Leader page to JHSSC Fall 2010 Set your Acrobat Reader to View > Page Display > Two-Up T HE J EWISH H ISTORICAL S OCIETY o f S O U T H C AROLINA SPRING 2011 VOLUME XVI - NUMBER 1 Register for the Spring Conference “Jews, Slavery, and the Civil War” May 24 – 26, 2011 College of Charleston Pages 11 – 13 PAGE 2 JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA In this issue From the President of the JHSSC 3 Ann Meddin Hellman When Grant Expelled the Jews 4 Jonathan D. Sarna After alienating American Jews in 1862 with his infamous antisemitic General Orders No. 11, Ulysses S. Grant later earned their trust as a two-term president. Ann Meddin Hellman President Diplomacy’s Cruel Sword: Confederate Agents in Pursuit of Recognition 6 Theodore Rosengarten On the cover: Judah P. Benjamin and Edwin De Leon—both men of Sephardic ancestry raised in South Columbia, South Carolina, Carolina—became bitter rivals in the diplomatic struggle to win recognition for the surrenders to General Confederacy. William T. Sherman, February 17, 1865. Early “He Was Like One of Us”: The Judaization of Abraham Lincoln 8 Gary P. Zola the next morning, a fire Abraham Lincoln’s Jewish contemporaries viewed him as a friend and ally. With the passage breaks out and spreads, of time, his stature in the eyes of American Jews rose to that of a biblical patriarch. engulfing the town. The Burning of Columbia, Registration for Spring Conference: “Jews, Slavery, and the Civil War” 11 South Carolina (1865), Conference Schedule, College of Charleston, May 24–26, 2011 12 by William Waud for Harper’s Weekly. A Yiddisher Yankee in King Cotton’s Court 14 Billy Keyserling Harriet Keyserling’s eldest son recounts the contributions of his mother, a former state legislator and progressive activist, to her adopted state. Honoring Harriet Hirschfeld Keyserling: Selected remarks from a celebration of her life, USC Beaufort Performing Arts Center, March 5, 2011 15 Martin Perlmutter, Pat Conroy, Richard W. Riley, and Charles T. (Bud) Ferillo share their memories of Representative Keyserling’s public and private persona. Books of Interest 19 Moses of South Carolina: A Jewish Scalawag during Radical Reconstruction by Benjamin Ginsberg, reviewed by Harlan Greene. Home in the Morning by Mary Glickman, reviewed by Andrea Mendelsohn. The Jewish Historical Memoirs, Sermons, Judaica: Jewish Heritage Collection Is in Full Swing 20 Society of South Carolina Sarah Dorpinghaus Newsletter is published The Jewish Heritage Collection’s new project archivist describes her team’s progress in pro- twice a year. cessing a vast array of items donated to Special Collections at the College of Charleston. Dale Rosengarten, editor Oral History Archives Goes Digital 22 Alyssa Neely Alyssa Neely, asst. editor When the Jewish Heritage Collection’s oral history interviews are digitized, anyone with Joseph Rubin, designer Internet access can listen to the voices of South Carolina’s Jews. Spring Has Sprung 23 www.jhssc.org Martin Perlmutter SPRING 2011 VOLUME XVI - NUMBER 1 PAGE 3 From the President of the JHSSC he sesquicentennial of the Civil War begins in April the graves in Aiken’s Sons of Israel Cemetery, the Society’s and Jewish American Heritage month is celebrated web page has been updated with additional burials, linking in May. What better way to acknowledge both names to the gravestones. You can check out the site at Tcommemorations than by sponsoring a symposium on the www.jhssc.org/Aiken_Cemetery. theme of “Jews, Slavery, and the Civil War”? From May 24– Joe Wachter is processing the paperwork for the third 26, the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina will join historical marker sponsored by JHSSC. At our meeting the Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program in hosting a in Anderson, the board voted to erect a marker in front of conference that features world renowned speakers, exciting B’Nai Israel to acknowledge the congregation’s century-long field trips, and plenty of time for Q&A. history. If you know of other historically significant sites, Activities begin on Tuesday afternoon, May 24, with contact Joe at [email protected] or submit your suggestions at a boat ride to Fort Sumter, an opening reception, and a www.jhssc.org on the volunteer page. screening of the film Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Grey. Panel Save the dates October 28–30, 2011, for the Southern presentations will be held at the College of Charleston Jewish Historical Society’s annual meeting, to be held at on Wednesday and Thursday, May 25 and 26. A keynote the University of South Carolina in Columbia. JHSSC address by Jonathan D. Sarna on Wednesday evening at and USC’s Jewish Studies Program are collaborating with Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim the regional society to will be open to the public, Pillars–the Society's main support put together an exciting following a banquet for David and Andrea Draisen from Anderson, and Lowell and program which will be conference attendees in Barbara Epstein of Charleston, recently joined our illustrious posted on our website events the temple’s