DOCSLIB.ORG

Ohio Valley Jewry During the Civil War

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ohio Valley Jewry During the Civil War Ohio Valley Jewry During the Civil War by STANLEY F. CHYET Whatever else may be distinctive about Jewish history, nothing compels our attention more than the fact — and the extent — of Jewish involvement in every one of the societies which have come to comprise Western civilization. From the very earliest times, begin- nings lost in the mists of antiquity, Jews have never found it possible to hold themselves aloof from the life emerging in the world around them. This is especially true here in America, and no one should be surprised to find that Jews in the Ohio Valley a century ago were as much caught up as their fellow citizens in the convulsions of the time. In general, Ohio Valley Jews shared the loyalties of their fellow citizens and reacted to the Civil War in a manner characteristic of the Valley as a whole.1 Exceptions there were — even notable ones — but they were exceptions. The Ohio Valley's Jewish community was not new in 1861. Nearly every river port of importance harbored its Jewish congrega- tion, and the Valley's largest Jewish community, that of Cincinnati, was already some forty years old when the war began. Cincinnati's oldest Jewish congregation, Bene Israel, better known today as the Rockdale Avenue Temple, had been the first to be established west of the Alleghenies, while B'nai Jeshurun, or Wise Temple as it is now called, had originated during the 1840's.2 The community's age notwithstanding, most of the Valley's Jews — as indeed most of the country's Jews — were of immigrant background in 1861. Most of them had come to these shores from German-speaking Central Europe. Those who had settled in the Valley constituted a part of the region's large German population. Virtually no economic enterprise in the Ohio Valley lacked Jew- ish representatives, but Cincinnati's garment industry featured an ^arnett R. Brickner, "The Jewish Community of Cincinnati, Historical and Descriptive, 1817-1933" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 1933), pp. 350-52; see also American Jewish Archives [AJA], XIII (No. 2, Nov., 1961), passim. 2Jacob R. Marcus, Memoirs of American Jews, 1775-1865 (Philadelphia, 1955), I, 206; Anonymous, The History of the K. K. Bene Yeshurun of Cincinnati, Ohio, from the Date of Its Organization (Cincinnati, 1892), Chap. I (unpaginated). 180 The Bulletin especially high proportion of Jewish participants.3 Charles Cist, in his Sketches and Statistics of Cincinnati in 1851, had noted that the garment industry was "a very extensive business here, which is prin- cipally engrossed by the Israelites. ..." The significance of this fact is highlighted by Cist's description of Cincinnati as "the great mart for ready-made clothing, for the whole South and West."4 The war's outbreak and the consequent closing of the Southern market ini- tially depressed the garment industry, but government contracts soon revived it and made it more lucrative than ever before. Jewish firms naturally benefitted from the resultant prosperity — none more so than the company of the brothers Mack, one of whom, Henry Mack, served through most of the war as the chairman of Hamilton County's Military Committee and was commissioned a colonel by Governor John Brough in 1864.5 We shall meet the Macks again in this account — in rather less savory circumstances. Politically, as well as geographically, the Ohio Valley was largely wedded to the Northern cause, and most of the Valley's Jewish citizens were outspokenly pro-Union in their sympathies. Rhenish- born Marcus M. Spiegel, Colonel of the 120th Ohio Infantry, had resided in Holmes County, near Canton, at the commencement of hostilities. He was typical of his fellow Valley Jews in regarding the Confederate banner as a "traitorous rag." "Ours," Colonel Spiegel told the troops under his command, "is the patriotic position of restoring the grand and sublime American Union — tranquility, peace and happiness to our bleeding country." On one occasion, Spiegel declared to his wife that he was anxious "for the suppression of this unholy and wicked rebellion. I am not in favor of settling this until the miserable cusses that would ruin our beloved country are thoroughly convinced of their error and completely whipped." The Colonel never lived to see that day, however, for he was mor- tally wounded on Louisiana's Red River in 1864. His daughter re- called in her memoirs that, at his death, he was about to be advanced to the rank of brigadier general.6 Another of the Valley's militantly pro-Union Jewish immigrants, Louis A. Gratz, had enlisted in the Northern army in the spring of 1861, only a few months after his arrival in America. Gratz had failed abysmally as a peddler in New York and Pennsylvania, and his 3See Williams' Cincinnati Almanac for the Year 1858: A City Guide and Busi- ness Mirror (Cincinnati, 1858), pp. 117-19. 