IN THE CIVIL WAR.

Number of Jewish Soldiers who Served in Different Warsof the United States.

In the Continental Armies (including patriots)46In the War of 181244In the Mexican War58In the United States Regular Army96In the United States Navy78In The Civil War.Staff Officers in the Union Army16Staff Officers in the Confederate Army24Officers in the Confederate Navy11Soldiers classified in Regiments from differentStates who served in the Union and ConfederateArmies during the Civil War7038Soldiers unclassified as to States who servedduring the Civil War834Other Soldiers (indicated in Addenda)12——Total in all wars8257

Number of Soldiers Classified According to States.

Alabama.135Arkansas.53California.28Connecticut.17District of Columbia.3Florida.2Georgia.144Illinois.702Indiana.475Iowa.12Kansas.9Kentucky.22Louisiana.224Maine.1Maryland.7Massachusetts.174Michigan.130Mississippi.158Missouri.86Nevada.3New Hampshire.2New Jersey.277New Mexico.2New York.1996North Carolina58Ohio.1004Pennsylvania.527Rhode Island.4South Carolina.182Tennessee.38Texas.103Vermont.1Virginia.119Washington Territory.1West Virginia.7Wisconsin.331Wyoming Territory.1——7038

The foregoing lists of Jewish soldiers in the armies of the Civil War may well be supplemented by a review of Jewish activity in civil walks in connection with that momentous struggle. In the political movements for the abolition of slavery there were not lacking many Jews who took an active and at times a leading part in the moulding of public opinion, and the fact that the influence of these men did not become more widespread may be regarded as almost wholly due to their having been but recent immigrants from foreign lands and therefore comparative strangers in the communities in which they settled. Such men were Michael Heilprin, the scholar and philanthropist whose devotion to liberty had previously been attested by his activity as a member of Kossuth's civil staff during the Hungarian Revolution; Dr. Edward Morwitz, then a writer and afterwards publisher of the "Demokrat," a German newspaper of Philadelphia, and Rev. Dr. Sabato Morais, then and still at present the Rabbi of a Philadelphia congregation. Dr. David Einhorn's ardent advocacy of the abolition of slavery led to his removal from Baltimore; and in New York, Rev. Samuel M. Isaacs, then Rabbi of a congregation of that city and editor of the "Jewish Messenger," took an earnest part in the movement.

In the West, among the pioneers of the Jewish community, are to be named in this connection Dr. James Horwitz, of Cleveland; Rabbi Liebman Adler, then of Detroit; Henry Greenebaum, then a member of the City Council of Chicago; Edward Salomon, afterwards County Clerk of Cook county and subsequently Brigadier-General in the army, and Leopold Mayer and Michael Greenebaum, likewise of Chicago. In an article on the German pioneers of Chicago, published in a late issue in the "Times-Herald" of that city (June 9th, 1895), are printed someinteresting reminiscences of ante-bellum times, wherein Mr. Mayer is quoted as follows:

"The fugitive slave law set us at loggerheads with the powers that were. It was sometime in 1853 when a United States Marshal, on the corner of Van Buren and Sherman streets, arrested a poor devil of a negro as a fugitive. A crowd of citizens, led by Michael Greenebaum, liberated the prisoner and on the same evening a big meeting was held to ratify this act. The enthusiasm in this meeting reached its highest pitch when Long John Wentworth entered the hall and publicly declared from the platform that he would be with us in resisting the enforcement of the barbaric law. From that time we slowly but steadily marched up hill. The first official call for a German mass meeting to join the Republican party appeared in the 'Staats Zeitung' signed by George Schneider, Adolph Loeb, Julius Rosenthal, a cigar dealer by the name of Hanson and my humble self."

Here we find four Jews among five leaders of the German population of Chicago in a great political movement.

In another portion of the same article another of the old pioneers, William Vocke, Esq., referring to the record of the 24th Illinois regiment, is quoted as follows:

"Our regiment served three years and three months. With recruits taken in from time to time, fully 1200 men had joined it. Only 240 of us returned. One company of this regiment consisted exclusively of Hebrews. It was led by Captain Lasalle, who stuck it out with us to the last."

Another striking incident of the forcefulness of Jewish sentiment in the great agitation that preceded the outbreak of the war is recorded by Rear Admiral George Henry Preble, U. S. N., in his "History of the Flag of the United States of America," (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, fourth edition, 1894.) We quote as follows: (Page 406).

"On the 11th of February, 1861, Mr. Lincoln, the President-elect of the United States, left his home in Springfield, Illinois, for the seat of government, accompanied by a few friends. His fellow-citizens and neighbors gathered at the railway station to wish him God-speed. He was visibly affected bythis kind attention, and addressed the assembly of his friends in a few words, requesting they would all pray that he might receive the Divine assistance in the responsibilities he was about to encounter, without which he could not succeed, but with which success was certain. Before leaving Springfield, he received from Abraham Kohn, city clerk of Chicago, a fine picture of the flag of the Union, bearing an inscription in Hebrew on its folds. The verses being the 4th to 9th verses of the first chapter of Joshua, in which Joshua was commanded to reign over a whole land, the last verse being: 'Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord, thy God, is with thee whithersoever thou goest.'"

In a recent speech at Ottawa, Kansas, on June 20, 1895, (quoted in theReform Advocate, of Chicago, July 13, 1895,) Governor William McKinley, of Ohio, referred to this incident as follows:

"What more beautiful conception than that which prompted Abraham Kohn, of Chicago, in February, 1861, to send to Mr. Lincoln, on the eve of his starting to Washington, to assume the office of president, a flag of our country, bearing upon its silken folds these words from the first chapter of Joshua: 'Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord, thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses so shall I be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.'"Could anything have given Mr. Lincoln more cheer, or been better calculated to sustain his courage or to strengthen his faith in the mighty work before him? Thus commanded, thus assured, Mr. Lincoln journeyed to the capital, where he took the oath of office and registered in heaven an oath to save the Union. And the Lord, our God, was with him, until every obligation of oath and duty was sacredly kept and honored. Not any man was able to stand before him. Liberty was the more firmly enthroned, the Union was saved, and the flag which he carried floated in triumph and glory from every flagstaff of the republic."

