Chapter II: Introduction

In December, 1891, there was printed in the _North American Review_ a letter in reply to certain statements of a contributor to a previous number of the same magazine regarding the services of American Jewish citizens as soldiers in the Civil War. Under the caption "Jewish Soldiers in the Union Army," the writer, after denying the statement that Generals Rosecrans and Lyon were of Jewish birth, proceeds as follows: --

"I had served in the field about eighteen months before being
permanently disabled in action, and was quite familiar with several
regiments; was then transferred to two different recruiting
stations, but I cannot remember meeting one Jew in uniform, or
hearing of any Jewish soldier. After the war, for twenty-five
years, I was constantly engaged in traveling, always among old
soldiers, but never found any who remembered serving with Jews. I
learned of no place, where they stood, shoulder to shoulder, except
in General Sherman's department, and he promptly ordered them out
of it for speculating in cotton and carrying information to the
Confederates. If so many Jews fought so bravely for their adopted
country, surely their champion ought to be able to give the names
of the regiments they condescended to accept service in," etc., etc.

A statement of this nature, logically inconclusive and practically absurd as it is, might well, under ordinary conditions have been left unnoticed. Under ordinary conditions a reply of any kind to such a tissue of misstatements, would but have dignified it beyond reason, and but helped, perhaps, to save it and its author from oblivion. But the conditions were not ordinary, but most unfortunately, otherwise. It was at a time when the public mind throughout the civilized world was wrought to a high pitch of excitement by the flaunting villainy of the Russian government in the outrageous persecution of its Jewish subjects, when the wave of anti-Semitism was at floodtide in Germany, and was flowing high in France, and when bigots like Stoecker, fools like Ahlwardt, and knaves like Drumont, were finding imitators on both sides of the Atlantic. Here in our country, public attention was being centered on the Jewish refugees from Russia, and the Jewish people throughout the land were massing their strength to cope with the problems which Muscovite tyranny had set before them. In the midst of this agitation, the magazine article referred to, slurring the Jewish people as it did, attracted unusual attention, and being widely quoted and commented on by the newspaper press, it attained a degree of publicity out of all proportion to its merits or its authorship.

Under these circumstances I felt myself impelled to reply to the writer in the _North American Review_, and at once sent to that magazine a letter embodying a statement of a few indisputable facts bearing on the subject. This statement the publishers of the magazine declined to print on the ground that they had received so many articles on the subject that they could not undertake to discriminate in favor of any one of them, and that they would therefore publish none. My cursorily compiled citations were, however, published at the time in the Washington _Post_, and as germane to my present subject I reprint them in the main, as follows:--

"Has this much-traveled and keen observer, Mr. Rogers, ever heard
of General Edward S. Salomon, who enlisted as Lieutenant-Colonel of
the 82d Illinois? He became Colonel of the regiment after Colonel
Frederick Hecker's retirement, was made Brigadier-General, was
subsequently appointed by General Grant governor of Washington
Territory, and, at present residing in San Francisco, has been
Department Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and is
recognized as one of the bravest and most gallant officers that
ever sat in saddle. This encomium I have from the lips of General
Grant himself, and it will be cheerfully endorsed by General O.
O. Howard, or by any of the officers yet living who served with
him. In the same regiment, as I have learned from General Salomon,
were more than one hundred private soldiers and subalterns of
Jewish faith. General L. C. Newman, of the city of New York, who
was fatally wounded in the first battle of the Rebellion, died in
the city of Washington, while President Lincoln, who had brought
Newman's commission as Brevet Brigadier-General, was with him
at his bedside. General Leopold Blumenberg, of Baltimore, who,
as Major of his regiment, was severely wounded at the battle of
Antietam, and crippled for life and who was subsequently brevetted
for his meritorious services, was one of the most loyal and brave
of officers. Colonel M. M. Spiegel, of the 120th Ohio, who was
severely wounded before Vicksburg, was entreated to retire from the
army, but continued in the service and was killed in the campaign
of General Banks, in Louisiana. Lieutenant Sachs, of the 32d
Indiana, in command of a company of his regiment at Green River,
in 1862, stood single-handed and alone against a company of Texas
Rangers, and after killing and wounding eight of his assailants,
fell riddled to death. His heroism and bravery had meanwhile given
the command time to rally, and they thereupon dispersed the enemy.
Captain A. Hart, of the 73d Pennsylvania, now of this city, who was
Adjutant of his regiment, was severely wounded in the early part of
the war, and is now a pensioner of the United States. Lieutenant
Henry Franc, of the Kansas Volunteers, living in this city to-day,
did splendid service. Judge. P. J. Joachimson, Lieutenant-Colonel
of the 59th New York; Isidore Pinkson, Henry Pinkson and Moses
Landauer, of the 110th New York; Captain Lyon and Lieutenant
Ababot, of the 5th New York Cavalry; Theodore Wise, of the same
regiment; Herman White, and A. T. Gross, of the 2d Maryland, and
I. Feldstein, now a member of Koltes Post, New York, acquitted
themselves with ample credit in their respective spheres. The 11th
New York was more than half composed of men of Jewish faith. In the
2d Pennsylvania Artillery, serving under Captain R. M. Goundy, who
lives in this city, there were three Jewish soldiers; Lieutenant
Liebschutz, who served throughout the war and was promoted for
gallantry on the field, now living in this city to-day; Leo
Karpeles, who is now a clerk in the Post Office Department, to whom
a special medal was awarded by Congress for bravery and for the
capture with his own hands of rebel flags on the field of battle,
and Simon Stern, who died lately in this city and whose widow
has been granted a pension. George Stern, who died from disease
contracted in the service, also left a widow, now pensioned. Dr. A.
Behrend, of this city, who served in our army with great ability,
not only as a hospital steward, but as an officer in the field,
tells me that in 1863 a general order was issued permitting Jews to
be furloughed over their Holy Days, and that at Fairfax Seminary
he furloughed eleven on that occasion. Dr. Herman Bendall, of
Albany, a prominent citizen of that city, was promoted to the grade
of Lieutenant-Colonel in recognition of his meritorious services
and was subsequently appointed by General Grant superintendent of
Indian affairs of Arizona. Jacob Hirsch, of this city, died from
disease contracted in the service and his orphan children are now
receiving a pension for their father's sacrifice; Captain Cohn, of
New York City, now connected with the Baron de Hirsch Trust Fund,
was as brave an officer as ever did duty. M. L. Peixotto, of the
103 Ohio (a brother of the well-known Benjamin F. Peixotto), died
last year in consequence of wounds received and disease contracted
in the service. Mr. Bruckheimer, now a practicing physician in
this city, Charles Raum, one of our leading merchants, Mr. Hoffa,
Sol Livingston, M. Erdman, M. Augenstein, and S. Goodman, all of
this city, Edward S. Woog, a clerk in the Interior Department;
Morris Cohen, clerk in the War Department; Henry Blondheim, of
Alexandria, Va., were soldiers in the late war. Captain Morris
Lewis, of the 18th New York Cavalry, now living in this city,
served on General Kearney's staff; he receives a special pension,
having been shot through the body and paralyzed in his lower limbs.
August Bruckner was killed at the second battle of Bull Run.
Colonel M. Einstein and Colonel M. Friedman, both of Philadelphia,
commanded regiments; Uriah P. Levy was Commodore of the United
States Navy. Jacob Hayes, of the city of New York, Mr. Phillips,
son of the sexton of the Portuguese congregation of that city, E.
J. Russell, of the 19th Indiana, a resident of this city, and so
severely wounded as to render him almost incapable of work; L.
Myers, of the same regiment, and Julius Steinmeyer, of the 7th
United States Infantry "stood shoulder to shoulder" at the front.
General William Meyer, editor of several New York papers, served
with credit and distinction during the draft riots in the city
of New York, and has in his possession an autograph letter from
President Lincoln thanking him for his eminent services during
those hours of darkness. William Durst, of Philadelphia, is one of
the few survivors of the memorable fight between the Monitor and
the Merrimac; when volunteers were called for he went to his duty
with death staring him in the face, and Admiral Worden himself told
me some months ago that Durst was a man of distinguished bravery,
whose services should be specially recognized by Congress. Major
Joseph G. Rosengarten, of Philadelphia, is a soldier of national
reputation and an author of ability, whose brother Adolph G.
Rosengarten was killed at Stone River while acting as staff
officer. Quartermaster Rosenfield, of the 13th Kansas, not only
discharged the duties of that office with ability, but served also
in the ranks. Lieutenant Rosenberg, of this city, is now dead, and
his widow is pensioned. Colonel H. A. Seligson, who died some two
months ago, led a Vermont regiment during the war, and achieved a
high reputation as a soldier. Captain Frederick Leavy, of the 1st
New York Infantry; Captain Max Conheim, of New York, and now of San
Francisco, and Major H. Koenigsberger, of Cincinnati, were officers
of distinction, and so, too, were David Ezekiel and Lieutenant
Louis Blumenthal, of New Hampshire. Sergeant Elias Leon Hyneman,
of the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry, was one of the heroes of the war,
in which he served from the beginning. In June, 1864, during a
cavalry sortie about Petersburg, while his command was retreating
before the main body of the enemy, he hurried to the relief of a
dismounted and wounded comrade. He lifted him into his own saddle
and enabled him to escape, and started to make his own way on foot.
On his way he met another comrade, barefooted and bleeding; he took
off his own boots and gave them to the sufferer. But he himself was
captured, and after months of agony in Andersonville, he died.