4Charles Cist, Sketches and Statistics of Cincinnati in 1851 (Cincinnati, 1851), p. 184. ^Cincinnati, Past and Present (Cincinnati, 1872), p. 404; see also AJA, XIII, 174. *AJA, VII (No. 2, June, 1955), 232-33, and XIII, 191-99. Ohio Valley Jewry During the Civil War 181 enlistment may have been dictated by lack of anything better to do, but his military talents proved far superior to his business talents. Beginning as a common soldier, young Gratz distinguished himself at Chickamauga, and two years after his enlistment had risen to the rank of major, commanding the Union's Sixth Kentucky Cavalry. Major Gratz wrote to his family in Germany: "Should it be my destiny to lose my life, well, I will have sacrificed it for a cause to which I am attached with all my heart, that is: the liberation of the United States." The Confederacy aroused only his contempt. "While the South," he wrote, "has mobilized men from 16 to 64 — naturally only through the draft — we have an army equal to this number, which consists of men who left their homes and farms voluntarily in order to cleanse, with the blood of their hearts, the blemish that defiles their honor."7 No such flamboyant declaration has come down to us from a young Prussian-born cabinetmaker, Pvt. David Urbansky, of Piqua, JWM»*4 .|||il|giSlC-;; m * '•••*' Courtesy American Jewish Archives Soldier in center reading a book (possibly a Bible) is believed to be David Urbansky Ohio. Urbansky, who fought for the Union in the Mississippi cam- paign, apparently failed to record his sentiments, but his commander, Captain Charles Keller, of the 58th Ohio Infantry Regiment Volun- teers, warmly commended him "as a man of honor and bravery." Urbansky'& deportment "in the most sanguinary and hard contested 7Marcus, Memoirs, III, 226-35. 182 The Bulletin battles" did not go unnoticed by even higher authority, and Congress later conferred on him the Medal of Honor "for gallantry at Shiloh and Vicksburg."8 Urbansky's daughter, Professor Miriam Urban, later taught history at the University of Cincinnati for a generation. Although German birth predominated among the Jews of the Ohio Valley, one of the Valley's most memorable Jewish soldiers was French in origin. French-born Gabriel Netter, twenty-five years of age at the war's outbreak, reportedly enlisted in the Union forces as a private. Before long, however, he became a captain in the 26th Kentucky Infantry, mustered into service at Owensboro in the fall of 1861. The following summer, Captain Netter was com- missioned a lieutenant-colonel of the 15th Kentucky Cavalry and received authorization to recruit a regiment called the 34th Kentucky Mounted Infantry. The regiment came to be known as the Netter Battalion. Colonel Netter had prayed "for the speedy success of our noble and holy cause," but he was to share the fate of Ohio's Colonel Spiegel. Kentucky, at the outset of hostilities, found herself in the throes of her own Civil War — with a pro-Union legislature, a pro-secession- ist governor, and contending Union and Confederate military forces. In September, 1862, near Owensboro on the Ohio River, the Netter Battalion was surrounded by Confederate guerrillas and bidden to surrender. Colonel Netter's reply to the surrender demand is reminis- cent of — if more prolix than — the "Nuts!" which a German ulti- matum received at Bastogne during the Second World War. It was: "Never, till the last man of us is laid low in the dust." The Confeder- ate emissary, to whom this answer was entrusted, saluted, avowed his "most profound respect" for the young commander and the men of the Netter Battalion, and then withdrew to prepare for battle. A few minutes later, Colonel Netter was "laid low in the dust," a lifeless corpse. Said one of his subordinates of him in later years: "Had he lived through the war, I doubt not but that . his name and fame would have been placed along side of such men as Sheridan, Kilpatrick, and Custer." We can never know, of course, but there is no doubt at all that, as this same subordinate put it, "he was an honor to his race and to the country that gave him birth."9 These men — Spiegel, Gratz, Urbansky, Netter — were surely exceptional in their valor, but not in their sentiments. Most of their 8Photostats of David Urbansky Papers relating to Civil War service, 1861-1874 (Necrology, Medal of Honor, Discharge Papers, Statement of Award, Record of Service), American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio; Simon Wolf, The Ameri- can Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen (Philadelphia, 1895), pp. 107, 333 (Wolf refers to Urbansky as "Obranski" and "Orbanski"). 9Isaac W. Bernheim, History of the Settlement of Jews in Paducah and the Lower Ohio Valley (Paducah, Ky., 1912), pp.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • American Ulysses 166 & 167 by Ronald C