"Could anything have given Mr. Lincoln more cheer, or been better calculated to sustain his courage or to strengthen his faith in the mighty work before him? Thus commanded, thus assured, Mr. Lincoln journeyed to the capital, where he took the oath of office and registered in heaven an oath to save the Union. And the Lord, our God, was with him, until every obligation of oath and duty was sacredly kept and honored. Not any man was able to stand before him. Liberty was the more firmly enthroned, the Union was saved, and the flag which he carried floated in triumph and glory from every flagstaff of the republic."

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.

Throughout the country, North and South, the earnestness of the Jewish character found expression through an active participation by Jewish citizens in the great movements of the time. A closer examination of this feature of our subject would involve a detailed reference to the leading members of the various Jewish communities throughout the land, and carryus into fields beyond our present scope, which have already received the careful attention of other writers.[27]

One specially significant example of American Jewish citizenship and manly worth yet claims our attention. In New York, foremost in every patriotic movement, were the brothers Joseph and Jesse Seligman. The place that they filled in the affairs of that time and since has become a part of our country's history. Their influence in maintaining the financial credit of the Government during the war was of far reaching import for the cause of the Union, and the recognition of their services led President Grant to offer to Joseph Seligman, who died in 1880, a place in his Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury. The universal esteem in which Joseph and Jesse Seligman were held, not alone as men of affairs, but as patriots, citizens and philanthropists, was well betokened by the expressions given to the public feeling when Jesse Seligman died. Some of these expressions may well be cited here, for Jesse Seligman was,par excellence, as perfect a type of the American Jew as he was typically an American citizen. He died in April, 1894, and from among the innumerable tributes to his worth, we cite a few of the expressions of some of the leading men of the metropolis, whose stations are a guarantee of their judgment and sincerity, and most of whom had known him through a generation of years.

Lengthy, comparatively speaking, in view of the necessary limitations of this volume, as are these several presentations, they yet command our full consideration by reason of their great significance.

Hon. Carl Schurz, on the occasion of the Memorial Services at the New York Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Decoration Day, May 30, 1894, painted for his audience in the following deeply thoughtful utterances a vivid picture of a model Jew and a model man:

"It is most fit that the memory of Jesse Seligman should be celebrated here, on this very spot. I see him now, as he stood here years ago, when the corner-stone of this magnificent building was laid, and when, owing to his friendly invitation, I enjoyed the privilege of taking part in the dedication ceremonies, I see him, his face beaming with joy over the good that had been accomplished, and with glad anticipation of the greater good still to be done, for his whole heart was in this noble work. And here, where his monument stands—not a mere monument of stone or brass, but a living monument in grateful human hearts—here, where he still lives and will not die, the lessons of his life may be most worthily learned, not to be forgotten."Indeed, the legacy not only of benefactions, but of lessons which that life has left behind it, may be, especially to the young among us, if they understand well and treasure them up to inspire and guide their hearts and minds, of far greater value than any amount of his money that Jesse Seligman might have bequeathed to them. Some of us may, perhaps, have envied him while he lived, as an eminently successful man. But do we consider him worthy of envy now, since he is dead? Why do we honor his memory, and wish that, when we shall be gone, we should, in many respects, be remembered as he is? Because he was a rich man? Certainly not; for that is in itself nothing to be proud of. The ambition to be merely rich is only a small and vulgar ambition. It may be gratified by the accident of birth or of good fortune; it may be gratified by the diligent and constant exertion of faculties, which do not by any means belong to the higher attainment of human nature. Of those who, in the history of mankind, left most fragrant memories behind them, only very few were distinguished by great wealth, and the mere possession of that wealth never constituted their title to affection and reverence."Are we honoring Jesse Seligman because he was a successful, self-made man? This is especially in our country of great opportunities, not in itself a distinction deserving uncommon esteem. I know, and no doubt you know, self-made men so inordinately puffed up with their own success, so forgetful of the merits of others in comparison with their own, so oppressive with the ostentations and unceasing display of their riches as their self-appreciation, that they rank among the most disagreeable members of human society, making us wish that they had made anything else but themselves."Or do we admire Jesse Seligman above others because hewas a patriotic man? No, for under ordinary circumstances it is only a natural thing to be patriotic. Especially a citizen of this Republic is more apt to attract attention and to be blamed when he is not patriotic, than to be praised when he is."All these things, therefore, are in themselves not sufficient to make a life valuable as a memory, and as an inspiration. Jesse Seligman's life, as we look back upon it, is such a valuable memory and inspiring lesson because he was above the ordinary level of the merely rich, self-made, liberal and patriotic men."The ideal rich man is he, who not only has come by his wealth honestly, but who uses his riches in such a fashion as to silence the voice of envy, and to make those who knew him glad and grateful that he was rich. To reach this ideal completely is given to but few. But it may truly be said that Jesse Seligman approached it. No doubt, he wished to be rich and worked for it. He valued the acquisition of wealth, but he valued it most as the acquisition of opportunities for something larger and nobler. He saw his business success but not his higher ambition and his happiness in his balance sheets. He felt himself greater and happier in this orphan-home than in his bank. He made his wealth a blessing to others; he enjoyed it the more, the greater the blessing to others it became, and there were many who wished him to be much richer, knowing that his greater wealth would only have become to many others greater relief and comfort. He was such a self-made man as it is a joy to meet. In a high degree he had the self-made man's virtues and was remarkably free from his faults. He never forgot his lowly beginnings, but never boasted of them, to contrast his success with other people's failures. His recollections only stimulated his sympathy with those less fortunate than himself. He did not in his affluence affect the rough simplicity and contempt of refinement in which upstarts sometimes demonstratively please themselves and which is only a coarse form of vanity; and still less was he an ostentatious swaggerer bent upon letting the world perceive that he possessed his millions. He lived with his family in a style becoming his means, but with the modesty becoming a gentleman. There was no gaudy display of riches, no obtrusive flashing of diamonds on hotel piazzas, and no flaring exhibition in opera boxes. But there was nothing mean about him or his. The hospitality of his house was hearty and most generous, but it abstained from anything that might have made one of his guests feel poor or small. Nor was there anything in him of that superciliousness not unfrequently met with in rich men which claims for them much wisdom, because they have much money."In all my experience I have never met a rich man, moremodest, more generous more tolerant of adverse opinion, or a self-made man less overbearing, less vain-glorious, and less conceited, more sympathetic and more helpful. As a matter of fact, he was thought much richer than he really was—richer not because of his display, but because of his benefactions. To judge from the good he did, his wealth should have been much greater. He was a liberal giver, but he gave much more than money. That rich man only manifests the true spirit of benevolence who not only gives to the needy, but who also thinks for them and works for them. It was by this that Jesse Seligman proved the genuine gold of his humanity, and nowhere did this gold shine more brightly than on this very spot. There was indeed no charitable enterprise within his reach that did not feel the generosity of his open hand, and, when needed, the kindly thoughtfulness of his counsel, from the hospital and the home for the aged up to that remarkable triumph of wisely directed energy, the Hebrew Technical Institute, which not only successfully demonstrates that the Jew, when well guided, will take to skilled handicraft with enthusiasm and with the whole force and ingenuity of his nature, but which also in its plan, organization and conduct may serve as a noble model of its kind to the educators of any country and of any creed."All such endeavors could count upon Jesse Seligman's bountiful aid; and when his last will was opened and the community saw the list of the benevolent institutions to which he had left bequests, without regard to religion or nationality, with unsurpassed catholicity of spirit, people asked with wonder, not what opportunities for doing good he had thought of, but whether there was any he had failed to remember. It was, however, here in the Orphans' Home that his heart found its favorite field for beneficent work. Here he lived on the best of his nature. It was truly touching to see this man, loaded down with the enormous responsibilities and cares of a vast financial business, at least once a week, every Sunday morning, wend his way to this house, forget all about bonds and stocks and syndicates and chances of gain and financial crises in which fortunes might be lost, and to give all his thoughts to the little ones who are cast upon the mercy of the world, and study and scheme and work—as indeed he did often also when he was not here to turn sunshine upon their bereaved existence—to arm them for the struggles of life, and to enable them to become useful, self-reliant, self-respecting and happy citizens of a free country. This was the work he loved most, which satisfied his fondest ambition and in which he found the most genuine happiness. In the best sense of the word he was the father of the fatherless and it was his active,untiring and unceasing care for the welfare of these children, more than any other of his benefactions, that stamped him as a truly benevolent man, a genuine friend of humanity and therefore this is the noblest and most enduring of his monuments."He was a patriotic man—not in the sense merely that he cheerfully performed all his duties as a citizen, or that he gave the government valuable advice and aid as a financier whenever called upon—but that he ardently loved his adopted country, was proud of it and was not only willing but eager to serve it. Some gentlemen of high standing among us here have in their published tributes to Jesse Seligman's memory, regretfully mentioned the fact that he and his son, too, have been struck at by anti-Semitic hostility, by that narrow-minded, contemptible spirit which revived the prejudices of dark ages and which seeks in barbarous persecution the remedy for evils, for which popular ignorance, sloth and improvidence are in the largest manner responsible; a spirit so utterly abhorrent to justice and enlightened reason, that it is difficult to understand how a person of self-respect can share it or behold it in others without shame and indignation."I have heard it said that a Jew cannot be a patriot because he has no fatherland. Those who say so do not want the Jew to have a fatherland and would, if they had their way, make it impossible for him to be a patriot. A country can hardly expect those of its inhabitants to be ardent patriots whom it treats as aliens or outcasts. In the same measure as an anti-Semitic spirit prevails, a Jew is a patriot under difficulties. If he is a patriot under anti-Semitic persecution, that patriotism is in him a virtue of especial merit. And this virtue Jesse Seligman possessed in the highest degree. I saw him and spoke with him when the smart he had suffered was fresh. I know how keenly he felt it, but I know also that had at that moment the country, or what he understood to be the public interest, demanded of him any service or any sacrifice he would have offered it with the same enthusiastic devotion that ever had animated him. He would have remained a patriot in spite of any difficulty—a shining example for his own race to follow, putting to shame its revilers; indeed, an example to every citizen of whatever creed or origin."And now he lies in an honored grave, and by it stand with sadness, but also with pride, his dear ones whom he loved so much, and who so warmly returned his love. And you all have come, rich and poor, native and foreign born, Christian and Jew and Gentile, with hearts full of respect and affection for the man who understood the great truth, and whose life has taught the greatest lesson, that our truest and most enduring happiness springs from the contributions we make to the happinessof others—a lesson that every one may follow according to his means and opportunities, each in his sphere and in his way, to win the same happiness and to deserve the same honor. It may well be said that he had not lived in vain whose life has left its mark in the advanced well being of his kind; and there are multitudes of human beings whose tears he has dried, whose distress he has relieved, whom he has helped to make strong for the struggle of life who now and ever will gratefully affirm and proclaim that Jesse Seligman has surely not lived in vain, and who will never cease to bless his memory."

"Indeed, the legacy not only of benefactions, but of lessons which that life has left behind it, may be, especially to the young among us, if they understand well and treasure them up to inspire and guide their hearts and minds, of far greater value than any amount of his money that Jesse Seligman might have bequeathed to them. Some of us may, perhaps, have envied him while he lived, as an eminently successful man. But do we consider him worthy of envy now, since he is dead? Why do we honor his memory, and wish that, when we shall be gone, we should, in many respects, be remembered as he is? Because he was a rich man? Certainly not; for that is in itself nothing to be proud of. The ambition to be merely rich is only a small and vulgar ambition. It may be gratified by the accident of birth or of good fortune; it may be gratified by the diligent and constant exertion of faculties, which do not by any means belong to the higher attainment of human nature. Of those who, in the history of mankind, left most fragrant memories behind them, only very few were distinguished by great wealth, and the mere possession of that wealth never constituted their title to affection and reverence.

