Jews as Leaders in the Confederacy

PACE 4

FRIDAY, SEPTE Ittgrerft 19, 1732

Judah Philip Benjamin's
Role During the Civil War

On the 100th Anniversary of His Election to the U. S. Senate

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

An American Jewish Press Feature

E

XACTLY 100 YEARS AGO, the state of Louisiana
sent to the United States Senate, as its spokesman,
a man who became one of the outstanding leaders of
the Confederacy. Judah Philip Benjamin was, in fact,
considered by some as the "brains" of the rebellious
Southern states. Thus, in "A Pictorial History of the
Confederacy" (Crown Publishers) Lamont Buchanan
wrote about him:

Robert Douthat Meade, who has. been professor of
history at the University of Illinois, Vanderbilt Uni-
versity and the University of North Carolina, un-
earthed many interesting facts about the noted states-
man in his "Judah P. Benjamin: Confederate States-
man" (Oxford Press). Prof. Meade's historical record,
woven around the life of Benjamin, reconstructs one
of the most interesting periods in American history.
He acquired his background on the subject from
three experts on Southern history—William E. Dodd,
Dumas Malone and Avery Craven. But he did not
limit himself to these. He went to Jewish sources,
interviewed descendants of the Benjamin family, and
his study is one of the most all-embracing ever under-
taken on the subject.

"First, Attorney General, then Secretary of War,
finally as Secretary of State on to the end of the war,
Judah Philip Benjamin of Louisiana was sometimes
referred to even by those who were not overly fond
of him as the 'brains' of the government. His talents
lay largely unused in the Attorney General's office,
but Benjamin was content to bide his time while other
more impatient men were scrambling for political
At the outset, the author of the Benjamin biogra-
power and thus, figuratively, losing their heads in the
phy makes much of the fact that the Confederate
scuffle with those as ambitious. Both an immensely
statesman was like Ibn Ezra, Baruch Spinoza and Dis-
able lawyer and an adroit politician, Benjamin was
raeli, of Spanish Jewish stock. "The aristocrats of
wealthy and had made his wealth by virtue of the Jewry" he calls them.
system the South represented. He had no reason to
question slavery or the right of the Southern states to
The elder Benjamin was an affiliated Jew. In
secede, though he considered that a last resort. It . Charleston, the family worshipped in Beth Elohim
has been suspected that Benjamin always realized the
Synagogue. But Philip Benjamin, the father of Judah,
limitations beyond which fervor and devotion could
rebelled against orthodoxy and joined in forming the
carry a cause so handicapped in material resources.
Reformed Society which lasted but a few years and
Regardless of his private thoughts, Judah Benjamin
was dissolved in 1833. It is believed to have been
served well and loyalty in all his posts. Between Davis
the first Reform Jewish movement in this country,
and him there was a bond of affection stemming from
the time when, as members of the U. S. Senate, an
antedating the Reform movement started by Dr. Isaac
unimportant argument between them almost led to a
M. Wise.
duel."
* * *

Many legends developed around the name of Ju-
dah Benjamin, who held the post of U. S. Senator
from 1853 to 1861—until the outbreak of the Civil
War. There have been many conflicting interpreta-
tions of his Jewish attitudes, some having considered
him an observant Jew and others having claimed that
he, his wife and daughter had embraced Catholicism.
Dr. Bertram W. Korn, history professor at Hebrew
Union College, Cincinnati, recently wrote a mono-
graph on Benjamin and reached the conclusion that
while the Louisiana Senator and Confederate leader
"had no positive or active interest in Jews or Judaism,
he never denied being Jewish or sought to escape his
background through conversion."
* * *

.