    American Ulysses 166 & 167 By Ronald C. White Reviewed by Robert Schmidt About the Author Ronald C. White is the author of American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant (2016). It won the William Henry Seward Award for Excellence in Civil War Biography awarded by the Civil War Forum of Metropolitan New York. General David H. Petraeus (Ret.) wrote, “Certain to be recognized as the classic work on Ulysses S. Grant.” White is also the author of three books on Abraham Lincoln. A. Lincoln: A Biography [2009], was a New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times bestseller, Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural and The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words. About the Book So, who is buried in Grant’s tomb, anyway? That’s an old and insipid joke, of course, but considering what we think we know about the 18th President of the United States, a question worth asking might be hiding in there. With American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant, Ronald C. White endeavors over 800 pages (over 100 them being notes referencing primary and secondary sources) to shed light on one of our most influential yet enigmatic figures. This isn’t a revisionist biography; Grant already got that treatment in the early 20th century, when he transformed from a respected Civil War general and public servant into a craven opportunist and failed president, drunk and penniless at his death (just try imagining a destitute former POTUS in this era). White first redresses criticisms of his martial prowess—primarily that he exploited a huge numbers advantage by needlessly sacrificing troops in exchange for victory—with detailed accounts, maps, and illustrations of his conflicts, showing a battlefield acumen previously diminished through ad hominem barbs.
    [Show full text]
  • Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Dent Grant Papers Finding Aid
    Mississippi State University Scholars Junction USGPL Finding Aids Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library 12-1-2020 Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Dent Grant papers Finding Aid Ulysses S. Grant Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/usgpl-findingaids Recommended Citation Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Dent Grant papers, Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, Mississippi State University This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at Scholars Junction. It has been accepted for inclusion in USGPL Finding Aids by an authorized administrator of Scholars Junction. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Dent Grant papers USGPL.USGJDG This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on December 01, 2020. Mississippi State University Libraries P.O. Box 5408 Mississippi State 39762 [email protected] URL: http://library.msstate.edu/specialcollections Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Dent Grant papers USGPL.USGJDG Table of Contents Summary Information ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Biographical Note: Ulysses S. Grant ................................................................................................................. 3 Scope and Content Note ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Administrative
    [Show full text]
  • US Grant: Warrior (2011)
    Page 1 U.S. Grant: Warrior (2011) Program Transcript Narrator: "My family is American and has been for generations in all its branches, direct and collateral," he would write. Ulysses S. Grant grew up in the Ohio River Valley. His father, Jesse Root Grant, had arrived in Georgetown, Ohio in 1823, when Grant was one year old. He was the descendant of pioneers who had settled the western frontier. "I attended the village schools," Grant said of his childhood. "I was not studious in habit, but never missed a quarter." When Ulysses was 16, he learned that his father had gotten him an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. John Y. Simon, Historian: Jesse Grant was the kind of man who would follow a dollar to hell. And when he learned about the possibility of sending his son to West Point at government expense, he jumped at the opportunity. It was only when the appointment was a sure thing that he finally told Ulysses that he's going to West Point. Young Grant said, "I won't go." And Jesse said, "You will." Narrator: When Ulysses Grant arrived at West Point, he stood five feet one inch, and weighed just 117 pounds. "I had a very exalted idea of the requirements necessary to get through," he wrote. "I did not believe I possessed them, and could not bear the idea of failing." Grant was out of place in the West Point cadet's world of military drills, crossed belts, and gleaming brass. Max Byrd, Novelist: He didn't have the military bearing.
