“When General Grant Expelled the Jews” by Jonathan D. Sarna (Schocken Nextbook, 2012)
There were probably no more than 150,000 Jews in the United States at the time of the Civil War. Many of them served in the armies of both the North and the South. Then, on Dec. 17, 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant issued an infamous order that expelled the Jews “as a class” from the territories over which he had military control. The supposed reason for the order was to eliminate smuggling and profiteering, which Grant, at the time, attributed to Jewish merchants. In fact one family involved in profiteering was the Macks, Jewish clothing manufacturers. The Macks were Jewish, and their partner was none other than General Grant’s father, Jesse.
In his fascinating study of Grant’s infamous General Orders Number 11, Brandeis historian Jonathan Sarna examines the fallout from exiling “Jews as a Class.” There were immediate protests. Private individuals, representatives of the Jewish community, including rabbis, the head of B’nai Brith, and others immediately protested and contacted President Abraham Lincoln, who was totally unaware of the order. They feared that an expulsion like those from Spain and Portugal was in the offing. In the end, the order was almost immediately rescinded and very few Jewish individuals actually were forced from their homes.
In the aftermath of the General Order, Grant as an individual deeply regretted his action. In his book, Sarna describes what the Order meant for Grant’s candidacy for president, and how he treated the Jewish community after his election. More Jews were appointed to public office during the Grant presidency than at any time before. The Jewish community had his ear and encouraged the President to respond to Jewish persecution throughout the world. Much of what Sarna writes about is not generally mentioned in American history classes, nor is it usually a topic in Jewish history classes. The first time I encountered the General Order was in Dara Horn’s Civil War novel “All Other Nights.”
As usual, Schocken Publisher’s Nextbook Jewish Encounters Series has recovered a bit of Jewish culture and history that many individuals never before may have encountered. In this volume, the author’s erudition coupled with his approachable writing style and a subject of compelling interest to all Jewish Americans, places this volume among the best in the series.
Andrea Kempf is a retired librarian who speaks throughout the community on various topics related to books and reading. She is professor/librarian emeritus at Johnson County Community College.
