APPENDIX H JEWS IN THE SOUTH Why would Jewish people migrate to the South? From the conception of the United States, the absence of hostility to Jews was most appealing. It allowed them to progress and prosper in America. Over the centuries, the
New World promised a better life for those Jews escaping torment. They escaped the Spanish Inquisition, young Jewish men escaped Germany to avoid serving in anti-Semitic armies, others fled places like Alsace, Baden, Bavaria, Hesse, Hungary, Posen, Prussia, Silesia in Prussian Poland and Russian Poland, Swabia, and Westphalia (Robert N. Rosen, The Jewish Confederates. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2000. Hardcover p 9). The Constitution’s religious freedom clause was a welcome blessing, so they were able to practice Judaism in peace.
When the Civil War began the South had the largest Jewish population in the country with over 10,000 Jewish men making up the largest ethnic group fighting for the Confederacy. General Robert E. Lee, the most famous Confederate General allowed his Jewish soldiers to observe all Holy days, unless the timing conflicted with the war.
Too many people including northern Jews believe there were very few or no Jews living in the South before the Civil War. Most Americans aren’t fully taught U.S. history. Since the North won the Civil War, they have been telling a skewed empty version of the war by leaving a lot of the South’s history out of the U.S. history books. By the time the Civil War began, European Jews had already been settling America’s South since the 1600s.
APPENDIX H JEWS IN THE SOUTH “The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the department [the “Department of the Tennessee,” an administrative district of the Union Army of occupation composed of Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi] within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order.
Post commanders will see to it that all of this class of people be furnished passes and required to leave, and any one returning after such notification will be arrested and held in confinement until an opportunity occurs of sending them out as prisoners, unless furnished with permit from headquarters. No passes will be given these people to visit headquarters for the purpose of making personal application of trade permits (Jewish Virtual Library,” Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress: Order No. 11). This order is not to be confused with the Tuesday, August 25, 1863, General Order No. 11. The Confederacy was unquestionably founded in defense of slavery, a fact clearly stated in multiple secession documents and political speeches of the period. However, historians also note that individual Confederate soldiers often fought for a variety of personal reasons, including defense of their home states, local communities, economic survival, and beliefs surrounding state sovereignty.
It was the Northern General, Ulysses S. Grant, who issued anti-Jewish orders. General Order No. 11, during the Civil War on Wednesday, December 17, 1862, barred all Jews from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. APPENDIX H JEWS IN THE SOUTH The South’s Jewish population continued to grow after the Civil War especially during the 1880s, when Russian Czar Alexander III, began his ruthless campaign of terror against the Jews of his empire. As a result, millions of Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian Jews fled to America.