    [Show full text]
  • Ulysses S. Grant Born April 27, 1822 Point Pleasant, Ohio Died July 23, 1885 Mount Mcgregor, New York
    Civil War Bios- Vol. 1 10/7/03 4:17 PM Page 159 Ulysses S. Grant Born April 27, 1822 Point Pleasant, Ohio Died July 23, 1885 Mount McGregor, New York Union general who captured Vicksburg and defeated Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, ending the Civil War Eighteenth president of the United States lysses S. Grant was one of the greatest—and most un- “I have but one Ulikely—military commanders in American history. Prior sentiment now. We have to the Civil War, he struggled to provide for his family, first a government and laws as a soldier and then as a businessman. But when the war and a flag and they must began, he quickly showed that he was one of the North’s be sustained. There are top military leaders. During the first two years of the con- flict, his victories at Fort Donelson, Vicksburg, and Chat- but two parties now: tanooga helped the Union seize control of the Confedera- traitors and patriots.” cy’s western states. Grant then moved to the war’s eastern theater (a large geographic area in which military operations take place), where he was given command of all the Union armies. Begin- ning in the spring of 1864, he brought the full power of the Union forces against the South. Grant’s merciless use of sus- tained pressure against the weary armies and citizens of the Confederacy eventually forced the South to surrender in 1865. Four years later, Grant became president of the United States. But the North’s greatest military hero never really learned how to be a good political leader, and his two terms Ulysses S.
    [Show full text]
  • A Struggle for Respect Lew Wallace’S Relationships with Ulysses S
    A Struggle for Respect Lew Wallace’s Relationships with Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman After Shiloh WILLIAM M. FERRARO ew Wallace, born on April 10, 1827, in Brookville, Indiana, aspired Lto greatness. Given a better than average start socially, politically, and economically, Wallace went on to achieve fame as a soldier, govern- ment official, and author before his death in 1905. Of the many relation- ships with other prominent Americans that he enjoyed over this long and active life, none proved more complex or troubling than those Wallace maintained with two of the best-known public figures of the nineteenth century: Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. The purpose of this article is to examine why Wallace continued to turn to these men for advice and assistance in the weeks and years after April _________________________ William M. Ferraro is an assistant professor and assistant editor with the Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia. He has a long-standing interest in the lives and rela- tionships of John and William Tecumseh Sherman, and his current book project studies the extended Sherman family during the Civil War. He wishes to thank the Indiana Magazine of History’s anonymous reviewer and staff members Eric Sandweiss and Cynthia Gwynne Yaudes for helping to focus and strengthen this article. He also thanks the Interlibrary Loan Department of the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia for facilitating the procure- ment of the Lew Wallace papers on microfilm, and Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko for inviting him to participate in the 2005 Lew Wallace Symposium.