"Are we honoring Jesse Seligman because he was a successful, self-made man? This is especially in our country of great opportunities, not in itself a distinction deserving uncommon esteem. I know, and no doubt you know, self-made men so inordinately puffed up with their own success, so forgetful of the merits of others in comparison with their own, so oppressive with the ostentations and unceasing display of their riches as their self-appreciation, that they rank among the most disagreeable members of human society, making us wish that they had made anything else but themselves.

"Or do we admire Jesse Seligman above others because hewas a patriotic man? No, for under ordinary circumstances it is only a natural thing to be patriotic. Especially a citizen of this Republic is more apt to attract attention and to be blamed when he is not patriotic, than to be praised when he is.

"All these things, therefore, are in themselves not sufficient to make a life valuable as a memory, and as an inspiration. Jesse Seligman's life, as we look back upon it, is such a valuable memory and inspiring lesson because he was above the ordinary level of the merely rich, self-made, liberal and patriotic men.

"The ideal rich man is he, who not only has come by his wealth honestly, but who uses his riches in such a fashion as to silence the voice of envy, and to make those who knew him glad and grateful that he was rich. To reach this ideal completely is given to but few. But it may truly be said that Jesse Seligman approached it. No doubt, he wished to be rich and worked for it. He valued the acquisition of wealth, but he valued it most as the acquisition of opportunities for something larger and nobler. He saw his business success but not his higher ambition and his happiness in his balance sheets. He felt himself greater and happier in this orphan-home than in his bank. He made his wealth a blessing to others; he enjoyed it the more, the greater the blessing to others it became, and there were many who wished him to be much richer, knowing that his greater wealth would only have become to many others greater relief and comfort. He was such a self-made man as it is a joy to meet. In a high degree he had the self-made man's virtues and was remarkably free from his faults. He never forgot his lowly beginnings, but never boasted of them, to contrast his success with other people's failures. His recollections only stimulated his sympathy with those less fortunate than himself. He did not in his affluence affect the rough simplicity and contempt of refinement in which upstarts sometimes demonstratively please themselves and which is only a coarse form of vanity; and still less was he an ostentatious swaggerer bent upon letting the world perceive that he possessed his millions. He lived with his family in a style becoming his means, but with the modesty becoming a gentleman. There was no gaudy display of riches, no obtrusive flashing of diamonds on hotel piazzas, and no flaring exhibition in opera boxes. But there was nothing mean about him or his. The hospitality of his house was hearty and most generous, but it abstained from anything that might have made one of his guests feel poor or small. Nor was there anything in him of that superciliousness not unfrequently met with in rich men which claims for them much wisdom, because they have much money.

"In all my experience I have never met a rich man, moremodest, more generous more tolerant of adverse opinion, or a self-made man less overbearing, less vain-glorious, and less conceited, more sympathetic and more helpful. As a matter of fact, he was thought much richer than he really was—richer not because of his display, but because of his benefactions. To judge from the good he did, his wealth should have been much greater. He was a liberal giver, but he gave much more than money. That rich man only manifests the true spirit of benevolence who not only gives to the needy, but who also thinks for them and works for them. It was by this that Jesse Seligman proved the genuine gold of his humanity, and nowhere did this gold shine more brightly than on this very spot. There was indeed no charitable enterprise within his reach that did not feel the generosity of his open hand, and, when needed, the kindly thoughtfulness of his counsel, from the hospital and the home for the aged up to that remarkable triumph of wisely directed energy, the Hebrew Technical Institute, which not only successfully demonstrates that the Jew, when well guided, will take to skilled handicraft with enthusiasm and with the whole force and ingenuity of his nature, but which also in its plan, organization and conduct may serve as a noble model of its kind to the educators of any country and of any creed.

"All such endeavors could count upon Jesse Seligman's bountiful aid; and when his last will was opened and the community saw the list of the benevolent institutions to which he had left bequests, without regard to religion or nationality, with unsurpassed catholicity of spirit, people asked with wonder, not what opportunities for doing good he had thought of, but whether there was any he had failed to remember. It was, however, here in the Orphans' Home that his heart found its favorite field for beneficent work. Here he lived on the best of his nature. It was truly touching to see this man, loaded down with the enormous responsibilities and cares of a vast financial business, at least once a week, every Sunday morning, wend his way to this house, forget all about bonds and stocks and syndicates and chances of gain and financial crises in which fortunes might be lost, and to give all his thoughts to the little ones who are cast upon the mercy of the world, and study and scheme and work—as indeed he did often also when he was not here to turn sunshine upon their bereaved existence—to arm them for the struggles of life, and to enable them to become useful, self-reliant, self-respecting and happy citizens of a free country. This was the work he loved most, which satisfied his fondest ambition and in which he found the most genuine happiness. In the best sense of the word he was the father of the fatherless and it was his active,untiring and unceasing care for the welfare of these children, more than any other of his benefactions, that stamped him as a truly benevolent man, a genuine friend of humanity and therefore this is the noblest and most enduring of his monuments.

"He was a patriotic man—not in the sense merely that he cheerfully performed all his duties as a citizen, or that he gave the government valuable advice and aid as a financier whenever called upon—but that he ardently loved his adopted country, was proud of it and was not only willing but eager to serve it. Some gentlemen of high standing among us here have in their published tributes to Jesse Seligman's memory, regretfully mentioned the fact that he and his son, too, have been struck at by anti-Semitic hostility, by that narrow-minded, contemptible spirit which revived the prejudices of dark ages and which seeks in barbarous persecution the remedy for evils, for which popular ignorance, sloth and improvidence are in the largest manner responsible; a spirit so utterly abhorrent to justice and enlightened reason, that it is difficult to understand how a person of self-respect can share it or behold it in others without shame and indignation.