Frederick Kneffler, a resident of Indianapolis, attained the
rank of Major General; he commanded the 79th Indiana, and was
conspicuous for bravery at the battle of Chickamauga. As a further
list of officers and privates in the various commands, I may
yet add the names of Lieutenant Suldman, 44th New York; Captain
Gremitz, 62d Pennsylvania; Corporal Gisner, 142d Pennsylvania;
Lieutenant Evan Davis, 115th Pennsylvania; Sergeant Myers, 62d
Pennsylvania; Captain A. Goldman, 17th Maine; Lieutenant A. A.
Rinehard, 148th Pennsylvania; Lieutenant Nieman, 103d New York;
M. S. Asher, 103d New York; Lieutenant George Perdinger, 39th New
York; Lieutenant Philip Truffinger, 57th New York; Lieutenant
Herman Musschel, 68th New York; Lieutenant Herman Krauth, 103d
New York; Lieutenant Julius Frank, 103d New York; Captain H. P.
Schwerin, 119th New York; Julius Niebergall, Levi Kuehne and Henry
Luterman, all of the New York 3d Artillery, and Lehman Israels,
Lieutenant in the 58th New York.

It must be taken into account that when the War of the Rebellion
broke out the number of Jews in the United States was quite
limited; according to the census taken in 1876 by Mr. William B.
Hackenburg, of Philadelphia, and myself, in behalf of the Union
of American Hebrew Congregations, there were then in the United
States, fifteen years after the war commenced, only 250,000 Jews.
It is altogether doubtful whether there were more than 150,000, if
that many, when hostilities commenced. The proportion of Jewish
soldiers is, therefore, only large, but is perhaps larger than that
of any other faith in the United States. I have been told by one of
the Jewish soldiers in this city, one who bears the scars of the
war, that there were at least, as far as he could judge--and he had
experience during the whole conflict--from 6,000 to 8,000 soldiers
of the Jewish faith in the Union Army alone. I am not prepared to
assert this number, but would not be surprised if it were found to
be correct.

The animus of the writer in the _North American Review_ is
indicated by the words, "_Except in General Sherman's Department,
and he promptly ordered them out of it for speculating in cotton
and conveying information to the Confederates_." This statement
is made with the same disregard of facts as are others in the
article referred to, for while a few Jews may have violated the
laws of war by running the blockade or furnishing information to
the enemy, it was no more than others of other races and religious
faiths did under like circumstances, even to a larger degree: and
why the Jews as a class should be held up to the contempt and
scorn of the world in consequence of the want of patriotism of a
few of their number, is to me a profound mystery, and can only be
explained upon the theory that inculcated prejudice is stronger
than the desire for fair play or the regard for justice. No one for
a moment would charge a particular class of Christians with want of
honesty because one or more of their number had violated law. The
War Department records and the Treasury files will furnish ample
evidence of the fact that many of the sins that were committed
by others were heaped upon the shoulders of the Jews. It has
always been an easy thing to strike at the minority and from time
immemorial the prejudice against the Jew has been made a convenient
vehicle for furthering malignant purposes and selfish ends.

Having enjoyed the friendship of President Grant and of General
Sherman (I was for eight years officially connected with the
former, and for a time on intimate social terms with the latter),
I can state that I had repeated conversations with them regarding
"Order No. 11," which was issued over the signature of General
Grant, but of which he, at the time, had absolutely no knowledge.
This fact I proved conclusively during the presidential campaign
of 1888, when political capital was being made against General
Grant among the Jews. By both generals I was assured that there
had been a great deal of misinformation on the subject, and, that
if they could permit themselves to speak of the facts as they were
known to them it would not be the Jews who would be shown to have
been derelict but a large number of Christians, many of whom had
come highly recommended. It was the latter who were abusing the
privilege accorded to them by the authorities at Washington and who
had given both generals a great amount of trouble and annoyance.