    [Show full text]
  • Bulletin of the Kenton County Historical Society P.O
    Bulletin of the Kenton County Historical Society P.O. Box 641, Covington, Kentucky 41012-0641 [email protected] (859) 431-2666 January/February 2005 PROGRAMS January 11, 2005 7:00 pm Baker-Hunt Estate. We will have an onsite tour of how life really was around the turn of the century through the many original furnishings of the Baker and Hunt families. The tour will also include the classrooms and display areas. Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption. This remarkable cathedral will be open to our group for a guided tour . The cathedral museum, housing many interesting artifacts of church history, will also be included. February 15, 2005 7:00 pm This year held on February 26th, again at Northern Kentucky University. Heirloom Appraisals. Tim Dwight, of the Motch Jewelry Company, is scheduled to do appraisals. Newsletters Now Indexed The Bulletin Published bi-monthly by Sheri Myers, Extended Collections Services Librarian at NKU, The Kenton County Historical Society is preparing an online index of the Kenton County Historical Society's P.O. Box 641, Covington, Kentucky 41012-0641 membership publications. The index begins with the first newsletter, email: [email protected] from August of 1978, and will eventually include publications up to the present day. The publications are indexed by volume, as well as by the President………...………………….….Dr. Joseph Gastright title of the volume's main article. Included in the index is a scanned im- Vice-President……..……..…………….….. Ronnin Einhaus age of the original paper document. Treasurer……………..………………..…. W. Terry Averbeck Secretary………………………………...……….…..John H. Boh To see the index, go to: Board Members: www.nku.edu/~myerssh/KCHS/KCHSindex.html.
    [Show full text]
  • CIVIL WAR HERO to POST-WAR PRESIDENT Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822 – 1885)
    IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF OUR “COUSINS” … CIVIL WAR HERO TO POST-WAR PRESIDENT Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822 – 1885) — Bradley Rymph Ulysses S. Grant rose from humble beginnings name, “Simpson,” as if it were Grant’s middle on an Ohio farm to lead the Union armies to name. victory in the Civil War in 1865. Three years later — with his popularity soaring as a Grant did not like military life and did not military hero, with Abraham Lincoln dead, and plan to make a career of the army. with the new President, Andrew Johnson, Nevertheless, he served through the Mexican facing impeachment — he was elected to his War, fighting in almost every battle of the first of two terms as U.S. President. war, then served a tour of duty on the Pacific Coast at the Isthmus of Panama. Grants’ birth name was Hiram Ulysses Grant. When he was appointed to the United States In 1854, Grant resigned from the army and Military Academy at West Point at the age of returned home to a farm near St. Louis, 17, the Congressman who nominated him given to him by his father-in-law. Unable to didn’t know Grant’s full name. He left out make farming pay, he shifted a few years “Hiram” and added his mother’s maiden later to selling real estate, then to assisting his father’s leather business in Galena, Illinois. Text © 2010, 2011, by Bradley B. Rymph “IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF OUR ANCESTORS …” HOME PAGE: http://www.bradleyrymph.com HOW WE’RE RELATED: Ulysses S.
    [Show full text]
  • Grant Family Collection USGPL.Fam
    Grant Family collection USGPL.Fam This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on October 05, 2020. Mississippi State University Libraries P.O. Box 5408 Mississippi State 39762 [email protected] URL: http://library.msstate.edu/specialcollections Grant Family collection USGPL.Fam Table of Contents Summary Information ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Biographical Note ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Scope and Content Note ...................................................................................................................................... 5 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................... 6 Controlled Access Headings ............................................................................................................................... 6 Collection Inventory ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Box 3: Photograph Album ............................................................................................................................... 8 - Page 2 - Grant Family collection USGPL.Fam Summary Information Repository: Mississippi State University Libraries Creator: Grant,
    [Show full text]
  • Ulysses S. Grant
    Early Years • Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio. • First child of Jesse Root Grant and Hannah Simpson Grant. • After he was born the Grant Family moved to Georgetown, Ohio where he had an uneventful childhood. • He did show great aptitude as a horseman in his youth. Early Years (Continued) He became shy and reserved like his mother rather than being outgoing like his father. He hated working in father’s tannery business. During his listing, there was an error with his name and he was listed as Ulysses S. Grant. In fear of being rejected by the school, he immediately changed his name. Military Education Ulysses Grant earned only average grades at West Point Military Academy. His education, prior to West Point, was limited, therefore he was left as an unexceptional student. Only exceled in Math, Geology and especially in horsemanship. Graduated 21st of 39 in his class and was happy to out of school. Military Education (Continued) After graduation, he was commissioned a Brevet Second Lieutenant in the 4th infantry. He planned to resign from the military after his four years of mandatory service. Military Education (Continued) After graduating from West Point Military Academy, he was stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, near St. Louis. Met his future wife, Julia Dent, who was the sister of one of his roommates at West Point. They became engaged in June 1844, but Ulysses was sent out to fight in the Mexican-American War for 4 years. He served as a quartermaster, efficiently overseeing the movement of supplies.
