An “invaluable” collection of essays revealing the experience of Jewish soldiersand civilians during the Civil War: “Essential and illuminating.” —Harold Holzer, Moment Magazine
At least 8,000 Jewish soldiers fought for the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. A few served together in Jewish companies while most fought alongside Christian comrades. Yet even as they stood “shoulder-to-shoulder” on the battlefield, they encountered unique challenges.
In Jews and the Civil War, Jonathan D. Sarna and Adam Mendelsohn assemble for the first time the foremost scholarship on the subject, little known even to specialists in the field. These accessible and far-ranging essays from top scholars are grouped into seven thematic sections—Jews and Slavery; Jews and Abolition; Rabbis and the March to War; Jewish Soldiers during the Civil War; The Home Front; Jews as a Class; and Aftermath—each with an introduction by the editors. Together they reappraise the war’s impact on Jews in the North and the South, offering a rich and fascinating portrait of the experience of Jewish soldiers and civilians from the home front to the front lines.
Jonathan D. Sarna (Editor) Jonathan D. Sarna is the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University and Chief Historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History. He has written, edited or co-edited more than twenty-five books, including American Judaism: A History, winner of the “Jewish Book of the Year” award from the Jewish Book Council.
Adam D. Mendelsohn (Editor) Adam D. Mendelsohn is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town. He is the author of The Rag Race: How Jews Sewed Their Way to Success in America and the British Empire and co-editor of Jews and the Civil War: A Reader and Transnational Traditions: New Perspectives on American Jewish History.
Table of Contents
Preface IntroductionAdam Mendelsohn Overview Eli N. Evans 1 Jews and New Christians in the Atlantic Slave Trade Seymour Drescher 2 Jews and Negro Slavery in the Old South, 1789–1865Bertram W. Korn 3 Revolution and ReformJayme A. Sokolow 4 The Abolitionists and the JewsLouis Ruchames 5 Isaac Mayer Wise and the Civil WarSefton D. Temkin 6 Baltimore Rabbis during the Civil War Isaac M. Fein 7 Divided Loyalties in 1861Stanley L. Falk 8 Jewish Confederates Robert N. Rosen 9 From Peddler to Regimental Commander in Two YearJacob Rader Marcus 10 Eugenia Levy PhillipsDavid T. Morgan 11 Shifting VeilsDianne Ashton 12 “Shoddy” Antisemitism and the Civil WarGary L. Bunker and John J. Appel 13 Jewish Chaplains during the Civil War Bertram W. Korn 14 That Obnoxious OrderJohn Simon 15 Civil War ExodusStephen V. Ash 16 The Post–Civil War Economy in the SouthThomas D. Clark 17 Candidate Grant and the Jews Joakim IsaacsFor Further ReadingIndex About the Editors
