M.A. Kleen

My latest offering at the Emerging Civil War blog looks at the role Jewish Virginians played in the American Civil War. Roughly 2,000 Jewish Americans lived in Virginia in 1861, and like their neighbors, most sided with the state they called home, while a few chose to fight for the Union. The wartime experiences of Virginia’s Jewish citizens mirrored those of many of their Christian neighbors while also reflecting concerns unique to a religious minority. Link below!

On the eve of the American Civil War, Jews were a distinct minority in the United States, with approximately 125,000 in the North and 25,000 in the South, comprising less than half a percent of the total population. Nevertheless, they played a prominent role in business and civic life, particularly in the South, where they…

Jewish Virginians in the American Civil War