The Jews of Dixie served with Distinction, Honour and Undying Loyalty to the Confederacy and to the Cause for which she stood.
Private Louis Leon, Co. B, 53rd N.C.
Louis Leon was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, probably in 1842. He migrated to New York City with his parents on an unknown date prior to 1858. In that year Leon moved to Charlotte, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and found employment as a clerk; he would not see his parents again until released from a yankee prisoner of war camp in 1865. That Charlotte's small Jewish community participated in the military duties of its citizenry is indicated by the presence of Second Lieutenant Solomon A. Cohen of the "Charlotte Guards," a volunteer company of the 85th Regiment N.C. Militia. Louis Leon enlisted in the "Charlotte Grays," subsequently Company C, 1st Regiment N.C. Volunteers, on April 19, 1861, and fought at Big Bethel. Among other members of the "Grays" were men with the surnames of Engle, Israel, Katz, Leopold, Levi, and Oppenheim. One cannot be sure, of course, that all of these men were Jewish.
During his service with the 1st N.C. Volunteers, Leon began keeping a diary, which he maintained for the duration of the war. Leon published his diary, with some obvious revisions, in 1913 as Diary of A Tar Heel Confederate Soldier (Charlotte, Stone Publishing). At that time Leon was an officer in the United Confederate Veterans and was commander of the Charlotte Camp. The frontispiece is a photograph of him, bespectacled and with a large white mustache, in the UCV uniform. The Maltese cross of the United Daughters of the Confederacy is prominently displayed on his breast and his collar bears the single star of a major--presumably his rank in the UCV.
When the 1st N.C. Volunteers, a six-month regiment, disbanded in November 1861, Leon returned home for the winter but enlisted again on April 14, 1862, as a private in Company B, 53rd Regiment N.C. Troops. Five members of that company have been identified as Jewish. They are:
Private Jacob Donau.
Private Jonas Engel.
Sergeant Major Aaron Katz.
Private Lous Leon.
Corporal Henry Wertheim.
Leon served until he was captured at Wilderness, May 5, 1864. Incarceration at Point Lookout and Elmira followed until, according to his compiled service records, he took the Oath of Allegiance on February 7, 1865, and was released. However, Leon states in his diary that he remained in prison until April 12: "we heard that Lee had surrendered on the 9th, and about 400, myself with them, took the cursed oath and were given transportation to wherever we wanted to go."
The historian of the 53rd North Carolina, W. T. Jordan, Jr., observes that "As far as one can judge from his diary, Leon's experiences as a Jew in the Confederate army were singularly lacking in episodes of prejudice, discrimination, or rejection. To all appearances he was a high-spirited soldier of exceptional skill and courage who was accepted, liked, and respected by his officers and comrades."
After the war Leon expressed the following sentiments:
When I commenced my life as a Confederate soldier, I was full of hope for the speedy termination of the war, and our independence. I was not quite nineteen years old. I am now twenty-three. The four years that I have given to my country I do not regret, nor am I sorry for one day I have given--my only regret is that we have lost that for which we fought. Nor do I for one moment think that we lost it by any other way than by being outnumbered at least five if not ten to one. . . . to the last I will say that, although but a private, I still say our Cause was just, nor do I regret one thing that I have done to cripple the North.
Captain Ezekiel J. Levy, ("Zeke") 46th Virginia
The Hebrew Confederate cemetery on Shock Hill in Richmond Virginia, is the only Jewish Military Cemetery in the world outside of Israel
The plaque in the cemetery with names of soldiers buried there reads.
TO THE GLORY OF
GOD
AND
IN MEMORY OF
THE HEBREW CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS
RESTING IN THIS HALLOWED SPOT
ERECTED BY
HEBREW LADIES MEMORIAL ASSOC.
RICHMOND, VA..
ORGANIZED 1866.
M. Levy, Mississippi, killed May 31, 1862.
J. Rosenberg, Ga.
Henry Adler, 46th Va.
E.J. Sampson, 4th Texas, killed June 27th, 1862.
G. Wolfe, N.C.
I. Hessberg, Caroline co.
Unknown soldier
Henry Gersberg, Salem, Va., killed June 2, 1864.
T. Foltz, 16th Miss.
I. Cohen, Hampton (S.C.) Legion.
Sam Bear, Ga.
S. Bachrach, Lynchburg, Va.
Jonathan Sheuer, La.
J. Frank, Ga.
Henry Cohen, S.C. killed June 29, 1864.
Capt. Jacob A. Cohen, Co. A, 10th La., killed at 2nd Manassas,
August 30, 1862, age, 33 years.
M. Aaron, N.C.
A. Lehman, S.C.
Julius Zark, 7th Louisiana.
A. Heyman, Georgia.
Lieut. W.M. Wolf, Hagood's S.C. Brigade, died May 9, 1864.
Lieut. L.S. Lipman, 5th Louisiana, died May 9, 1863.
Erected by his brothers to the memory of Isaac Seldner, of the
6th Virg. Inf. Reg., born December 23, 1837, killed at the battle
of Chancellorsville, Va., May 3rd, 1863. None knew him but to
love him.
S. Weiss, Ga.
H. Jacobs, S.C.
E.B. Miller, died April 6, 1864.
Corpl. G. Eiseman, 12th Miss.
M. Bachrach, Lynchburg, Va.
S. Oury, 16th Miss.; died June 10, 1861.
A. Robinson, 15th Ga., died Jan. 26, 1863.
Soldiers killed in battle and buried elsewhere in
the cemetery are Gustavus Kann, 16th Mississippi; Henry Smith,
Richmond, Otey Battery; Marx Myers, Richmond Grays;
Captain Isaac J. Levy, Richmond Blues, and Captain M. Marcus,
15th Georgia, killed October 13, 1864.
More on Jewish Confederates will be added.