social hall. list of members who make a commitment of $5,000, payable page as plans are finalized. See pages 11–13 for more over five years. Annual membership is also critical to assure the If the SJHS meeting Max information and a schedule Society’s future. Sign up now or renew your support by filling and I attended in Chapel of events. out the form on the newsletter’s back cover. You also can pay Hill, North Carolina, last Anderson’s B’Nai Israel your dues online by going to www.jhssc.org and clicking on October is any indication of welcomed the JHSSC for membership. what Columbia will be like, our November meeting. we are in for a spectacular The host committee went all out to make the day a success, treat. To volunteer to help the local host committee, please providing a delicious lunch, a musical interlude by diva contact Rachel Gordin Barnett at (803) 783-1666, or via Dina Claire, and a printed program booklet including the email, [email protected]. agenda and images of the synagogue’s beautiful stained Finally, it is with great sadness that I note the passing of glass windows. For a copy of the booklet and a history of the Harriet Keyserling of Beaufort, South Carolina. An original synagogue, go to www.jhssc.org and click on SC Synagogues board member of the Society and a steady supporter of the and Cemeteries. College’s Jewish Studies Program, Harriet died on Friday, The weekend of March 11 and 12, 2011, Aiken’s December 10, 2010. She will be sorely missed by everyone Congregation Adath Yeshurun celebrated its 90th who knew her, but remembered far and wide as a political anniversary. Friday night, curator and historian Dale trailblazer and state legislator, and as author of the classic Rosengarten presented a slide lecture after dinner at the memoir, Against the Tide: One Woman’s Political Struggle. Woodside Plantation Country Club. On Saturday, the celebration continued at the synagogue with group pictures, Fondly, Shabbat services, lunch, and an afternoon program sharing tales of founding members. A hearty mazel tov to Adath Yeshurun! Thanks to Board Member Doris Baumgarten, who Ann Meddin Hellman enlisted the help of Nelson Danish to take pictures of all of [email protected] PAGE 4 JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA When Grant Expelled the Jews by Jonathan D. Sarna n December 17, 1862, as the Civil War entered its sec- Jews dashed off a telegram to ond winter, General Ulysses S. Grant issued the most President Abraham Lincoln notorious anti-Jewish official order in American his- describing their plight. tory:O “The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade In all likelihood, Lincoln established by the Treasury Department and also department never saw that telegram. He orders, are hereby expelled from the department within twen- was busy preparing to issue ty-four hours from the receipt of this order.” Known as Gen- the Emancipation Proclama- eral Orders No. 11, the document blamed “Jews, as a class” for tion. The irony of his freeing the widespread smuggling and cotton speculation that affected the slaves while Grant was the area under Grant’s command. It required them to leave. expelling the Jews was not Just hours after the order was issued, Grant’s forces at Hol- lost on some contemporaries. ly Springs were raided by 3,500 Confederate troops led by Ma- Some Jewish leaders feared jor General Earl Van Dorn. The results proved devastating, and that Jews would soon replace Cesar Kaskel. Photograph File., PC- lines of communication were disrupted for weeks. As a conse- blacks as the nation’s stigma- 2210. American Jewish Archives, quence, news of Grant’s order expelling the Jews spread slowly tized minority. Cincinnati, Ohio. and did not reach army headquarters in a timely fashion. This Kaskel decided to appeal to Abraham Lincoln in person. spared many Jews who might otherwise have been banished. Paul Revere–like, he rode down to Washington, spreading A copy of General Orders No. 11 finally reached Paducah, news of General Orders No. 11 wherever he went. With help Kentucky—a city occupied by Grant’s forces—11 days after it from a friendly congressman, he obtained an immediate inter- was issued. Cesar Kaskel, a staunch Union supporter, as well view with the president, who turned out to have no knowledge as all the other known Jews in the city, were handed papers or- whatsoever of the order, for it had not reached Washington. Ac- dering them “to leave the city of Paducah, Kentucky.” As they cording to an oft-quoted report, he resorted to biblical imagery prepared to abandon their homes, Kaskel and several other in his interview with Kaskel, a reminder of how many 19th-cen- tury Americans linked Jews to Ancient Israel, and America to the Promised Land: “And so,” Lincoln is said to have drawled, “the children of Israel were driven from the happy land of Canaan?” “Yes,” Kaskel responded, “and that is why we have come unto Father Abraham’s bosom, asking protection.” “And this protection,” Lincoln declared, “they shall have at once.” General-in-Chief of the Army Henry Halleck, ordered by Lincoln to countermand General Orders No.