I admit that it is unfortunate that the writer of the earlier
article in the _North American Review_, whose statements otherwise
deserve the fullest consideration, should have been led into so
glaring an error as to name Generals Lyon and Rosecrans as Jewish
soldiers. While we would have no objection to classing them among
our American citizens of Jewish faith, we can substantiate our case
very well without doing so, as the cursory list which I have cited
will abundantly show. But while admitting the error of the earlier
writer I cannot allow the statement of the latter one, with its
implication that there was no one of Jewish faith who battled for
the Union, to go unchallenged. The Jewish cemeteries of this city,
and of every other large city in the land, contain the remains of
brave men of Jewish birth who are not forgotten on Decoration Day
by their surviving comrades of Christian faith; and what these men
recognize the American people will not ignore.

The armies of every country afford ample proof of Jewish patriotism
and valor. Even in benighted and tyrannical Russia, where, to a
large extent they are soldiers by compulsion--50,000 or 60,000
of them--their officers have uniformly admitted that in battle
there were no braver men than the Jews. The late Franco-German war
afforded instances of distinguished heroism on the part of Jewish
officers and soldiers in both armies. The Italian army and the
French army to-day contain a large contingent of Jewish officers
and privates who are not only respected, but honored by their
compatriots. In the Turkish army some of the leading officers are
of Jewish faith. Patriotism, however, is not confined to the field
of battle; in private life, from time immemorial, acts have been
performed of greater service, possibly, than any in the field,
showing greater powers of endurance and evincing higher virtues
than were ever recorded in the annals of war. During our late
conflict many who remained at home made sacrifices of the most
heroic character, and did their duty cheerfully and with alacrity,
and I know of none who did their part more fully than the citizens
of the United States of Jewish faith. In fact, the history of
the Jewish people is one long tragedy of personal sacrifice and
heroism. But as I wish to trespass no longer on the columns
of your valuable paper, I beg leave to close with this simple
statement; that it seems to me high time for Americans of all
faiths to frown down all attempts that have for their object the
lowering and humiliation of any class of our citizens."

SIMON WOLF.

Finding that my letter had been copied extensively, not only by the Jewish press, but by leading newspapers in the country, and favorably commented on generally, I determined to give to the world, as complete as I might find possible, a list of American citizens of Jewish faith who had "stood shoulder to shoulder" on the field of battle, and to add thereto the record of some typical instances of exceptional energy and public spirit in the civil walks of life.

What I had anticipated and supposed would be an easy task, requiring probably no more than six months at the utmost, has taken more than four years of continuous work, notwithstanding the assistance I received from many quarters, and I am even now compelled to give this work to the public in an inadequate form, with the feeling that it is incomplete and that much more should have been made of it.

The difficulties in the way of completing fully and accurately such a compilation as I have here attempted will scarcely be realized by those who have not undertaken a similar task. The work was begun nearly thirty years after the close of the war, when many of those whose names were to be gathered were dead, and many others dispersed throughout our vast domain and beyond our borders. In response to three successive calls made through the leading newspapers of the country, I received, indeed, a large number of replies, but after all, the great majority even of the survivors failed to respond, and of the data that reached me much could not be classified. Nearly a thousand names are accordingly placed in the unclassified list.

By far the majority of the names herein included were furnished by the soldiers themselves or their relatives, but a large number of them were sent to me by army comrades of the men referred to. Some of these may be incorrectly quoted both as to their names and the commands with which they were connected, but these errors may scarcely be considered as affecting the general result, so far at least as numbers are concerned. It was naturally impossible to verify all the notices sent to me, and this compilation must therefore, in the very nature of the case, be more or less imperfect and incomplete, but I may say without hesitation that the work is free from all errors which could be eliminated through a patient and cautious scrutiny. Several hundred names of soldiers from Indiana alone were finally excluded from my present lists, notwithstanding their pronounced Jewish character, such as Marks, Abrahams, Isaacs and others of a similar strain, whose owners were ascertained by my correspondents to be non-Jews, while on the other hand many soldiers bearing names of decidedly non-Jewish derivation were authenticated as Jews. If many whose names should be included fail to see them on this "roll of honor" the fault is at all events not mine, and the earnest effort which I have given to this work, wholly a "labor of love" on my part, leaves me free from the necessity of offering apology for whatever errors of omission or of commission may remain in it. The public records could not be utilized, because our army lists, unlike those of foreign powers, make no registry of the religious faith of the enrolled soldiers. I should, in this connection, urge upon my readers to aid me with such corrections of these army lists as they may be able to furnish, with the view to the record being perfected as far as may be, in a future edition of this book.

Unsatisfactory and at times discouraging as has been my task and its outcome, I have yet had at times the pleasure of obtaining and recording data of a most gratifying character. One of the most pleasing results of my labors is the fact that I am able to present a list of fourteen Jewish families that contributed to the Union and Confederate armies no less than fifty-one soldiers. Three, four, five brothers; a father and three sons, a father and four sons, volunteers in a deadly strife, leaving their homes and kindred, breaking their family ties to face privation, disease, wounds and death, sacrificing all to fight with their compatriots for the cause which they deemed right.

My primary purpose has been to show that the Jewish people throughout the land not only took a share in the struggle which has ended so beneficently as to have brought prosperity to both antagonists and dispelled the cause of discord, but that they took their full share, and it is now conclusively shown that the enlistment of Jewish soldiers, north and south, reached proportions considerably in excess of their ratio to the general population. This fact had become apparent before my present work had been systematically begun, as I indicated in my letter to the Washington _Post_, quoted above, but the lists obtained by me, incomplete as they must inevitably be, make up a number that leaves no reasonable doubt on this subject. This fact, in view of statements minimizing the numbers of Jewish soldiers of the late war, or denying the existence of any at all, cannot be too strongly emphasized. To complete, however, my ultimate purpose of presenting a consideration of the Jew as citizen and philanthropist as well as patriot and soldier, I have herein collated a symposium of expressions on this comprehensive subject from sources at once authoritative and unbiased. I have included in this collection of views and reviews, the carefully considered statements of many of the foremost men of modern times, statesmen and soldiers, philosophers, divines, writers and other leaders of public opinion, as widely divergent in locality as they are unanimous in sentiment. Among these I have included only such as are entirely non-Jewish in their origin, men whose thoughts are the expressions of well-disciplined minds, and whose opinions are the deliverances of an impartial judgment.

I gladly record my obligations to the Grand Army of the Republic for the aid afforded me in obtaining information through the machinery of its organization, and to General J. B. Gordon, of the Confederate Memorial Association, for a like co-operation. To the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, to the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, and to the Jewish Publication Society of America, I am indebted for contributions to the cost of publication and for other aid in the prosecution of my work.