"I have heard it said that a Jew cannot be a patriot because he has no fatherland. Those who say so do not want the Jew to have a fatherland and would, if they had their way, make it impossible for him to be a patriot. A country can hardly expect those of its inhabitants to be ardent patriots whom it treats as aliens or outcasts. In the same measure as an anti-Semitic spirit prevails, a Jew is a patriot under difficulties. If he is a patriot under anti-Semitic persecution, that patriotism is in him a virtue of especial merit. And this virtue Jesse Seligman possessed in the highest degree. I saw him and spoke with him when the smart he had suffered was fresh. I know how keenly he felt it, but I know also that had at that moment the country, or what he understood to be the public interest, demanded of him any service or any sacrifice he would have offered it with the same enthusiastic devotion that ever had animated him. He would have remained a patriot in spite of any difficulty—a shining example for his own race to follow, putting to shame its revilers; indeed, an example to every citizen of whatever creed or origin.

"And now he lies in an honored grave, and by it stand with sadness, but also with pride, his dear ones whom he loved so much, and who so warmly returned his love. And you all have come, rich and poor, native and foreign born, Christian and Jew and Gentile, with hearts full of respect and affection for the man who understood the great truth, and whose life has taught the greatest lesson, that our truest and most enduring happiness springs from the contributions we make to the happinessof others—a lesson that every one may follow according to his means and opportunities, each in his sphere and in his way, to win the same happiness and to deserve the same honor. It may well be said that he had not lived in vain whose life has left its mark in the advanced well being of his kind; and there are multitudes of human beings whose tears he has dried, whose distress he has relieved, whom he has helped to make strong for the struggle of life who now and ever will gratefully affirm and proclaim that Jesse Seligman has surely not lived in vain, and who will never cease to bless his memory."

Ex-Postmaster General Thomas E. James, President of the Lincoln National Bank of New York City, wrote the following graphic and affecting tribute:—

"I have received the news of the death of Jesse Seligman with the shock which comes only with the announcement of the sudden loss of an old and valued friend. My acquaintance with him commenced away back in the sixties; and I dearly learned to value his sturdy honesty, his integrity, untiring industry, and his genial, warm-hearted friendship. Moreover, I was impressed, in those dark days when I first knew him, with his sterling patriotism, he being one of those men of foreign birth who seemed to go beyond those of us of native birth, in the all-consuming zeal and devotion for our common flag. I think that is what particularly attracted me towards Mr. Seligman; and I soon found that he really did understand more fully and completely, perhaps, than many of us did, what the war meant and what the result would be. He was one of those men, too, who, when some were anxious, speaking hesitatingly about the outcome, gave by his courageous faith and heroic example, a grand impulse of which we afterwards saw the results in that impressive tender by the financiers of New York of their credit and their gold to the government in its extremity."He had undying faith in General Grant, too, in those dark hours. He was one of the few men in New York who knew him personally, and he never wavered in his confidence in the great commander's ability to carry the war through to a successful issue. Later on we learned the grounds of his faith; for he was probably the oldest acquaintance of General Grant in New York, having become acquainted with him in Watertown, N. Y., where Grant was then stationed as a Second Lieutenant; and he had afterwards renewed the friendship, when General Grant was sent as First Lieutenant to the Pacific Coast, where he found his old friend Seligman one of the argonauts of California."It was given to me, in an especially affecting and touching manner, to see some of those traits in Mr. Seligman's inner life and his family surroundings, which made his home one of the mostdelightful in New York, and gave to him unusual charms in social and friendly intercourse. I saw those qualities displayed in that sad, sad summer of 1881, when General Garfield, stricken with an assassin's bullet, lay on his deathbed, in a cottage at Elberon. Mr. Seligman's summer home was at Long Branch; and, with that thoughtful consideration and tenderness which distinguished the man he showed the official family of the dying President courtesies and kindnesses that were very grateful and which can never be forgotten. A more pleasant family circle than Mr. Seligman's I never met; and I will never cease to remember the charm of that fireside. There, perhaps, Mr. Seligman was seen in the highest display of the beautiful qualities of head and heart that made him not only foremost as a great financier, but as a faithful friend....... "Of course, I do not need to speak of his genius as a financier. His name and fame in that particular are secure; and his achievements will become traditions in the history of those influences which have made this country the great financial power among the nations of the earth."

"He had undying faith in General Grant, too, in those dark hours. He was one of the few men in New York who knew him personally, and he never wavered in his confidence in the great commander's ability to carry the war through to a successful issue. Later on we learned the grounds of his faith; for he was probably the oldest acquaintance of General Grant in New York, having become acquainted with him in Watertown, N. Y., where Grant was then stationed as a Second Lieutenant; and he had afterwards renewed the friendship, when General Grant was sent as First Lieutenant to the Pacific Coast, where he found his old friend Seligman one of the argonauts of California.

"It was given to me, in an especially affecting and touching manner, to see some of those traits in Mr. Seligman's inner life and his family surroundings, which made his home one of the mostdelightful in New York, and gave to him unusual charms in social and friendly intercourse. I saw those qualities displayed in that sad, sad summer of 1881, when General Garfield, stricken with an assassin's bullet, lay on his deathbed, in a cottage at Elberon. Mr. Seligman's summer home was at Long Branch; and, with that thoughtful consideration and tenderness which distinguished the man he showed the official family of the dying President courtesies and kindnesses that were very grateful and which can never be forgotten. A more pleasant family circle than Mr. Seligman's I never met; and I will never cease to remember the charm of that fireside. There, perhaps, Mr. Seligman was seen in the highest display of the beautiful qualities of head and heart that made him not only foremost as a great financier, but as a faithful friend....

... "Of course, I do not need to speak of his genius as a financier. His name and fame in that particular are secure; and his achievements will become traditions in the history of those influences which have made this country the great financial power among the nations of the earth."