    [Show full text]
  • 1820S: Birth & Childhood 1830S
    The following is a detailed chronology of Ulysses S. Grant's life, from birth to death. 1820s: Birth & Childhood 1822 ................................................................................................................................................................................. 3 1823 ................................................................................................................................................................................. 3 1830s: Schooling 1836 ................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1837 ................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1839 ................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1840s: Marriage & Military Service 1843 ................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 1844 ................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 1845 ................................................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Use and Disuse of Personal Staffs in the American Civil War
    THE RIGHT HAND OF COMMAND: USE AND DISUSE OF PERSONAL STAFFS IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR By ROBERT STEVEN JONES Bachelor of Arts Northwestern Oklahoma State University Alva, Oklahoma 1988 Master of Arts Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 1990 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May, 1997 -r~e':Ji~ )99 -, f) J1~Y THE RIGHT HAND OF COMMAND: USE AND DISUSE OF PERSONAL STAFFS IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR Thesis Approved: Dean of the Graduate College ii PREFACE On July 20, 1861, Union Major General Irvin McDowell needed help. Under pressure from President Abraham Lincoln to attack Confederate troops near Washington D. C. and fight the one big battle that most Northerners thought would end the Southern rebellion, McDowell had 34,000 troops, most of them poorly trained ninety-day volunteers, struggling through the muggy Virginia heat toward a creek known as Bull Run. McDowell's plan to attack General l?.G.T. Beauregard's 25,000 rebels was a sound one, he thought, but it involved feints and flank attacks, and he wondered if his green troops and commanders were up to it. They had already taken four days to march little more than twenty miles, supplies stretched along the line of march, and the unseasoned soldiers were exhausted before they had even fired a shot. Worse yet, with the enemy now nearby, two artillery batteries were lost. With no aide-de-camp at hand to find them, the beleaguered McDowell rode off to do it himself.
    [Show full text]
  • 18 Julia Dent Grant
    First Ladies of America Historians say that no first lady enjoyed Dinners became splendid her time in the White House more than Julia affairs noted for their beauty Grant. Climbing into the carriage when it was and Mrs. Grant’s gracious hospitality. time to leave, she wept. Her days in the White In addition to entertaining formally, House with her husband and children, following Mrs. Grant held Tuesday afternoon the trauma of the Civil War, had been the happiest receptions that were open to “any and all” in of her life. Washington. When asked if “colored people” were to be admitted during her receptions, the first lady made her Julia Dent grew up on her father’s plantation with all position clear to the White House staff: “Admit all.” the comforts of wealth. At 18, she fell in love with Ulysses S. Grant, a young army lieutenant of no The most glamorous social event orchestrated by the financial means. Grant’s military postings delayed their first lady was the 1874 wedding of the Grants’ daughter, wedding, but when he returned from the Mexican War, Nellie. The wedding was covered extensively in the they married. newspapers, with one paper featuring a 12-page wedding insert that sold out as fast as copies could be Mrs. Grant accompanied her husband whenever his printed. By this time, the Grants were used to the military assignments changed, but after the intense media coverage of their family; in an era couple endured a two-year separation, he when more people were literate and more came home and resigned his commission.
    [Show full text]