I owe my thanks to Captain Eugene H. Levy, Mr. George Alexander Kohut and Mr. Max J. Kohler, of New York, to Messrs. Lewis Abraham and L. Lichtenstein, of Washington, for their assistance, and especially to Colonel F. C. Ainsworth, of the War Department, for the loan of Records. To Mr. Henry S. Morais' recent historical work on "The Jews of Philadelphia," I am much indebted for valuable data, and other important materials have been gleaned from Mr. Isaac Markens' compendious work on "The Hebrews in America." To the Jewish press I owe acknowledgement for many welcome items of information and for repeated expressions of encouragement.

Finally, among my obligations to numerous correspondents in different parts of the country are those which I owe to many soldiers of Christian faith, some of them officers of distinguished rank, who afforded me much valuable information and who added, in almost every case, some warm expression of their sympathy and good-will.

_Washington, D. C., June, 1895._

JEWISH PATRIOTS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

The keen and responsive sense of duty with which, through Torah and Talmud, the Jewish character is so deeply imbued, has never failed to become manifest when occasion has called it forth. Jews have never been wanting in patriotism and though a peace-loving people, (the very mission of Israel being peace, and good-will towards neighbors a cardinal teaching of Judaism) they have always espoused, eagerly and earnestly, the cause of their countrymen. The heroism and self-devotion which marks the course of Jewish history from the earliest Biblical records, emblazoning the era of the Maccabees, signalizing the Roman period and illuminating the Dark Ages, has found many a worthy example in these modern days. We have here to deal with the records of but one country, yet these records are replete with instances of bravery and undaunted courage, of earnest devotion and of faithful service performed by men of Israel in behalf of this land of their adoption. These records begin at a time before the Revolutionary epoch, when the Jewish settlers in America were very few indeed. At the date of the first census, in 1790, just after the close of the Revolution, when the total population of the country was figured at almost 4,000,000, the number of Jewish inhabitants could scarcely be estimated at 3,000, or only one to 1,330 of the population.[2]

The dearth of accessible records of a detailed character rendered it practically impossible to present more than a very imperfect list of the Jewish participants in the Revolutionary struggle. However, sufficient data are at hand to prove conclusively that the Jewish colonists of that period, comparatively recent settlers and few in number as they were, furnished, as usual in all struggles for liberty and freedom, more than their proportion of supporters to the colonial cause. They not only risked their lives in the war for independence, but aided materially with their money to equip and maintain the armies of the Revolution. That they took their part in the earliest stages of resistance to the encroachments of the mother country is proved by the signatures to the Non-Importation Resolutions of 1765. Nine Jews were among the signers of these resolutions, the adoption of which was the first organized movement in the agitation which eventually led to the independence of the colonies. The original document is still preserved in Carpenter's Hall, in Philadelphia, and following are the names of the Jews on that early roll of patriots:

Benjamin Levy, Samson Levy, Joseph Jacobs, Hyman Levy, Jr., David Franks, Mathias Bush, Michael Gratz, Barnard Gratz, Moses Mordecai.

With these as worthy precursors of the Jewish patriots of the Revolution we may proceed to note the list of Jews whose names have come to us from the Revolutionary period, through various published sources, as men of special distinction among their fellows. One of the most notable of these was Haym Salomon, a man who, while not the only Jewish patriot that lavished his ample fortune in behalf of liberty and independence, yet stands out as so unique a figure in the history of the American Revolution that the record of his part in the making of that history may well take precedence. Fragmentary presentations of this subject have been made in public documents and in historic essays at various times since the submission by Salomon himself of his memorial to the Continental Congress in August, 1778.[3] However, as embracing a succinct statement and detailed review of the whole matter to the present time, the following paper from the "Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society" (No. 2, 1894) may be quoted in full:--

FOOTNOTES:

[2] According to a careful estimate by Mr. Isaac Harby, in 1826, there were then, nearly forty years after the Revolution, not over 6,000 Jews in the United States.

[3] See Markens, "The Hebrews in America" (New York, 1888), and Morais, "Jews of Philadelphia" (Philadelphia, 1894).

A SKETCH OF HAYM SALOMON.

FROM AN UNPUBLISHED MS. IN THE PAPERS OF JARED SPARKS.

[Contributed by HERBERT B. ADAMS, PH. D., Professor in the Johns Hopkins University. With Notes by J. H. HOLLANDER.]

In the fall of 1841, Jared Sparks, while professor of history in Harvard College, was delivering a course of lyceum lectures in New York City upon the American Revolution. His remarks upon the services of certain public men of the period excited deep interest in the mind of a Jewish hearer, Mr. Haym M. Salomon, who wrote to and afterwards called upon Mr. Sparks in reference to the patriotic activity of Haym Salomon, a contemporary and associate of Robert Morris, James Madison, Edmund Randolph and other distinguished publicists of the Revolutionary period. At the request of Mr. Sparks, Mr. Salomon prepared certain memoranda of the eminent services of his father, Haym Salomon, and this manuscript passed into the possession of Mr. Sparks.

The interview and the information thus obtained seem to have made a profound impression upon Mr. Sparks. He mentioned something of the above matter to Mr. Joshua I. Cohen, of Baltimore, and almost a quarter of a century after the original interview, under date of October 29, 1865, Mr. Cohen wrote to Mr. Sparks as follows:

"You may probably recollect a conversation I had with you many years ago during a visit to Cambridge, in which I mentioned that Judge Noah, of New York, was then engaged in gathering together the facts and memorials of the part which our people, the Israelites, took in our Revolutionary struggle, and you kindly offered to him through me the use of your biographical series for any memoirs he might prepare on the subject. The death of Judge Noah, not long after, put an end to the project. I mentioned to you a military company that was formed in Charleston, S. C., composed almost exclusively of Israelites, of which my uncle was a member, and which behaved well during the war. Major Frank, one of Arnold's aids, was spoken of, and also Haym Salomon and others. In connection with Mr. Salomon you expressed yourself very fully, and, in substance (if I recollect correctly), that his association with Robert Morris was very close and intimate, and that a great part of the success that Mr. Morris attained in his financial schemes was due to the skill and ability of Haym Salomon. I do not pretend to quote your language, but only the idea. The matter was brought up to my mind recently by the marriage of a great-grandson of Mr. Salomon to a niece of mine, one of the young ladies of our household."[4]

The original sketch of Haym Salomon thus prepared by his son was found in a somewhat mutilated condition by Professor Herbert B. Adams, of the Johns Hopkins University, among the Sparks Papers, which had been entrusted to his care during the preparation of "The Life and Writings of Jared Sparks," published in 1893 by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. The manuscript was stitched to other papers and had been apparently cut down somewhat in order to make it more uniform in size with the smaller sheets. This fact will explain certain tantalizing, but apparently brief omissions in the text. The appended copy of the manuscript is furnished by Professor Adams with the full consent of the Sparks family.