Ex-Judge Noah Davis wrote as follows:

"By the death of Jesse Seligman our country loses a loving and faithful citizen and friend. He loved America, though not his native land, with all the ardor of a native, enhanced by a keen and tender sense of gratitude for what it had done for his race and for him and his brothers ever since they became its adopted sons."I have never met any foreign-born American citizen more prompt to express warmly and gratefully this sentiment; and yet it will be rare to find one who has so amply and generously repaid it. His gratitude was not confined to words. His deeds preceded his words; and if it had ever been necessary, he would have staked his whole fortune and his life as well, for our country and its institutions."I recall an occasion, when he and I left the Union League Club together, at a late hour one evening, and walked arm in arm up the avenue to our homes. I listened as he gave me some happy reminiscences of his busy life. When we reached the street, I stopped to part with him. "No," said he, "I will walk further with you," and he kept on till he reached my home on 50th street. "Now," I said, "it is my turn to walk with you, sir," and we walked slowly back to his own street, where we compromised by his walking half way back with me. In that delightful walk he developed to me his loving nature toward our country, its government and its people. I was chiefly a listener, but a deeply interested and pleased one, for I could see and feel that a pure-hearted and patriotic man was talking from the inmost bosom of a noble and tender nature."A few days before General Grant sailed on his tour around the world, the brothers Seligman gave him a farewell dinner at Delmonico's.There were forty or fifty people present. General Grant was then fully relieved from all public cares, and felt that the honors shown him on that occasion were the tribute of pure and disinterested esteem and affection. He talked with me as I sat near him of the services his hosts had rendered the government during the war and to himself during his administration, with a warm sense of what was due to their genuine patriotism. It happened afterwards, and after his return from his Eastern tour, that I met with General Grant in Paris. He spoke on that occasion of that dinner and his great enjoyment of the evening, and gave a warm expression of his esteem for the Seligmans and for their services to the country and himself."It was a merited tribute of a noble man to worthy citizens and friends, and I am glad to lay it now where General Grant would have placed it—on the bier of Jesse Seligman, his devoted friend....... "With all his skill, ability and success in business, with all his love for his country, his devotion to order and good government, his deep and tender attachment to his family and friends, I think his chief virtue was 'Charity,' and that most comprehensive and beautiful word should be inscribed on his tomb.

"I have never met any foreign-born American citizen more prompt to express warmly and gratefully this sentiment; and yet it will be rare to find one who has so amply and generously repaid it. His gratitude was not confined to words. His deeds preceded his words; and if it had ever been necessary, he would have staked his whole fortune and his life as well, for our country and its institutions.

"I recall an occasion, when he and I left the Union League Club together, at a late hour one evening, and walked arm in arm up the avenue to our homes. I listened as he gave me some happy reminiscences of his busy life. When we reached the street, I stopped to part with him. "No," said he, "I will walk further with you," and he kept on till he reached my home on 50th street. "Now," I said, "it is my turn to walk with you, sir," and we walked slowly back to his own street, where we compromised by his walking half way back with me. In that delightful walk he developed to me his loving nature toward our country, its government and its people. I was chiefly a listener, but a deeply interested and pleased one, for I could see and feel that a pure-hearted and patriotic man was talking from the inmost bosom of a noble and tender nature.

"A few days before General Grant sailed on his tour around the world, the brothers Seligman gave him a farewell dinner at Delmonico's.There were forty or fifty people present. General Grant was then fully relieved from all public cares, and felt that the honors shown him on that occasion were the tribute of pure and disinterested esteem and affection. He talked with me as I sat near him of the services his hosts had rendered the government during the war and to himself during his administration, with a warm sense of what was due to their genuine patriotism. It happened afterwards, and after his return from his Eastern tour, that I met with General Grant in Paris. He spoke on that occasion of that dinner and his great enjoyment of the evening, and gave a warm expression of his esteem for the Seligmans and for their services to the country and himself.

"It was a merited tribute of a noble man to worthy citizens and friends, and I am glad to lay it now where General Grant would have placed it—on the bier of Jesse Seligman, his devoted friend....

... "With all his skill, ability and success in business, with all his love for his country, his devotion to order and good government, his deep and tender attachment to his family and friends, I think his chief virtue was 'Charity,' and that most comprehensive and beautiful word should be inscribed on his tomb.

From General Horace Porter:

"The news of the death of Jesse Seligman has fallen upon many of the most prominent business men in New York with something akin to the quiet of a personal bereavement. Few of our citizens have been more generally known or more highly esteemed. His sudden removal from the company of his friends and from the active walks of business life brings a deep regret to many hearts and recalls the admirable traits which adorned his character. My personal acquaintance with him began a few years after the war. I had before that time heard officers of the army and others speak in admiring terms of him during his sojourn on the Pacific Coast, where he had displayed so much public spirit and such indomitable courage at the time the law-abiding citizens were trying to redeem that community from the domination of the criminal class. I found him displaying the same qualities in the metropolis which had commended him to his fellow-citizens in the West. He had been loyally devoted to the cause of the Union in the great struggle for the preservation of its integrity, and was always an ardent laborer in all great works. He was never known to be anything but fearless in the advocacy of the principles he believed to be right, and always manifested his faith by his works."His death removes a foremost figure in our national and business life; and we shall long look for one to take the place of this man, Who by his genius as a financier, his broad liberal charity, and his loving kindness towards suffering humanity, will long be remembered; for Mr. Seligman's life and work have made him one of the benefactors of mankind."

"His death removes a foremost figure in our national and business life; and we shall long look for one to take the place of this man, Who by his genius as a financier, his broad liberal charity, and his loving kindness towards suffering humanity, will long be remembered; for Mr. Seligman's life and work have made him one of the benefactors of mankind."

