Seventy years after the Holocaust ended, most would say antiSemitism is primarily an affliction of a less tolerant age. Scholars and academics take notice of the expulsions of 1492 in Spain, the near extinction of Jews in Europe during Hitler’s reign, and of the almost mandatory tales of biblical times. Yet among the great expulsions, there have been instances of antiSemitic orders for the removal of Jews in the very country that exemplifies freedom, liberty, and justice for all – the United States of America.

 

What Happened?

During the Civil War, the economic question of cotton trading was a hot topic that President Abraham Lincoln dealt with on a daily basis. Border states – particularly Kentucky – wanted trade with the South kept open, and Lincoln sought a compromise so as to not offend any states or traders involved. Thus, by summer 1862, military authorities were under orders to allow cotton to move out of the area. The cotton trade began to boom and, according to Prof. Stephen Ash of the University of Tennessee, the “burgeoning trade attracted a good number of men of dubious character.” As trade expanded, speculators hounded Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s compound, seeking permits and transportation for their business, which posed a security threat, as vital information often crossed enemy lines through traders. Among these agents were several well-known Jews. Through documented correspondences between Grant and others, however, it appeared that Grant was not merely growing tired of speculators, but more specifically of those who were Jewish.

Thus, he sought a solution to the growing annoyance.

In November 1862 Grant issued a letter to Gen. Charles Webster of Jackson, Tennessee, ordering him to tell all area railroad conductors that “no Jews are to be permitted to travel on the railroad southward.”  The letter also demanded Webster encourage Jews to travel north because “they are such an intolerable nuisance that the department must be purged of them.”

Finally, on Dec. 17, 1862 (Chanukah), Grant issued what Rabbi Bertram Korn called the “most sweeping anti-Jewish legislation in all American history.” That issue, General Order No. 11, blamed Jews “as a class” for “violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department” and ordered their expulsion from the general’s department, which covered Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi. Hundreds of Jews were forced from their homes, and those who were cotton traders had their businesses taken over by Union officers and troops who in turn sold the cotton to textile mills in the North at inflated prices. In Paducah, Kentucky, several well-known Jewish families were given a mere 24 hours to pack up and head north – on foot.

Revoking the Order

Three weeks after the expulsion, a delegation of Paducah’s Jews headed to Washington and, after meeting with two Jewish politicians, went directly to the White House to speak with President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, initially in disbelief, ordered a countermand. After several letters, Grant revoked the order on Jan. 6, 1863. Lincoln spoke out against reprimanding any group based on religious identity, but never requested a formal apology from Grant.

Following the incident, newspapers flooded with editorials lambasting Grant for his religious and cultural intolerance. The New York Times, Philadelphia Public Ledger and other major papers expressed regret that the “freest nation on earth” had experienced the revival of an ethnic conflict that rang of the “spirit of the medieval ages.”

During the second week of January 1863, the House debated Grant’s responsibility in the issuing of the order, and a resolution condemning both the order and President Lincoln as commander-in-chief was proposed. The bid was tabled, and when it finally went to vote, the Republican majority in the House guaranteed that Grant would not be censured for his acts.

Grant never publicly apologized for General Order No. 11, but in the presidential election of 1868, he carried the Jewish vote, and he appointed several Jews to positions in his cabinet. In fact, the Hon. Simon Wolf, a Jewish communal leader, attempted to uncover the truth behind General Order No. 11 in his article “Fifty Years at Home and Abroad,” in which he says that Grant said he had “absolutely nothing whatever to do with said order," and that "the order was made by one of the staff officers, but, unfortunately, bore the name of General Grant.”

Theories for the Order

Although we will never know, for definite, the reasons behind Grant's command, there are many theories that evolved in the years after the incident. 

One theory, made popular by Grant's father, was that the order came directly from Washington and that Grant was merely following orders. However, in an 1868 letter to friend and Illinois Congressman Isaac Morris, Grant actually admits to simply writing the order in haste without thinking about it, making no mention of suggestions or orders from Washington to issue the order. 

Another popular theory for Grant sympathizers arose in a letter written by an anonymous soldier in Grant’s regiment, sent a letter to the Chicago Evening Journal newspaper, claiming that a colonel named John DuBois had written the order without Grant’s knowledge, signed the general’s name, and sent it off. The anonymous letter was reprinted throughout the country and fueled the opinion that Grant hadn’t written the antiSemitic order, much to the delight of Grant sympathizers. DuBois, in his papers, did say he had penned an order in early December to remove the Jews while under Grant’s command, but that it was turned down by Grant and subsequently, that DuBois had been dismissed.

And yet another theory suggested that Grant was merely stressed out by war and was allowing the influence of antiSemitic colleagues to impair his judgment. In particular, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, a colleague and close friend of Grant’s, wrote in letters to his wife in mid-1862 in which he refers to the “pork-hating descendants of Abraham” and “oleaginous children of Israel” – signs of innate antiSemitism that made their way into correspondence between Grant and Sherman well into the issuing of Order No. 11. Sherman frequently wrote about "dishonest Jews" swarming the territories and that no matter how many times he pushes them out they'll again overrun the area. 

Unfortunately, we'll never know what caused Grant to issue General Order No. 11, but whatever the reason, it forced the United States of America onto an unfortunate list alongside countries like Germany and Spain that have expelled Jews throughout history. 

For more on this topic, including a full discussion of theories behind Grant's action and whether he was, in fact, an antiSemite or merely committed an act of antiSemitism, as well as a source guide, click here.