* * * * *

Haym Salomon, who died in Philadelphia, then the metropolis of the United States, January, 1785, was the fellow-countryman and intimate associate of the Polish Generals Pulaski and Kosciuszko, and was first publicly known in 1778, when he was taken by the British General Sir H. Clinton in New York on charges that he had received orders from General Washington to burn their fleets and destroy their store-houses, which he had attempted to execute to their great injury and damage. He was accordingly imprisoned, treated inhumanly, and ordered to suffer military death. From the sacrifice of his life, with which he was threatened in consequence of the sentence, he escaped by means of a considerable bribe in gold. This is corroborated from his letter to his brother-in-law, Major Franks, dated soon after in Philadelphia, in which his intimacy is stated with the brave General McDougall, who then commanded the American army in the neighborhood of New York, and with whom it appears he must have been in co-operation in order to drive ... away from the comfortable quarters, which the maritime and military positions of that city so happily promised them after its abandonment by the friends of the Revolution.[5]

A few days after his escape from the merciless enemy he safely arrived in Philadelphia, where he was welcomed and esteemed as one devoted to the principle ... [_MS. cut off._]

We then find him meriting the well-placed confidence and affection of the patriots who had been distinguished in the Revolutionary Congress of 1776; also the great men who were famous in those succeeding sessions, 1780, '81, '82, '83 and '84, as furnished us by such circumstantial testimony as yet remains of that immortal body of devoted patriots.

It is seen as soon as the generous monarch of France agreed to furnish the expiring government of that day with means to reanimate their exertions in the glorious cause. It was he who was charged with the negotiation of the entire amount of those munificent grants of pecuniary supplies from the government of France and Holland.[6]

In 1783-4, after the satisfactory close of these truly confidential services, he is found to have made considerable advances, moneys, loans, &c., to Robert Morris, of the Congress of the Declaration of '76. To General Miflin, to General St. Clair, to General Steuben, to Colonel Shee, to Colonel Morgan, Major McPherson, Major Franks, and many other officers such sums as they required. And as it regarded the deputies to the Continental Congress, [_to_] the amiable Judge Wilson (another member of the session of '76) considerable loans.[7]

To the immortal delegation from Virginia, namely, Arthur Lee, Theodore Bland, Joseph Jones, John F. Mercer and Edmund Randolph, liberal supplies of timely and pecuniary aid, and we find it declared by one of the most accomplished, most learned and patriotic members of the succeeding sessions of the Revolutionary legislature, James Madison, that when by the ... [_MS. cut off_] pecuniary resources of the members of Congress, both public and private, were cut off, recourse was had to Mr. Salomon for means to answer their current expenses, and he was always found extending his friendly hand.[8]

The exalted and surviving delegate of the Revolutionary Congress above alluded to, who has since that period been promoted for two successive terms to the chief magistracy of these States, in his letter on the subject of the character of Mr. Haym Salomon, testifies fully as to the unquestionable uprightness of his transactions, as well as the disinterestedness of his "friendship," and also his "intelligence," and which no doubt from his confidential intercourse with the foreign ambassadors made his communications serviceable to the public safety.[9] That conferences were sought with him by the great men of the time is proved from the existence of a note in the handwriting of another member of the Congress of Declaration, the incorruptible President Reed.

His services to the cause of his country were not confined to aiding the native agents of our own government, but he was the most confidential friend and timely adviser to the agents, consuls, and ambassadors representing the interests of the kings of those countries then in our alliance, as it appears from the amount of specie granted for the service of the army and hospital of Rochambaud, and large sums appear to have been received from him by Chevalier De La Luzerne, Marbois, consul-general, De La Forest, John ... [_MS, cut off_], recollected by the elders of the nation as the active agents of the good French king.[10]

As to the minister of the King of Spain, then the richest of the European monarchs. The amount granted him was expressly to relieve the wants, conveniences and necessities of this ambassador, whose king was then countenancing the Revolution in this country, but with whose European dominions all intercourse was stopped, and in regard to the monies so furnished, whether Mr. S. was ever repaid by Spain is a matter of as much uncertainty as that regarding the considerable sums advanced to other Revolutionary agents.[11]

It appears that the death of Mr. S. after a short and severe illness was quite as unexpected as calamitous to his family, leaving no will nor relatives in this country competent to take charge of his estate, at this difficult period of the unsettled state of the jurisprudence of the country, being four years prior to the formation of the Constitution of the United States.

A letter from him yet exists, dated in New York a few days previous to his return and death, directed to the agent of his house in Philadelphia, in which he speaks of the full competency of his fortune and his intention of retiring from business. An additional inducement no doubt was owing to the impaired state of his health from the great exertions he had made to promote the views of the Revolution, and which letter further declares that he had many claims uncollected due him,[12] and spoke of the quantities of public securities and government papers which ... [_MS. cut off_]. Of this latter, on examination of a list deposited in the Probate Office, it appears there was upwards of $300,000, more than $160,000 of which were of certificates of the Loan Office of the Treasury and the army.[13]

At his decease the management of his estate passed into the hands of strangers, all of whom not very long after became either bankrupts or died, as well as Mr. Macrea,[14] his chief clerk, who had committed suicide about the same period. Consequently the books and papers have nearly been all lost, and the obscurity into which these matters are thrown is increased in consequence of the destruction by the British of many of the public archives of that period, during the invasion of the city of Washington by their army during the last war.[15] And such were the effects of those unfortunate circumstances to the heirs that when the youngest son became of age nothing was obtained from the personal estate of this munificent and patriotic individual in Philadelphia. And no other inheritance now survives to the offspring except the expectation of the grateful remembrance of a just and generous republic.

It ought not to be forgotten, that although he endorsed a great portion of those bills of exchange for the amount of the loans and subsidies our government obtained in Europe, of which he negotiated the entire sums, and the execution of which duty occupied a great portion of his valuable time from '81 to '83, still there was only charged scarcely a fractional percentage to the United States, although individuals were willing to pay him ... [_MS. cut off_] for his other negotiations and guarantee. And it is known that he never caused the loss to the government of one cent of those many millions of his negotiations, either by his own mismanagement or from the credit he gave to others on the sales he made of those immense sums of foreign drafts on account of the United States.[16]

We find that immediately after the peace of '83, when foreign commerce could securely float again on the ocean, that he resumed his business as a merchant for the few remaining months of his life, trading to foreign countries, which may be collected from the few original letters (that are preserved) bearing date [_of_] London, Holland and Spain, and from the return of the large ship Sally from Spain to his consignment a few weeks succeeding his death, on which cargo and hull he was interested in the sum of 40,000 florins; his estate on the expedition sustained almost total loss, owing to the failures and disasters among merchants of those days, to whom the property had been consigned and by whose advice it had been undertaken.