From F. B. Harper, President Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association:

"Few names in the financial and business world of New York are better known than that of Jesse Seligman, financier, banker, philanthropist, and citizen. It may truly be said of Mr. Seligman that he attained one of the highest positions of good citizenship in the metropolis of the nation. While, strictly speaking, a financier, he was ever ready to bring capital, business experience and financial ability into the broader industrial enterprises of the nation which, in their building up, employ labor, pay out vast sums in wages, add comfort to the masses, and bring prosperity to the country. He was not a mere banker, but closely identified with sound enterprises, which have built up the Empire State and developed the resources of the republic. He was a man to be respected, to be looked up to, and his career, as it seems to me, is one that may well be studied to advantage by the youth of his race and his country. The Hebrew race has undoubtedly given to the world more of the most extraordinary instances of great wealth, but at the same time it has produced many of the greatest philanthropists the world has ever known."It is difficult to sum up in a few words such men as Mr. Seligman. He was a man who, by his example, as well as his action benefitted the community of which he was an honored member, and his death will be greatly regretted, not only by those who knew him intimately, but the whole community, because his demise will be a real loss to them. Our wealth of humanity is not so great, even in this great city, that we can afford to lose many such citizens."

"It is difficult to sum up in a few words such men as Mr. Seligman. He was a man who, by his example, as well as his action benefitted the community of which he was an honored member, and his death will be greatly regretted, not only by those who knew him intimately, but the whole community, because his demise will be a real loss to them. Our wealth of humanity is not so great, even in this great city, that we can afford to lose many such citizens."

From Henry G. Marquand, Esq., President, Metropolitan Museum of Art:

"I was not brought in contact with the late Jesse Seligman as often as some others, but during twenty years or more I saw enough of him to form a very high opinion of his work as a citizen of this republic. His views were always of the broad and generous stamp. They were not confined to the various schemes of philanthropy, but extended to the enterprises relating to high culture at home and abroad, and by contact with him it was easy to see how quickly his sympathies were aroused in favor of everything good...."

Ex-Mayor Abram S. Hewitt, expresses himself as follows:

"The story of Jesse Seligman's life should be produced as the best commentary on his career, and as an encouragement to all young men who are starting out on the journey of life. * * * Perhaps the most admirable point of his character was his catholic charity for the opinion of others and his willingness to co-operate in every great movement without regard to creed or race."

From Cornelius N. Bliss:

... "No truer friend, once in Jesse Seligman's confidence did man ever have. With his partners, his brothers, he has been of inestimable service to the United States Government from the time of the Civil War."A believer in Republican principles, he was a quiet but all-important influence in the councils of his party. Sagacious in counsel, always for peace and unity, liberal in view, rendering to all their just dues, he will be sorely missed in all circles—social, charitable, business and political."

"A believer in Republican principles, he was a quiet but all-important influence in the councils of his party. Sagacious in counsel, always for peace and unity, liberal in view, rendering to all their just dues, he will be sorely missed in all circles—social, charitable, business and political."

The foregoing may be fitly supplemented by the following extract from a sermon delivered by the late Henry Ward Beecher, June 14, 1877. Mr. Beecher's pointed references to the absurd prejudices which so frequently manifest themselves at summer resorts have not yet lost their force or application:

"I have the pleasure of the acquaintance of the gentleman whose name has been the occasion of so much excitement—Mr. Seligman. I have summered with his family for several years. I am acquainted with him, with his honored wife, and with his sons and daughters; and I have learned to respect and love them. During weeks and months I was with them at the Twin Mountain House; and not only did they behave in a manner becoming Christian ladies and gentlemen, but they behaved in a manner that ought to put to shame many Christian ladies and gentlemen. They were my helpers and they were not only present at the Sunday services at the Twin Mountain House, but they were present at the daily prayer meetings on week days, volunteering services of kindness. I learned to feel that they were my deacons and that in the ministration of Christian service they were beyond the power of prejudice and did not confine themselves to the limitations which might be prescribed by their race."

Hon. Carl Schurz makes reference, as the reader will have noted, to the "unsurpassed catholicity of spirit" manifested by Jesse Seligman's "bequests without regard to religion or nationality." Among the beneficiaries of his concluding bounty were numbered no less than thirty-six different non-Jewish institutions, the aggregate of these legacies amounting to a very large sum. Unsurpassed as was this breadth of liberality, it was by no means the first time when a Jew gave signal evidence of the supreme catholicity of Judaism and the Jewish spirit. Adverting but passingly to the story of Hyam Salomon's liberality, we may stop to remember that Judah Touro,whose patriotism had been attested with his blood in the defense of New Orleans, in 1815, left in his last will and testament in 1854, an example of catholic munificence unequalled before his time and unsurpassed since. Over and above the various bequests made by him to Jewish institutions in different cities of the Union, he left amounts averaging $5000 to fourteen charitable institutions under the control of various Christian denominations, besides $80,000 to the municipality of New Orleans for the poor of that city, and $10,000 to the city of Newport, R. I., for a public improvement. This latter formed the nucleus of the public park of that city, which has commemorated in its "Touro Avenue" the public spirit of this Jewish citizen, who has yet another memorial on Bunker Hill monument, to the erection of which he so largely contributed.[28]

Michael Reese, of San Francisco, who died in 1878, bequeathed amounts aggregating $70,000 to a number of non-Jewish charities, besides $50,000 to the University of California, and left provisions which eventuated in the establishment of the non-sectarian Michael Reese Hospital of Chicago. Rosenna Osterman, of Galveston, and Isidor Dyer, of the same city, divided their estates among charitable institutions without distinction of creed.

Miss Ellen Phillips, of Philadelphia, whose long and useful life, constantly devoted to the cause of charity, closed on February 2, 1891, after aiding the cause to which she was devoted by her unceasing munificence during her lifetime, bequeathed the bulk of her property to various charitable institutions. She left the large collection of paintings and statuary which she inherited from her brother, the late Henry M. Phillips, to the Commissioners of Fairmount Park, as an addition to the collections in Memorial Hall, and divided a very large sum of money among numerous charities, naming ten different non-Jewish institutions among her beneficiaries.

