In reply to a letter addressed to him by the daughter of Abraham Kohn, Mrs. Dankmar Adler (whose husband, the architect of the Auditorium building and one of the architects of the Columbian Exposition, had fought through the war and been wounded at Chickamauga), Major McKinley wrote: "The incident deeply impressed me when I first learned of it, and I have taken occasion to use it, as in my speech at Ottawa, to which you refer.
"I am very glad to have been able to give publicity to this striking incident, and I am sure that the family of Mr. Kohn should feel very proud of his patriotic act."
The patriotism of the Jewish people in the support of the soldiers in the field was no less positive than their participation in the fray itself. The various bodies organized at the North for the support of the government, such as the Sanitary Commissions, counted a full quota of Jewish citizens among their membership everywhere.
Prominent in the West among these earnest co-workers in the cause of the Union was the lamented Benjamin F. Peixotto, of Cleveland, who severed the affiliations of an active political career and took an earnest part in arousing the patriotic sentiment of the people. He contributed largely of his means to the furtherance of the civil movements in support of the men at the front and attained a recognized position as a leader. When in 1872, the Jews of Roumania were subjected to persecutions by the Government of that principality, Mr. Peixotto was selected as Consul of the United States at Bucharest,[26] in which capacity his services were of marked importance to the cause of humanity and won for him the gratitude of the Jewish people at large, as well as the confidence and support of our government. Other Jewish patriotic leaders in the West during the war were Isidor Busch, of St. Louis; Henry Mack, of Cincinnati; Nathan Bloom, of Louisville, and others that ought, perhaps, to find mention here.
Notable in this connection at the East was Hon. A. S. Solomons, now the General Agent of the Baron de Hirsch Trust in the United States. Before the war and during its early years he was a leading Jewish citizen of Washington and enjoyed the confidence and esteem of President Lincoln, of Secretaries Stanton and Chase, and of many other leading spirits of the time. His home was a centre of patriotic activity and he made heavy sacrifices of his personal interest in behalf of the Union cause.
In the South, during the dark and trying days of the Confederacy, the Jewish citizens of that section displayed to the full their devotion to the cause which they held at heart. The Jewish Southerners were as zealous in their efforts as were their neighbors all about them, and however mistaken was their contention, they adhered to it tenaciously. A Jew, it is said, fired the first gun against Fort Sumter, and another Jew gave the last shelter to the fleeing President and Cabinet of the fallen Confederacy.