Grant orders Jews to leave war zone, Dec. 17, 1862

[Behind the Aegis]

As the Civil War raged on this day in 1862, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered all Jews to vacate a large region then occupied by Union forces under his command. The exclusion area stretched from northern Mississippi to Cairo, Ill., and from the Mississippi River to the Tennessee River.

A black market in Southern cotton triggered the expulsion order. Although the North and the South were enemies, Northern textile mills needed Southern cotton. The Union Army utilized Southern cotton in its tents and uniforms. Although the Union military command preferred an outright ban on trade, President Abraham Lincoln approved limited trade in Southern cotton.

Lincoln insisted the Treasury Department and the Army license it. As commander of the Department of the Tennessee, Grant was charged with issuing trade licenses in his area. As cotton prices soared in the North, unlicensed traders bribed Union officers to allow them to buy Southern cotton without permits. One correspondent told the secretary of War, “Every colonel, captain or quartermaster is in a secret partnership with some operator in cotton; every soldier dreams of adding a bale of cotton to his monthly pay.”

Having assumed charge of trading licenses, Grant accused the region’s Jewish community of illegally trading in black-market cotton smuggled from Confederate-controlled plantations.

While a handful of the illegal traders were Jews, most were not. Nonetheless, Grant’s order required all Jews to leave the region within 24 hours or face imprisonment. Union officers began forcing Jewish families out of their homes with only what they could carry, although some officers voiced qualms about Grant’s order. Brig. Gen. Jeremiah Sullivan, the Union commander in Jackson, Tenn., said “he thought he was an officer of the Army and not of a church.”

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[Dennis Donovan]

1. I never knew about this until last night...

I haunt Wikipedia's "On this day" page daily (history nut) and was completely unaware about this shameful part of US history. Thank you for posting!

[rickyhall]

2. Apparently, the great general learned something, made amends as president.

But still died broke, too bad.

[Aristus]

3. It was more than that.

Ron Chernow relates, in his superlative biography of Grant, that Grant was mortified that he had done something so shameful and opposed to his usual nature (Grant was incredibly progressive for his day), and did everything he could to erase the stain of his actions.

Yeah, he died broke, but the revenue from his autobiography, finished mere days before his death, earned his family a comfortable income.

While reading Chernow's biography of Grant, my admiration for the general soared to stratospheric heights.