The will of Dr. J. D. Berndt, of Pittsburg, Pa., divides a considerable estate almost equally between Jewish and non-Jewish institutions, over twenty of the latter class being named, and the residuary estate of nearly $35,000 is equally divided between the American Hebrew College of Cincinnati and Carnegie Library of Pittsburg.

Simon Muhr, of Philadelphia, whose untimely death in February, 1895, was mourned by Jew and Gentile alike, after making certain personal bequests and devoting a fund of $10,000 for the support of scholarships in the University of Pennsylvania, left the residue of his large estate to be divided into three parts, one part to be allotted among Jewish charities, one part among non-Jewish charities, and the third part for the improvement of the public school system of Philadelphia.

The PhiladelphiaTimesconcluded an editorial reference to the death of Simon Muhr as follows:

"It was his broad and simple tolerance, his unfailing charity of heart as well as hand, his willingness and even eagerness to take personal trouble, not only to relieve distress, but to right wrong, and to defend the victim of oppression, however humble or disreputable, that gave Simon Muhr a peculiar position in the community and a peculiar usefulness. He was an example in this way to many a professing Christian, whose reading of the parable leads him only to condemn the priest and the Levite, and not to imitate the Good Samaritan."

The instances of Jewish citizenship and catholicity here cited are but the more prominent examples of that spirit. Only less conspicuous, but with equal breadth and depth of feeling are many more that would likewise point a moral for us all.

FOOTNOTES:[26]The appointment of Mr. Peixotto to the Roumanian Consulate was initiated and brought about by Hon. Simon Wolf, who afterwards made a tour among the lodges of the Order of B'nai B'rith for the purpose of raising funds to strengthen the Consul's position at Bucharest and to enable him to more effectively exert his influence in behalf of the persecuted Roumanian Jews.In this connection mention may well and properly be made of Mr. Wolf's untiring efforts, both in his early home in Ohio and later in Washington, in behalf of the Union cause. The movements organized by Mr. Wolf in Washington for the systematic aid of the sick and wounded in the numerous hospitals then established in and about Washington gained for him the recognition of the Government and the friendship of General Grant. In this work Mr. Wolf enlisted the support of the mass of the Jewish citizens of the District and especially the active co-operation of the women of the Jewish community. General Grant, when he became President, appointed Mr. Wolf Recorder of the City of Washington and he was subsequently appointed by President Garfield to the mission at Cairo as Diplomatic Agent and Consul General in Egypt.—Editor.[27]See Marken's "The Hebrews in America," New York, 1888; Judge Charles P. Daly's "Settlement of the Jews in North America," edited by Max J. Kohler, New York, 1893; "History of the Jews of Boston and New England," by A. G. Daniels, Boston, 1892; "Eminent Israelites of the 19th Century," by Henry S. Morais, Philadelphia, 1880; "The Jews of Philadelphia," by the same author, Philadelphia, 1894, and the publications of the American Jewish Historical Society.[28]See pages63-4.

[26]The appointment of Mr. Peixotto to the Roumanian Consulate was initiated and brought about by Hon. Simon Wolf, who afterwards made a tour among the lodges of the Order of B'nai B'rith for the purpose of raising funds to strengthen the Consul's position at Bucharest and to enable him to more effectively exert his influence in behalf of the persecuted Roumanian Jews.In this connection mention may well and properly be made of Mr. Wolf's untiring efforts, both in his early home in Ohio and later in Washington, in behalf of the Union cause. The movements organized by Mr. Wolf in Washington for the systematic aid of the sick and wounded in the numerous hospitals then established in and about Washington gained for him the recognition of the Government and the friendship of General Grant. In this work Mr. Wolf enlisted the support of the mass of the Jewish citizens of the District and especially the active co-operation of the women of the Jewish community. General Grant, when he became President, appointed Mr. Wolf Recorder of the City of Washington and he was subsequently appointed by President Garfield to the mission at Cairo as Diplomatic Agent and Consul General in Egypt.—Editor.

In this connection mention may well and properly be made of Mr. Wolf's untiring efforts, both in his early home in Ohio and later in Washington, in behalf of the Union cause. The movements organized by Mr. Wolf in Washington for the systematic aid of the sick and wounded in the numerous hospitals then established in and about Washington gained for him the recognition of the Government and the friendship of General Grant. In this work Mr. Wolf enlisted the support of the mass of the Jewish citizens of the District and especially the active co-operation of the women of the Jewish community. General Grant, when he became President, appointed Mr. Wolf Recorder of the City of Washington and he was subsequently appointed by President Garfield to the mission at Cairo as Diplomatic Agent and Consul General in Egypt.—Editor.

[27]See Marken's "The Hebrews in America," New York, 1888; Judge Charles P. Daly's "Settlement of the Jews in North America," edited by Max J. Kohler, New York, 1893; "History of the Jews of Boston and New England," by A. G. Daniels, Boston, 1892; "Eminent Israelites of the 19th Century," by Henry S. Morais, Philadelphia, 1880; "The Jews of Philadelphia," by the same author, Philadelphia, 1894, and the publications of the American Jewish Historical Society.

[28]See pages63-4.

The preceding pages have dealt with various aspects of Jewish influence in Anglo-Saxon America, and we have yet to consider the extent of that influence in the Latin American settlements. Here in this Western Hemisphere, where the Jew has sought an asylum from the historic oppressions and repressions of Old World prejudices, and where, in the very year that saw him expelled from Spain a new future was opened for him and all humanity, here the Jew has been at the fore from the very landing of Columbus to the present day.[29]

In the following pages is presented a review of Jewish activity and influence in the South American Colonies and the West Indies, which has been collated for this volume by Mr. George Alexander Kohut. His careful studies and scientific investigations in this hitherto almost untrodden field of historical research have resulted in the development of many highly interesting facts, and his work affords a most welcome contribution to our general subject. It will be found to command very justly the space accorded to it.

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