He was most friendly in aiding those other commercial citizens and merchants who recommenced trading after the war had closed. One remarkable instance [_that_] may be noted among others was the case of Mr. Willing's house, the head of which was the president of the National Bank, and whose active partner was the Superintendent of Finance. The firm traded under the name of Willing, Morris & Swanick. To them he made a loan of his name to obtain 40,000 dollars in specie in one amount from the bank. A second loan of his name in addition of 24,000 specie dollars also, a few months preceding his death, for both of which considerable accommodations of credit at this eventful period of our commercial history he never changed them one cent of consideration.[17]

[Copy of an authentic certificate from the Register's Office in Philadelphia shewing the amount of public securities[18] and Revolutionary papers left by the deceased Haym Salomon at his death and from which personal estate mentioned in said certificate not a cent was ever received by any of his heirs.]

"58 Loan Office Certificates $110,233.65.
19 Treasury " 18,259.50.
2 Virginia State " 8,166.48.
70 Commissioners " 17,870.37.
Continental Liquidated 199,214.45.
------------
$353,744.45.

"Seal

"I certify that the above writing is a true extract from the original inventory and appraisement of the personal estate of Haym Salomon deceased filed in the register's office Philadelphia on the 15th February, 1785.

(_Signed_)
JOHN GEYER, _Register_.

Given under my hand and seal of office this 28th May, A. D. 1828."

[EXTRACT FROM A CERTIFICATE.]

The father of Mr. Haym M. Salomon was the deceased Haym Salomon, Esq., who died in Philadelphia, January 6, 1785, and who is found to have exhibited the most ardent personal devotion to the cause of the Revolution.

On investigating such of the memoranda and papers regarding his civil services in that era of our history which have accidentally been preserved and now submitted, I find the following facts.

By an affidavit made in New York, January, 1778, before Alderman Matthews, certified on its back by William Claygen, military secretary to Major-General Horatio Gates, dated at the encampment White Plains, August 15, 1778, it appears that so early as the year 1775, Mr. S. was in controversy with the enemies of the projected Revolution.

New York, May 9, 1828.

(_Signed_)
WM. H. BELL.

The affidavit further states that it had been alleged against him in New York that he was charged by General Washington to execute an enterprise as hazardous to the safety of his person and life as it was most important to the interests of the Revolutionary army. Supposed to be the enterprise for which he was condemned to death by the British General Clinton, as mentioned in the first part of this memorandum.

The two infant sons which Mr. Salomon (at the age of 45) left at his death were Ezekiel and Haym. Ezekiel was he (the eldest) who in 1807, in charge of a large amount of American property, was (with many other American citizens whose cargoes as well as his own was sequestered at Leghorn by the French) placed in much perplexity, but through the spirited remonstrance which he made to the Tuscan and French Governments, succeeded in procuring its release. He subsequently was charged with the government of the U. S. Branch Bank at New Orleans, and while in the successful application of the duties of his office died in 1821.

Haym M., the youngest son and sole survivor of the male part of the family, has been engaged in commercial pursuits for many years past, for particulars of which see letter from Hon. Johnson, Esq., who for eight years was the representative in Congress from New York, the Empire City of the United States, and now[19] one of the chief officers in the Custom House of that city.[20]

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.

Little of the mass of original material at one time in existence relative to the life and activity of Haym Salomon can now be located. Mr. William Salomon, of New York, a great-grandson of Haym Salomon, writes in response to a recent inquiry as follows: "I am under the impression that all the papers bearing on the services of Haym Salomon in the cause of the Revolution which were not lost when he died intestate (and a few months before Haym M. Salomon was born) came into Haym M. Salomon's possession, but unfortunately his descendants have been deprived of that valued inheritance by reason of their disappearance while in the custody of the Government. All I ever discovered among my father's papers was a letter from either President Tyler or Polk (I cannot remember positively which, and the letter is not now within easy reach) stating that papers my grandfather, Haym M. Salomon, desired to have returned could not be found in the Department where they had been placed."

Some further details of the strange negligence to which this unfortunate loss is due may be found in the Senate Committee Report to the 31st Congress on the claim of H. M. Salomon. The timely services rendered by Haym Salomon to James Madison during the sessions of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia are specifically indicated in the published letters of Madison; see Gilpin, Madison Papers, Vol. I., pp. 163, 178-9. Mr. Herbert Friedenwald, of Philadelphia, has recently found among the records of the Continental Congress an interesting Memorial of Haym Salomon, submitted to the Congress in August, 1778; see Publications of American Jewish Historical Society, I., 87. The main sources of information relative to the life of Haym Salomon are thus the secondary Congressional Committee Reports upon the claims of his descendants for indemnity for money advanced to the United States Government during the Revolution. These, in the order of their presentation, are as follows:[21]

1. Report on Claim of Haym M. Salomon. Rep. F. A. Tallmadge. April 26, 1848. 3 pp. House Reports, No. 504, 30th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. III.

2. Report on Claim of H. M. Salomon. Senator J. D. Bright. July 28, 1848. 3 pp. Senate Reports, No. 219, 30th Cong., 1st Sess.

3. Report on Claim of H. M. Salomon. Senator I. P. Walker. August 9, 1850. 7 pp. Senate Reports, No. 177, 31st Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. I.

4. Report on Claim of Haym M. Salomon. Senator Charles Durkee. March 9, 1860. 10 pp. Senate Reports, No. 127, 36th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. I.

5. Report on Claim of Haym M. Salomon. Senator M. S. Wilkinson. July 2, 1862. 5 pp. Senate Reports, No. 65, 37th Cong., 2d Sess.

6. Report on Petition of Haym M. Salomon. June 24, 1864. 4 pp. Senate Reports, No. 93, 30th Cong., 1st Sess.

The second, third, fifth and sixth of the above reports have been reprinted in pamphlet form, presumably for private circulation. During the first session of the 29th Congress, the Senate Committee of Claims unanimously agreed upon a report similar to that adopted by the House Committee of the 30th Congress, but too late for presentation. Another report was drawn up during the second session of the same Congress, placed on file, but never adopted. It was largely embodied in the Senate Report to the 31st Congress; see Senate Report to the 31st Congress. The last sentence of the Report to the 38th Congress: "except the report of this committee made at the last session," and several paragraphs inserted in the Report to the 37th Congress as statements of "the committee of the last Congress," indicate the presentation of additional reports. No positive evidence of their existence has, however, been found. At the second session of the 52d Congress (February 24, 1893), a bill was presented to the House, ordering that a gold medal be struck off in recognition of services rendered by Haym Salomon during the Revolutionary War, in consideration of which the Salomon heirs waived their claims upon the United States for indemnity. The measure was reported favorably by the House Committee on the Library, but too late for consideration. The Report (No. 2556; to accompany H. R. 7896) summarizes the efforts made in previous Congresses, and reprints in full the Senate Report to the 37th Congress.