IT is evident that the Jewish influences on the life
of Judah P. Benjamin were weak and that his loyal-
ties to Jewry were limited, and on this score this
writer differs with Mr. Meade in his comparisons of
Benjamin with Disraeli. The parallel is rather remote.
True, they were both born Jews; both had inter-
married; both rose to great political heights.
But Benjamin Disraeli, in spite of his conversion,
had to his credit such great books as "David Alroy,"
"Tancred" and "Coningsby,", each representing a great
tribute to the spirit of the people Israel. The only
parallel to this in the life of Judah P. Benjamin is to
be found in two references to his Jewishness in Prof.
Meade's biography:
1—"With the future so critical for (Jefferson)
Davis and his chief ministers, did Benjamin turn more
TUDAH BENJAMIN has been compared to Benja-
to religion? Did now find in Judaism the faith
J min Disraeli by biographers who have referred to
that sustained so many of his forefathers in their hours
these two illustrious men as the outstanding Jewish
of trial? The undeniable fact is that he was seldom
statesmen in world history. Biographers also have
linked Benjamin with Louis Dembitz Brandeis when among the crowds who flocked to the churches dur-
ing the war. A Richmond Jew remembered his be-
discussing outstanding Jewish personalities.
ing 'called up' to the reading of the law at Beth
Ahaba synagogue, but he never attended there more
than a few times. Yet Benjamin did not foreswear
Judaism and he 'remained always a firm believer in
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itnmortality and in personal divinity.' It appears to
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have been a genuine, if not too active faith.
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"Incidentally, he was friendly but not partial to
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the Jewish soldiers of whom more than 10000 served
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the Confederacy, some with conspicuous bravery."
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In one of the hundreds of notes appearing at the
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end of the volume, the author gives as authorities for
. ".:...:...these statements: Herbert T. Ezekiel and Gaston
Lichtenstein, The Jews of Richmond,' and conver-
....
cation with the authors. They wrote that it was a
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Richmond Jew, Ellis Bottingheimer, who remember-
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ed seeing Benjamin being 'called up at the syna-
gogue."
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2—The strongest claim to Jewishness made for
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Benjamin is contained in the following statement in
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Meade's biography: Like so many of Jewish blood to-
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day, Be
Benjamin tended to become cosmopolitan. But al-
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though
he gradually separated himself from Jewish
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affairs, he never renounced his ancestral faith."
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But—read the explanatory note on this statement:
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"Mrs. Myrover . . quoted her mother-in-law as
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saying
that Benjamin inquired complainingly of his
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own mother why she named him Judah.
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"William Cabell Bruce (letter to author, 8 Apr.
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1931) gave the following story which was repeated
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to him by John K. Cowan, for many years General
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Counsel for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad: 'On one
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occasion, Benjamin, when in Baltimore, went before
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a Justice of the Peace to make affidavit to a paper. A
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blank had been left in the certificate of affidavit
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for
the insertion of the name of the off ion and
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when Benjamin handed the paper to the Justice, he
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asked him to fill in the blank.
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" 'Instead of inserting the name Judah, the Justice
This is the memorial to Judah P. Benjamin,
inadvertently inserted the name Judas; whereupon,
Benjamin reclaimed possession of the paper and dash-
dedicated by the State of Florida and the United
ed it down with great force on the desk of the Justice,
Daughters of the 'Confederacy in Sarasota, Fla. The
exclaiming, as he did so: 'My God, man, is not Judah
marker stands at the spot where Benjamin set sail
Jew enough?' "
for a foreign land after eluding pursuing Federal
This appears illustration enough of an attitude
that seemed to mark the character of a man who was

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a great lawyer, a brilliant statesman, one of

our

country's outstanding orators of all time.
* * *
THERE ARE numerous references to Jews in this
fascinating biography by Prof. Meade. It is evi-
dent throughout the book that the author is anxious to
indicate that anti-Jewish prejudices were non-existent.
But there is occasional evidence to the contrary. For
instance, while he was Secretary of War of the Gan-
federacy:

"Many of the suspicions against him arose from
the fact that he was in a public position that made
him susceptible to criticism, and from his manner
of living. Thus to attempt to bring the cask of sherry
into lean, suffering Richmond of 1864 was to invite
suspicion of corruption even more than gambling.
"There was an exaggerated story in the army
about 'that damned Jew,' living on 'fine wines, fruits
—the fat of the land,' and keeping open house in
Richmond. But doubtless Benjamin felt that he was
making tremendous sacrifices for the Confederacy
and fully earned his little pleasures. At times he seem-
ed so indifferent to criticism that some of his asso-
ciates may have been inclined to suspect the worst."
In reality, he was not indifferent to attack, and
was hurt by some references to him, including the
charges of thievery while a student at Yale.
* 0 *
THERE IS another interesting reference in this bi-
ll- ography to Benjamin's Jewishness. Mr. Meade
states:

"There appears to have been little or no opposition
to him because of his Jewish blood ... The Wilming-

ton Journal had quoted an article from the Mercury
written before his appointment,praising the Jews as
`amongst the most faithful and patriotic of the people
of South Carolina. It adds: 'In the Senate of the United
States they furnished two Senators, and both of these
Senators were from the South, and both of them have
been foremost in vindicating the rights, interests and
liberties of the South. Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Yulee
are worthy to sit in any assembly of statesmen in the
world'."

This story will be incomplete without recapitula-
tion of the story of Senator Yulee who shared
Benjamin's sentiments on the question of the South's
secession from the Union. Yulee was the first Jewish
Congressman, serving in the House of Representatives
before being elected to the Senate. -

Florida seceded from the Union, Jan. 10, 1861,
and the formal announcement was made 11 days later
in the Senate by Yulee. After Lee's surrender, Yulee
was named a member of the committee from Florida
to go to Washington and confer with Lincoln con-
cerning Florida's return to the Union.

He was arrested on his way to Washington, and
was the last of the Confederate leaders to be re-
leased in 1870, through the efforts of the former
Confederate General Johnson, whose plea was made
to President Grant.

*
*
IN THIS connection, it will be of interest to take a
census of the Jews who served in the United States
Senate, and the states they came from. Towards the
end of Meade's biography, in the chapter which
describes Benjamin's great success as a lawyer in Eng-
land, after his flight from this country upon the de.
feat of the Confederacy, we are told:
(Continued on Page 1ti),

