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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1990
2658 Coolidge
Berkley, MI 48077
How President Lincoln
Saved American Jews
ARLENE EHRLICH
Special to The Jewish News
T
he provost marshal's
orders had come
straight from his com-
manding general: clear the
city immediately of all Jews.
So the marshal rounded up
every Jewish man, woman,
and child and forced them at
gunpoint onto a dilapidated
river barge. Only two sick old
women were temporarily
spared. When a soldier ashore
discovered a newborn infant,
he flung it across the river-
bank, into the arms of its ter-
rified mother, just as the boat
slipped upstream. By morn-
ing, not a Jewish soul
remained in Paducah, Ken-
tucky.
On December 17, 1862,
General Ulysses S. Grant
ordered the forced expulsion
of every Jewish citizen from
the territories under his mil-
itary control. He nearly suc-
ceeded. From Paducah, Ken-
tucky, to the Mississippi
towns of Oxford and Holly
Springs, post commanders de-
ported every Jew they could
find. Elsewhere, local
military authorities executed
Grant's order on a selective
basis. Only the personal in-
tervention of Abraham Lin-
coln ended the worst incident
of official anti-Semitism in
American history.
Throughout the summer of
1862, there had been warning
signs. By June, Grant's army
controlled the entire depart-
ment of the Tennessee, which
comprised most of Kentucky,
Tennessee, and northern Mis-
sissippi. Only Vicksburg held
out, and Grant prepared to
lay seige.
Unfortunately, another
army — this one a ragtag col-
lection of merchants and
speculators — followed behind
the Union lines and threaten-
ed to sabotage Grant's
military gains. With northern
manufacturers desperate for
southern cotton, the U.S.
Treasury Department licens-
ed a few businessmen to trade
with the Confederacy. Profits
were immense; cotton that
had sold for 10 cents a pound
in 1860 brought 68 cents less
than two years later. With
prospects like those, it wasn't
long before the few legitimate
traders were overwhelmed by
hordes of unlicensed smug-
glers and profiteers who sup-
plied the Confederacy with
gold and contraband medical
and military supplies in ex-
change for cotton.
The situation had gotten
entirely out of hand. As Gen-
eral William T. Sherman com-
plained in July 1862, "We
cannot carry on war and
trade with a people at the
same time." The Treasury
Department began to pres-
sure Grant and his subordi-
nates to quash the illicit
traffic.
The speculators themselves
were a mixed lot from all
ranks of society. Their mem-
bership included vast num-
bers of Union officers and
enlisted men, some trading
directly with the enemy and
others accepting bribes to
look the other way. But some
'
Abraham Lincoln
Union generals, notably
William T. Sherman, insisted
— entirely without evidence
or justification — that it was
Jews who controlled and prof-
ited most from the sordid
commerce.
Again and again in July
and August 1862, Sherman
wrote to Grant and the War
Department about "swarms
of Jews" following the Union
Army and smuggling contra-
band to the enemy. On Aug-
ust 11, 1862, Sherman com-
plained to the Secretary of
the Treasury that "the flock
of Jews has disappeared but
will overrun us again." rIb the
Adjutant General in Wash-
ington he wrote, "The coun-
try will swarm with dishonest
Jews, who will smuggle pow-
der, pistols and (other contra-
band) in spite of all the
guards and precautions we
can give."
Pressured by the Treasury
and War Departments to sup-
press the illegal traffic, rank-
led by the widespread partici-
pation of his own men, and
swayed by the anti-Semitic
fulminations of men like
Sherman, Grant took decisive
action. On November 9, 1862,
he ordered his subordinates to
"Refuse all permits to come
south of Jackson for the pres-
ent. The Israelites especially
should be kept out."
The next day, Grant ampli-
fied his instructions. "Give
orders to all conductors on the
road," he wrote, "that no Jews
are to be permitted to travel
on the railroad southward
from any point. They may go
north and be encouraged in it,
but they are such an in-
tolerable nuisance that the
department* must be purged
of them."
*When Grant wrote the word
"department" with a capital
"D," he was referring to the
Treasury Department. When
he wrote with a lower-case "d,"
he was referring to the region
under his military control, the
Department of the Tennessee.
A month later, Grant issued
his final decree, the infamous
Order No. 11 of December 17,
1862:
The Jews, as a class vio-
lating every regulation
of trade established by
the Treasury Depart-
ment and also depart-
ment orders, are hereby
expelled from the
department within
twenty-four hours from
receipt of this order.
Post commanders will
see that all of this class
of people be furnished
passes and required to
leave, and anyone retur-
ning after such notifica-
tion will be arrested
and held in confinement
until an opportunity oc-
curs of sending them
out as prisoners .. .
Years later, during his pres-
idential campaign, when
Order No. 11 became an elec-
tion issue, Grant tried to
claim that his subordinates
had tricked him into issuing
the order. It was a feeble ex-
cuse. Hours after issuing
Order No. 11, Grant ex-
plained to the Assistant
Secretary of War that "the
Jews seem to be a privileged
class that can travel any-
where." Order No. 11 was an
episode of blatant anti-Sem-
itism, and neither Grant nor
his apologists ever managed
to rationalize it.
No other motive adequate-
ly explains Grant's actions.
Even if the speculators had
been predominantly Jewish
— and the evidence is over-
whelming that Jews corn-
prised at most a minuscule
fraction of the illegal traders
— that still fails to explain
why Grant deported women,
children, and old people who
could not possibly have been
trading with the enemy.