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Washington Hebrew Congregation

December 10, 2007
Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington
Contact: Laura Apelbaum or Nathalie Lavine

Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln’s City

New Exhibit Prepared by Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington Will Reveal Aspects of Jewish Life During the Civil War in DC

(Washington, DC)  As the bicentennial of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln (2009) approaches, the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington (JHSGW) today announced its plans to create an exciting new exhibition entitled Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln’s City to open February 2009.

“We are proud to join other national organizations that are planning bicentennial celebrations by looking back at the role of Jews in Washington at the start of the Civil War,” said JHSGW director Laura Cohen Apelbaum.  “As far as we know, our exhibit is the only planned educational activity that will tell the story of Jewish life in Washington and neighboring Alexandria at the time of the Civil War.”

The exhibit will focus on seven areas of Jewish life and involvement in the Civil War period:

1. A House Divided: A City Transformed.  With the start of the Civil War, nearly 500 newcomers arrived in Washington each day.  New city businesses opened while hotels and rooming houses swelled to accommodate a mix of soldiers, politicians, and carpetbaggers.  Troops were scattered throughout the city.  A series of articles written by “a Jewish soldier” describing the city appeared in November 1861 in the Jewish Messenger, a weekly newspaper.  At this time, the small Jewish community consisted of about 200 recent German-speaking immigrants engaged in myriad mercantile businesses. 
2. Taking Root.  Washington Hebrew Congregation was the only congregation in the city at the time of the Civil War.  This section will highlight how the congregation contributed to the war effort: unclaimed bodies of Jewish soldiers were buried in the congregation’s cemetery, women from the congregation formed a nursing corps, and the congregation hosted Sanitary Fairs to raise money for soldiers’ families.  The early years of the war witnessed a dramatic increase in Jewish-owned businesses in Washington, including the Lansburgh brothers’ “Baltimore House” (a precursor to Lansburgh’s department store).
3. Blue and Gray.  Jewish soldiers were among the Union and Confederate troops who made Washington home after the Civil War.  Leopold Karpeles and Daniel Abrams fought on the Union side. A flag-bearer who survived numerous battles, Karpeles was one of the first Jews to be awarded the Medal of Honor following his heroic rallying of the troops at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864.  Abrams fought in the battle of Fort Stevens with the 122^nd New York Infantry Volunteers and later settled in Alexandria.  Bernard Nordlinger and Isaac Schwartz fought for the Confederacy.  Nordlinger, an immigrant peddler from Georgia, was captured by Union forces and spent time in a prisoner camp near Annapolis.  He settled in Georgetown after the war where he opened a shoe store.   
4. Friends in the Executive Mansion.  Simon Wolf and Adolphus Solomons were two of the most influential Jews in Washington at the time of the Civil War.  Wolf wrote a series of articles in The Jewish Messenger under the guise of “A Jewish Soldier,” detailing what army life was like for a Jewish soldier in Washington.  When the war began, federal law specified that only Christian chaplains could serve in the military.  The American Board of Israelites fashioned a plan to revise the law and sent Rabbi Arnold Fischel, formerly at Shearith Israel in New York, to Washington as an emissary.  He arrived in late 1861 and set up his “headquarters” at the shop of Philp & Solomons, Adolphus Solomons’ bookstore.  Solomons was able to use his connections to arrange for Fischel to meet with President Lincoln, who quickly remedied the oversight. 
5. Grant and the Jews.  On December 17, 1862, Major General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11 expelling Jews “as a class” from the Tennessee Division (an area that also included parts of Illinois, Kentucky, and Mississippi).  As news of the order spread, the Jewish community organized a response.  Two delegations approached the President and, with the help of Simon Wolf, the order was eventually rescinded.    
6. Life Across the River.  Less than 10 miles from downtown Washington, Alexandria was occupied by the Union army from the onset of the war.  Two-thirds of the city’s pre-war population fled in 1861 and large private homes and public buildings were “requisitioned” to support the military occupation.  The city became the headquarters for the U.S. Military Railroad and one of the largest Union hospital centers in the East.  The city remained under Union control for the duration of the war, giving it the distinction of the longest occupied territory of the Civil War.  At the start of the war, the Alexandria Jewish community was made up of around 15 families who joined together to found the Beth El Congregation in 1859.  
7. The End of an Era. President Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865, shocked the nation.  Members of Washington Hebrew Congregation marched in the funeral procession, and the Lansburgh brothers donated a large sum of money to erect the first statue in the District in memory of the fallen president. 

Community programs are planned around the exhibit, including an opening reception honoring the birthday of President Lincoln, lectures and panel discussions, a family exhibition guide, special curricula for area schools, and an educational poster and accompanying resources. The Society plans to display Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln’s City at various venues in the metropolitan area, including the Washington Hebrew Congregation (February 13 – May 31, 2009), the Lillian and Albert Small Jewish Museum (June 7 – August 31, 2009), and Beth El Hebrew Congregation in Alexandria (September 11 – December 31, 2009).

Individuals are encouraged to get in touch with the JHSGW if they have family members who were living in Washington or Alexandria during the Civil War.  The Society is working to raise the funds needed to mount the exhibit. To learn more about how to help with the exhibit, please contact Laura Cohen Apelbaum or Nathalie Lavine at 202-789-0900 or info@jhsgw.org.

The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington and its Lillian and Albert Small Jewish Museum preserve, chronicle and present the story of the local Jewish community through archival collections, exhibits, educational programs, publications and the restoration and preservation of the oldest synagogue building in the nation's capital.

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