The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen. Simon Wolf
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The following item from an article by Rev. Isaac Leeser, in The Occident, Vol. XVI, p. 142 (1858) gives in some little detail a story since then oft repeated; the primary authorities for the incident are still unknown to the writer thereof: "A company of soldiers who did good service in the defence of Charleston Harbor were nearly all, if not all Jews. The names of Daniel W. Cardozo, Jacob I. Cohen, Sr., and Isaiah Isaacs, we think, must have been on the roll of that company. Relations or descendants of all of these are still to be found among our most respectable families. Sheftall Sheftall, Isaac N. Cardozo, a brother of David, and Colonel Bush, occur to us just now as brave soldiers in the Revolution, and no doubt many others are known to other persons." Compare with this the following passage from a speech of Col. J. W. D. Worthington on the Jew Bill, Maryland, 1824 (Speeches on the Jew Bill, etc., by H. N. Brackenridge, Phila. 1829, p. 115): "Here is another paper which contains the names of a corps of volunteer infantry, in Charleston, South Carolina, in February, 1779. It was composed chiefly of Israelites, residing in King's Street and was commanded by Captain Lushington, and afterward fought under Gen. Moultrie at the Battle of Beaufort." Also Westcott's "Persons Who Took the Oath of Allegiance to Pennsylvania." "Abraham Seixas, formerly an officer in the Militia of Charleston, South Carolina, lately arrived in this city, Philadelphia; Merchant, May 31, 1782."
VII.
Mordecai Sheftall, of Savannah, Georgia.
We may fittingly close this paper with an account of a Jewish patriot of the Revolution who held important and responsible positions under both Congressional and Georgia State control, and who had occasion to find that the Sovereign will often decline to pay even the most bona fide debts, where powerful influence to force bills for their payment through Congress is wanting. One of the witnesses in the Court Martial Proceedings, of Major General Howe, in 1780, (N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, 1879, pp. 260–263, 301) was Mordecai Sheftall, who was Deputy Commissary General of Issues to the Continental troops in Georgia during the period of the British invasion of that State, and also Commissary General of Purchase and Issues to the Militia. He testified to various measures he had recommended for removing supplies from positions of danger, to prevent their falling into the hands of the British, and it is very suggestive that these provisions should be referred to in the Index, under the heading: "Jewish Thrift," (Collections, 1880, p. 461). In his defence, General Howe referred to him as follows: "Mr. Sheftall, the Deputy Commissary General of Issues, has been brought by the prosecutors to prove upon me, as I suppose, a neglect of the public stores. I have ever had a favorable opinion of Mr. Sheftall, as an honest man, and from the testimony of such, I know I have nothing to fear; his evidence, therefore, is in my favor. Many measures, however, were pursued that Mr. Sheftall might have had no knowledge of." Mr. Sheftall's was one of the earliest Jewish families in Georgia, and various items in regard to his character and standing are collated in Judge Daly's work (p. 70, et seq.), where his name is, erroneously, it seems, spelt Sheftail. On page 72 reference is made to Cushman Polack, who was also a witness in the Howe trial, (pp. 264–5) he having been a private in the militia in Georgia at the same time; his name is there spelt "Coshman Pollock". Markens also adds, on what authority I am unable to state, (p. 49) that when the British took possession of Savannah, December 29, 1778, Mordecai Sheftall, with his son Sheftall Sheftall, endeavored to make his escape, but was compelled to surrender by a body of Highlanders. He was taken to the guard-house, where the officer in charge was instructed to guard him well, as he was "a great rebel." There he was confined with a number of soldiers and negroes without a morsel to eat until a Hessian officer named Zeltman, finding he could speak his language, removed him to his quarters and permitted him to communicate with his wife and son. In an interesting narrative, published many years ago, Mr. Sheftall states that he was treated with abuse by Captain Strarhope of the "Raven" sloop of war, and he and his son were ordered on board the prison ship. His name, with the inscription, "Chairman Rebel Provisional Committee," is enrolled on the list of those who were selected as coming under the Disqualifying Act of July, 1780, and thus rendered "incapable of holding or exercising any office of trust, honor or profit in the Province of Georgia."
The writer hereof believes that, until now, no particulars have been known to the Jewish historian in regard to a claim urged by Sheftall, and afterwards his widow, before Congress. It appears that he presented a petition to the House of Representatives on March 29, 1792, asking for a settlement of his accounts as Deputy Commissary General of Issues for the Southern Department during the Revolutionary War with Great Britain. The claim was referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, who reported it to the next Congress, though the nature of his report is not known to the writer. In the fourth Congress the petition was referred to the Committee on Claims, which reported it back to the House, February 11, 1797. In the House List of Private Claims (Vol. III, p. 305–6), this report is marked "adverse." No authority seems to exist for this statement. In fact, another claim reported at the same time was rejected at once, but the Sheftall claim was referred to the Committee of the Whole on the following Wednesday, but on that day it does not appear to have been considered. In the Seventh Congress, Frances, widow of Mordecai Sheftall, renewed her husband's petition and it was again referred to a committee. This committee's report was read and considered on April 3, 1802, but further Consideration was postponed till the 4th Monday of November following, which was practically equivalent to killing the measure, as Congress never meets in ordinary session in November. (Journals of Congress, House, Second, 1st Session, p. 554; Third, 1st Session, pp. 77–8; Fourth, 1st Session, p. 451; Fourth, 2d Session, p. 691; Seventh, 1st Session, 136, 177, Carpenter; American Senator, III, 449–50). No further information as to the claim is at hand. From the persistence in pressing it, it must be concluded that some substantial sum was involved. It may be that it was rejected because the United States declined to assume liability for the acts of the State of Georgia, there having been a series of controversies between the State and General Government as to the liability of the latter for military services and expenditures incurred in behalf of the former. At any rate, the claim does not appear to have been paid, and like the Haym Salomon claim, is another illustration of our country's ingratitude to those who made sacrifices for it of worldly goods and life and limb in its hours of need.
JEWISH SOLDIERS IN THE CONTINENTAL ARMIES.
Scant and unsatisfactory as are the army records of the Revolutionary period, enough of an authentic character has been preserved to fully sustain the statement of Solomon Etting, who, writing in Baltimore in 1824, notes that among the soldiers of the Revolution "were many Hebrews who were always at their post and always foremost in all hazardous enterprises." This almost contemporary notice emanates from a Jew whose father had served in the Continental army from the beginning of the Revolution to the capture of Charleston, and who, through the prominence of his family had been brought in contact with many of the distinguished participants in the momentous struggle.
The active co-operation of Jewish citizens in the non-importation movement of 1763 has already been adverted to, but even before that time we find references to prominent Jewish participants in the public defense. In 1754, during the French and Indian War, Isaac Myers, a Jewish citizen of New York, called a town meeting at the "Rising Sun" Inn and organized a company of bateau men of which he became captain. Two other Jews are named as taking part in the same war, both of whom served in the expedition across the Allegheny mountains in the year above noted. It is altogether probable that these three were not the only Jewish soldiers of that early war, but only these have left traces of their presence. In the following year, 1755, when the colonies were agitated by the disastrous ending of the Braddock campaign and the incipient movement toward federation, we find a Jew, Benjamin Cohen, a member of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania and Attorney-General of the colony.
The chronicles of the Revolutionary War afford a considerable and in many respects an interesting list of Jewish names. A few of the more prominent of these have