OTHER JEWISH CONTRIBUTORS TO THE COLONIAL TREASURY.

The monetary contribution by Haym Salomon to the successful issue of the Revolutionary struggle was doubtless the largest made by any individual, but while it is the most signal instance of its kind, it does not stand alone. Haym Salomon was not the only Jew who showed his earnestness in behalf of freedom by a jeopardy or sacrifice of fortune. Among the signers of the Bills of Credit for the Continental Congress in 1776 were Benjamin Levy, of Philadelphia and Benjamin Jacobs, of New York; and Samuel Lyon, of the same city, was among the signers of similar bills in 1779. Isaac Morris, also of Philadelphia, and who, after the Revolutionary War, was one of the incorporators of the Bank of New York, contributed three thousand pounds sterling (£3000) to the colonial treasury, and still another Philadelphian, Hyman Levy, repeatedly advanced considerable sums for the support of the army in the field. A yet more notable instance of patriotic devotion was that of Manuel Mordecai Noah, of South Carolina, who not only served in the army as officer on Washington's staff, and likewise with General Marion, but gave of his fortune twenty thousand pounds (£20,000) to further the cause in which he was enlisted. Many minor cases of a similar order could be cited, but only the more important instances, such as are of public record, have here been adduced.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] See Adams, Life and Writings of Jared Sparks, Vol. II., p. 564. From the general tenor of the letter, it seems probable that Mr. Sparks, during his extensive researches into the historical records, public and private, of the United States, had encountered other evidence of the services of Haym Salomon. This inference is partially corroborated by a passage in a letter written by Mr. Sparks from Cambridge on May 7, 1845, to Mr. Haym M. Salomon, apparently in connection with the first memorial to Congress: "Among the numerous papers that have passed under my eye I have seen evidences of his [_Haym Salomon's_] transactions, which convince me that he rendered important services to the United States in their pecuniary affairs." See Report on Claim of H. M. Salomon; Senate Reports, No. 177, 31st Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. I. It is not, however, impossible that only the present manuscript may be here referred to.

[5] It is probable that Haym Salomon's first encounter with the British Government took place several years before 1778. The Senate Report to the 31st Congress (_supra_) states that: "As early as 1775 he became obnoxious to the British Government, and was imprisoned in New York, sharing the privations and horrors of the sufferers confined in a loathsome prison called the Provost." Essentially the same fact is repeated in later Reports, and is specifically presented in certified form in a later part of the present paper.

The Memorial of Haym Salomon to the Continental Congress (see Bibliographical Note, _infra_) is of such immediate interest in connection with the circumstances of his escape from New York as to permit partial citation. It sets forth: "That your Memorialist was some time before the Entry of the British Troops at the said City of New York and soon after taken up as a Spy and by General Robertson committed to the Provost. That by the Interposition of Lieut-General Heister (who wanted him on account of his knowledge in the French, Polish, Russian, Italian &c. Languages) he was given over to the Hessian Commander who appointed him in the Commissary Way as purveyor chiefly for the Officers. That being at New York he has been of great Service to the French and American prisoners and has assisted them with Money and helped them off to make their Escape. That this and his close connexions with such of the Hessian Officers as were inclined to resign and with Monsieur Samuel Demezes has rendered him at last so obnoxious to the British Head Quarters that he was already pursued by the Guards and on Tuesday the 11th inst. he made his happy Escape from thence." The Memorial bears date of August 25, 1778, thus indicating the precise time of Salomon's departure from New York as August 11, 1778.

[6] For details see Report to 31st Congress. The exact location of this and other Congressional Reports is given in the Bibliographical Note appended to the paper.

[7] This is corroborated by a letter from the eminent jurist, Henry Wheaton, to Haym M. Salomon. Among "the patriots of the Revolution who were compelled to sacrifice their private pursuits to the public," Mr. Wheaton mentions Judge Wilson, "who must have retired from public service if he had not been sustained by the timely aid of your father, administered with equal generosity and delicacy." See Report to 31st Congress.

[8] Under date of August 27, 1782, Mr. Madison wrote from Philadelphia to Edmund Randolph: "I cannot in any way make you more sensible of the importance of your kind attention to pecuniary remittances for me than by informing you that I have for some time been a pensioner on the favor of Haym Salomon, a Jew Broker." See Gilpin, Madison Papers, I., 163. During the following month Mr. Madison's position seems to have grown more aggravated, for, on September 24, he declared: "I am relapsing fast into distress. The case of my brethren is equally alarming." _Ibid_, p. 176. Assistance in sufficient amount was still not forthcoming, and a week later, September 30, 1782, he acknowledged to Mr. Randolph the local source of his benefactions as follows: "I am almost ashamed to acknowledge my wants so incessantly to you, but they begin to be so urgent that it is impossible to suppress them. The kindness of our little friend in Front street, near the coffee-house, is a fund that will preserve me from extremities, but I never resort to it without great mortification, as he obstinately rejects all recompense. The price of money is so usurious that he thinks it ought to be extorted from none but those who aim at profitable speculations. To a necessitous delegate, he gratuitously spares a supply out of his private stock." _Ibid_, pp. 178-179.

There seems little doubt but that the "little friend in Front street" is meant to indicate Haym Salomon. This view is taken by the Congressional committees and by Madison's biographer; see Gay, Life of James Madison, p. 25. The fact that the first Philadelphia City Directory was issued in 1785, and that Haym Salomon died on January 6 of that year (_vide infra_), renders direct verification impracticable. Search among the Philadelphia newspapers of the period would probably determine the point once for all.

[9] The writer of the MS. is probably quoting from memory from a letter written by Mr. Madison from Montpelier, on February 6, 1830, to Mr. Haym M. Salomon, in connection with claims upon Congress for indemnity. The Senate Report to the 31st Congress preserves the following paragraph of this letter: "The transactions shown by the papers you enclosed were the means of effectuating remittances for the support of the delegates [_to Congress_], and the agency of your father therein was solicited, on account of the respectability and confidence he enjoyed among those best acquainted with him."

