Probable number of Jews in the United States at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War—Seddon’s estimate of “from ten to twelve thousand Jews in the Southern Army”—Judah P. Benjamin, the greatest Jew in American public life—His early life and his marriage—Whig politician, planter and slave owner—Elected to the United States Senate and re-elected as a Democrat—Quits Washington when Louisiana seceded and enters the cabinet of the Confederacy—Attorney-General, Secretary of War and Secretary of State—His foreign policy—His capacity for work—When all is lost he goes to England and becomes one of its great lawyers—His last days are spent in France.
The highest estimate of the number of Jews in the United States about the time of the outbreak of the Civil War was about four hundred thousand (Jonas P. Levy in 1858; see “Publications,” XI, p. 39), while the lowest, given by Mr. Simon Wolf in his work, which is the standard authority on the participation of the Jews in the war,[39] thinks it “altogether doubtful whether there were more than 150,000, if that many, when hostilities commenced.” But it is certain that even if the higher estimate is nearer the truth, the Jews took their full share in the struggle and “that the enlistment of Jewish soldiers, North and South, reached proportions considerably in excess of their ratio to the general population.” Mr. Wolf has collected data to the effect that over seven thousand Jews took part in the conflict on both sides, but he has by no means been able to come near completeness. Neither the Government of the United States nor that of the Confederacy took notice of the religion of its soldiers; a large number of the young German-Jewish volunteers were far from being strict adherents of religion, while many among the native Jews had American names and could not be easily recognized as Jews. Mr. Seddon, the Secretary of War of the Confederacy, when requested, in the fall of 1864, to grant a furlough to Jewish soldiers who would like to keep Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur, is quoted as replying that he believed that there were from ten to twelve thousand Jews in the Southern Army, and that it would perhaps disintegrate certain commands if the request was granted. While this number is probably an exaggeration, it cannot be very far from the truth, and considering the comparatively small number of Jews in the South at that time, this is a really remarkable showing.
The number of Jews who distinguished themselves by their bravery and who attained high rank and other forms of recognition, was also correspondingly large, especially if we consider their inexperience in war. But before treating of the men who gained eminence on the field of battle, and of the others whose creditable record in the war helped them to attain positions of prominence in other walks of life afterwards, we shall speak of the one man who occupied a really commanding position in this gigantic struggle, the greatest Jew in American public life—Judah P. Benjamin.
Judah P. Benjamin.
From Pierce Butler’s “Judah P. Benjamin.”
He was the son of Philip (b. about 1782) and Rebecca de Mendes Benjamin, who emigrated from London, England, to St. Thomas, W. I., in 1808, shortly after their marriage, where the son was born August 6, 1811. The Benjamins removed to the United States, where they originally intended to go, about 1818, and settled in Charleston, S. C. Judah Philip entered Yale University in 1825, and left in 1827, without taking a degree. A year later he came to New Orleans, where he taught English, learned French and studied law as a notary’s clerk. He was admitted to the bar in 1832 and a year later married his former pupil, Natalie St. Martin, who remained all her life a devout Roman Catholic. The marriage was not a happy one, and when their only child which survived infancy was about five years old, Mrs. Benjamin moved permanently to France to educate her, and Mr. Benjamin saw them only on his visits to Paris, which he made almost annually.
Benjamin was associated with Thomas Slidell, who later became Chief Justice of Louisiana, in the preparation of the Digest of the Reported Decisions of the Superior Courts in the Territory of Orleans and State of Louisiana, which was published in 1834. He soon afterward became interested in politics, and was elected to the lower house of the General Assembly of Louisiana on the Whig ticket in 1842. When he was forced by weakened eyesight to relinquish his law practice for a time, he took up sugar planting, in which he likewise succeeded very well. The plantation, however, was ruined by a flood, and Benjamin removed to New Orleans, together with the members of his family, whom he brought over from South Carolina. They were his mother (d. 1847), his oldest sister, the widow of Abraham Levy (whom she married in 1826), and his younger sister, who later became the mother of Julius Kruttschnitt (b. in New Orleans, 1854), the railroad manager. As a planter Benjamin became a slave owner, and some of his slaves, who were still living at the beginning of the present century, “would tell visitors all sorts of tales of the master of long ago—none but kindly memories and romantic legends of the glory of the old place.”[40]
He soon became one of the recognized leaders of the Whig party in his state, and “no small share of the flashes of success that came to it in the last decade of its existence in Louisiana is attributable to his energy and political sagacity.” He was, according to the journalistic custom of that time, savagely assailed by the newspapers which opposed him, and he was even charged, in 1844, with belonging to the “Know Nothing” party, despite the fact that he was himself foreign born. But he agreed with that party in his opposition to the granting of suffrage to immigrants into the state, even to natives of Northern States, in whom he saw a source of danger to the South.
His seat in the Constitutional Convention of 1844 being contested, he resigned and was re-elected by a much larger majority. When he again took his seat at the convention which re-assembled in New Orleans, Benjamin was the recognized leader of the delegates of that city in its disputes with the representatives of the country districts. One of his speeches at that convention proved that he clearly foresaw the war in 1845, though he was then considered an alarmist. He was elected a State Senator in 1852, and soon became a leading candidate for the United States Senate. He received the nomination by an unexpectedly large majority and was elected in the same year, as a Whig. When that party was split by the antagonism between the North and the South, he came out openly in 1855 with the declaration that it did not exist any more as a national party. He urged the necessity of uniting in one great Southern party, on a platform “on which we can all stand together to meet with firmness the coming shock.” When the formation of such a party proved impracticable, he turned to the Democratic party and became more friendly to the administration. His first really powerful speech in the Senate was delivered May 2d, 1856, on the Kansas bill, in which he distinctly and calmly enunciated the right of secession.