The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen. Simon Wolf
David Hays, Jr.,
was an active participant in the struggle for independence and served with the Colonial Army on Long Island. In retaliation for his patriotic services the Tories burned his house and store. Prior to the Revolution he was one of the Commissioners appointed by the British authorities to lay out public lands. All of his family sided with the Colonists during the War of Independence.
David Hays and Jacob Hays,
father and son, fought in various of the battles for independence.
Colonel Isaacs,
of North Carolina Militia; wounded and taken prisoner at Camden August 16, 1780; exchanged July, 1781.
Moses Isaacks,
one of the early settlers of Newport, R. I., was an active supporter of the Army of the Revolution. He had the honor of receiving General Washington as a guest at his house.
Solomon Isaac
enlisted as a private in the 6th Pennsylvania Battalion, company of Capt. Robert Adams, February 6, 1776.
Isaac Israel,
2nd Lieutenant of 8th Virginia Regiment, February 9, 1776; 1st Lieutenant, January, 1777; Captain, November 23, 1777; transferred to 4th Virginia Regiment, September 14, 1778.
Joseph Israel
volunteered as a soldier during the Revolution.
Jacob Leon
was an officer on the staff of General Pulaski.
Jacob De Leon,
of Charleston, S. C., was a distinguished officer of the War of the Revolution. He served as captain on the staff of General de Kalb, and when the latter was mortally wounded at the battle of Camden, S. C., de Leon in company with Major Benjamin Nones and Captain Jacob de la Motta, of the staff, carried de Kalb from the field.
Asher Levy,
Ensign of 1st New Jersey Regiment, September 12, 1778; resigned June 4, 1779.
Nathaniel Levy,
of Baltimore, served under Lafayette during the Revolutionary War.
Israel de Lieber
was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, who rose from the ranks to military positions of honor and trust.
Jacob Moser,
Captain of 6th Pennsylvania Regiment, February 15, 1777; retired, July 1, 1778.
Benjamin Moses
served on the staff of General Pulaski.
Isaac Moses,
of Philadelphia, advanced three thousand pounds when Robert Morris undertook to raise money to prosecute the War of Independence; he was active in the Jewish communities of New York and Philadelphia.
Emanuel de la Motta
served in the Revolution and in the War of 1812. In recognition of his valor as displayed in battle he was promoted from the ranks to a military position of honor.
Jacob de la Motta
was a captain on the staff of General Pulaski.
Manuel Mordecai Noah,
of South Carolina, (1747–1825) patriot and soldier; heretofore referred to as having contributed twenty thousand pounds to the support of the American army; served with General Marion, also on the staff of General Washington.
Major Benjamin Nones,
a native of Bordeaux, France, came to Philadelphia in 1777. He served at various times on the staff of General Lafayette and on that of General Washington. He had previously been a private under General Pulaski, and had, as he writes, "fought in almost every action which took place in Carolina, and in the disastrous affair of Savannah, shared the hardships of that sanguinary day." He became major of a Legion of four hundred men attached to Baron De Kalb's command and composed in part of Hebrews. At the battle of Camden, S. C., on August 16, 1780, when the brave De Kalb fell mortally wounded, Major Nones, Capt. Jacob De la Motta and Capt. Jacob de Leon bore their chief from the battlefield.
Major Nones rendered many conspicuous services, civil and military, to his adopted country.
Abraham R. Rivera
was a member of the artillery corps of Newport, R. I., in 1790.
Philip Moses Russel
was born 1745, and resided in Germantown, Pa. When the war broke out in the Spring of 1775 he enlisted as surgeon's mate under the command of General Lee, serving about ten months. After the British occupation of Philadelphia, in September, 1777, he became surgeon's mate to Surgeon Norman, of the Second Virginia Regiment.
Russell went into winter quarters with the army at Valley Forge, 1777–1778. An attack of sickness, which impaired both his sight and hearing, forced him to resign in August, 1780. He received a letter of commendation from General Washington, "for his assiduous and faithful attentions to the sick and wounded."
Ezekiel Sampson,
Lieutenant of Baldwin's Artillery, Artificer Regiment, May to December, 1775.
Joseph Sampson,
2nd Lieutenant of Cotton's Massachusetts Regiment, May to December, 1775.
Abraham Seixes, was a lieutenant in the Georgia Brigade of the Continental Army.
Mordecai Sheftall. See biographical sketch, p. 40.
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GEORGE WASHINGTON AND HEBREW CITIZENS.
[Papers collated by Lewis Abraham, Esq., and presented at the meeting of the American Jewish Historical Society, at Washington, December 27th, 1894.]
When Washington had concluded his labors in the field of war and had attained deserved civic honors, and when laurels were showered upon him from all quarters the Hebrews joined their fellow-citizens in felicitating the hero and statesman.
The following correspondence is collated from The United States Gazette, of 1790; a partial file of this paper can be found in the Congressional Library. It is strange that the letters are not all to be found in books in which the Washington correspondence are compiled.
The original letter addressed to the "Beth Elohim" congregation of Charleston, S. C., was carefully preserved among the many other valuable records of that city, but was destroyed by the great fire of 1838. The Mayor of Charleston endeavored to obtain a copy from the general government, but after a thorough examination of the records, no such document could be found. After a prolonged search, however, the present writer was enabled to discover the missing document, and was well rewarded with the thanks of the authorities of Charleston. (Year-Book of the City of Charleston for 1884, page 280.)
The "Address from the Hebrew Congregation of the City of Savannah, Ga., to George Washington, the First President of the United States," presented by Mr. Jackson, one of the representatives from Georgia.
Sir: We have long been anxious of congratulating you on your appointment, by unanimous approbation, to the Presidential dignity of this country and of testifying our unbounded confidence in your integrity and unblemished virtue. Yet however exalted the station you now fill, it is still not equal to the merit of your heroic services through an arduous and dangerous conflict which has embosomed you in the hearts of her citizens.
Our eccentric situation, added to a diffidence founded on the most profound respect, has thus long prevented our address, yet the delay has realized anticipation, given us an opportunity of presenting our grateful acknowledgements for the benediction of Heaven through