New York; Lieutenant Julius Frank, 103d New York; Captain H. P. Schwerin, 119th New York; Julius Niebergall, Levi Kuehne and Henry Luterman, all of the New York 3d Artillery, and Lehman Israels, Lieutenant in the 58th New York.

It must be taken into account that when the War of the Rebellion broke out the number of Jews in the United States was quite limited; according to the census taken in 1876 by Mr. William B. Hackenburg, of Philadelphia, and myself, in behalf of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, there were then in the United States, fifteen years after the war commenced, only 250,000 Jews. It is altogether doubtful whether there were more than 150,000, if that many, when hostilities commenced. The proportion of Jewish soldiers is, therefore, only large, but is perhaps larger than that of any other faith in the United States. I have been told by one of the Jewish soldiers in this city, one who bears the scars of the war, that there were at least, as far as he could judge—and he had experience during the whole conflict—from 6,000 to 8,000 soldiers of the Jewish faith in the Union Army alone. I am not prepared to assert this number, but would not be surprised if it were found to be correct.

The animus of the writer in the North American Review is indicated by the words, "Except in General Sherman's Department, and he promptly ordered them out of it for speculating in cotton and conveying information to the Confederates." This statement is made with the same disregard of facts as are others in the article referred to, for while a few Jews may have violated the laws of war by running the blockade or furnishing information to the enemy, it was no more than others of other races and religious faiths did under like circumstances, even to a larger degree: and why the Jews as a class should be held up to the contempt and scorn of the world in consequence of the want of patriotism of a few of their number, is to me a profound mystery, and can only be explained upon the theory that inculcated prejudice is stronger than the desire for fair play or the regard for justice. No one for a moment would charge a particular class of Christians with

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