The Report to the 37th Congress mentions among the various letters received by Haym M. Salomon relative to the justice of his claim, one from James Madison, in 1827, who, among other things, stated: "The transactions shown by the papers you enclose were for the support of the delegates to Congress, and the agency of your father therein was solicited on account of the respect and confidence he enjoyed among those best acquainted with him,' etc., and concludes with the wish that the memorialist might be properly indemnified."

The resemblance between the two paragraphs is so striking as to make it probable, despite the discrepancy in dates, that the same communication is referred to.

[10] The Report to the 31st Congress states: "On the accession of the Count de la Luzerne to the embassy from France, Mr. Salomon was made the banker of that government.... He was also appointed by Monsieur Roquebrune, treasurer of the forces of France in America, to the office of their paymaster-general, which he executed free of charge."

[11] Details of the assistance so rendered are given in the Report to the 31st Congress. Mr. Salomon, it is said, "maintained from his own private purse Don Francesco Rendon, the secret ambassador of that monarch for nearly two years, or up to the death of Mr. S., during which Rendon's supplies were cut off." A striking passage is quoted in the same Report from a letter said to have been written in 1783 by Rendon to the Governor-General of Cuba, Don José Marie de Navarra: "Mr. Salomon has advanced the money for the service of his most Catholic Majesty and I am indebted to his friendship in this particular, for the support of my character as his most Catholic Majesty's agent here, with any degree of credit and reputation; and without it, I would not have been able to render that protection and assistance to his Majesty's subjects which his Majesty enjoins and my duty requires." The statement is also made that: "Moneys thus advanced to the amount of about 10,000 Spanish dollars remained unpaid, when Mr. Salomon died shortly after."

[12] Mr. Henry S. Morais, in his history of "The Jews of Philadelphia," notes as follows: (p. 24.) "The amount has been variously given at as much as $600,000 and more. Hon. Simon Wolf, of Washington, D. C., in February, 1892, presented a complete and elaborate statement of this question, based upon official documents, in an article (entitled, "Are Republics Ungrateful?") published in the _Reform Advocate_, of Chicago."

In another note on the same subject Mr. Morais states: "Mr. Salomon's loan and its accruing interest would now (1893) amount to over $3,000,000." Haym M. Salomon, a son of the philanthropist, and who kept a store on Front street, vainly endeavored to obtain payment of his just claim, notwithstanding that it was favorably reported to the U. S. Senate in 1850. In this report it was said: "Haym Salomon gave great assistance to the government by loans of money and advancing liberally of his means to sustain the men engaged in the struggle for independence at a time when the sinews of war were essential to success."

[13] For a summary of the account see the certificate appended, _infra_. Some few further details of the inventory are given in the Committee Report to the 30th Congress.

[14] "Mr. McCrea," in the Report to the 31st Congress.

[15] Mr. Joseph Nourse, Register of the Treasury of the United States from 1777 to 1828, wrote from Washington in 1827, to Mr. H. M. Salomon: "I have cast back to those periods when your honored father was agent to Office of Finance; but the inroads of the British army in 1814 deprived us of every record in relation to the vouchers of the period to which I refer." See for details, Report to 31st Congress; also Bibliographical Note.

[16] For details, see Report to 31st Congress.

[17] Hon. Simon Wolf, of Washington, D. C., in an article in _The Reform Advocate_ of Chicago (see Bibliographical Note), calls attention to the fact that Professor Sumner--the most recent biographer of Robert Morris--in his "The Financier and the Finances of the American Revolution," makes no mention of the services of Haym Salomon. Mr. Wolf adds: "When I called Mr. Sumner's attention to it he answered in a letter which I received to-day, that, he had supposed that Mr. Salomon had been paid long since, and was surprised at the statement which I made."

[18] Not a penny of the large sums represented by these securities has ever been repaid to the heirs of the philanthropist and patriot who so generously aided the Revolutionary cause, and the fact is but another instance of the ingratitude of republics. The remissness of the people's representatives in the adjustment of private claims has been but too often flagrantly demonstrated, but there is not to be found on the public records a more signal case of public injustice. When to pay a debt is everybody's business, then it is apparently forever nobody's business to do so, and thus it happens that popular governments fail utterly in cases of this nature, where a monarchy would hasten to do justice.

[19] _Circa 1842._

[20] A third child of Haym Salomon was a daughter, Sallie Salomon, who married Joseph Andrews. Their son, Joseph I. Andrews, married Miriam Nones, of New York, a daughter of Major Benjamin Nones of Revolutionary fame. The daughter of this union, Louisa Andrews, is now Mrs. E. L. Goldbaum, of Memphis, Tenn. Mr. Goldbaum kindly writes me: "We have in our possession life-size oil paintings of Joseph Andrews, son-in-law of Haym Salomon, and of his wife Sallie Andrews, _née_ Sallie Salomon."

[21] Poore, Descriptive Catalogue of the Government Publications of the United States (Washington, 1885), pp. 558, 565, 593, 762, 807, 828.

INCIDENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF AMERICAN JEWISH PATRIOTISM.

[A paper written for the American Jewish Historical Society by MAX J. KOHLER.]

In the present article, the writer proposes to set forth several incidents in our history not otherwise connected with each other than the above title indicates, but all tending to show that the Jew has ever been ready to battle for the cause of his adopted country, be his domicile where it may. Our subjects herein had differing views as to what patriotism demanded. We shall speak of French Jews battling for France, of English Jewish Colonists championing England's cause, and of American Jews fighting for American liberty and glory, yet all were equally patriots. In selecting the incidents to be set forth herein the writer has confined himself exclusively to matters which he believes are either wholly unknown to the Jewish historian or only partially or imperfectly known; no treatment of the main subject, other than these incidents may furnish, will be attempted.

I.

COLONEL DAVID S. FRANKS.

Members have no doubt still fresh in mind the interesting items relating to Col. Franks, set forth by Dr. Herbert Friedenwald and Prof. M. Jastrow in No. 1 of our "Proceedings." Since then other data have been collected and published in regard to the Franks family, to which I will merely refer; (see the very interesting article on the History of the Jews of Montreal, prepared for the Montreal _Daily Star_, December 30, 1893, and repeated in the _American Israelite_ in January, 1894, which has been attributed to Rev. Dr. Meldola de Sola; and also an article on Rebecca Franks by the present writer, which appeared in the _American Hebrew_, November 9, 14, 21, and also in pamphlet reprint). In the present paper, Colonel Franks' early career in Canada will be chiefly dealt with, the documents herein cited demonstrating the correctness of Dr. Friedenwald's theory (p. 76) that Franks was drawn into the Revolutionary contest through pure patriotism and interest in the struggle which was being carried on south of his earlier domicile. A contemporary periodical furnishes the data I refer to; it is entitled: "The Remembrancer or Impartial Repository of Public Events."