Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/164

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Army Harby



THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA (died 1870);

and Commander Adolf Marix at a

recent date.

not less than fifteen Jewish had served under him at Waterloo. Among these was Cornet Albert Goldsmid (1794-1861), who afterward rose to the rank of major-

have

said, in 1833, that

officers

But it was the great Civil war that gave to the Jews of the United States their greatest opportunity of proving their military ardor and capacity. Then patriotism and gallantry shone out most brilliantly. Fourteen families alone contributed 53 men to the ranks; and 7 men have been traced Jews in the who received from President Lincoln Civil War. medals of honor " for conspicuous ''

gallantry. Simon Wolf gives a list of Jews serving on the Union and the Confederate sides, which exhibits 40 staff officers (including a commis-

sioned hospital chaplain, the Rev. Jacob Frankel), 11 naval officers, and a total of 7,878 of other ranks, out of a Jewish population of less than 150,000 souls. Among these were at least 9 generals (Brevet Maj.Gen. Frederick Knefler of Indianapolis being the highest in rank), 18 colonels, 8 lieutenant-colonels, 40 majors, 205 captains, 325 lieutenants, 48 adjutants, etc., and 25 surgeons. In the recent war with Spain (1898) American Jews were equally active. It has been asserted that the first volunteer to enroll and the first to fall were alike Jews. It is certain that Jews served in both the navy and the Army to an extent far beyond their due numerical proportion, and that they

Jews in the behaved with zeal and valor. The numSpanish- bers of officers engaged were as follows

American Army 32; navy 27; non-commissioned War. officers and men — Army 2,451 navy

42.

These figures are based upon the given in the "American Jewish

preliminary

lists

Year-Book"

for 1900-1.

Before the armies of their native lands were open to them, adventurous Jews not seldom became soldiers of fortune. Such was Perez Lachman (better known as General Loustannan), who held high command in the Mahratta army. Dr. Joseph Wolff, the missionary, when visiting central Asia and northern India in 1829, found a number of Jews of leading military rank in the armies of native princes.

But it was especially through the forces of the French republic, consulate, and empire that the Jews became active as soldiers or sailors. It has been alleged, but on nebulous grounds, that the great marshals, Soult and Massena, were themJews Serve selves Jews. Be this as it may, there were 797 men serving in 1808 out of Under Napoleon. 77,000 French Jews; and many a Polish community for the first time beheld a foreign Israelite in the person of some soldier Two decorated Jewish soldiers, Jean of Napoleon. Louis May and Simon Mayer, sat in the Sanhedrin

of 1806. A Jewish officer,, Lazarus Mayer Marx, was appointed to the marine artillery in 1810. A Jewish regiment under one Berko was among Koscius-

Berko became a ko's forces in the Polish revolt. colonel in the French Army, and died during the campaign of 1811. Many Jews were also in the naJoshua tional armies assembled against Napoleon. Montefiore (1752-1843), uncle of the late Sir Moses Montefiore, served in the British Army, and, as an the East Yorkshire Regiment, was present in 1809 at the capture of Martinique and Guadaloupe. The duke of Wellington is reported to officer of

126

Jews He general in the British service. Under Well- had been preceded in the rank of genington.

eral

by

Sir

Jacob Adolphus, M.D.

(1770), inspector-general of hospitals;

Sir

Alexander Schomberg, Royal

Navy

(1716-1804)

David Ximenes (died 1848); and has been followed by Lieut. -Gen. Sir George d'Aguilar, K.C.B., and Maj.-Gen. George Salis-Schwabe, not Lieut. -Gen. Sir

mention a singularly large number of gallant gentlemen of less immediate Jewish origin. The names are known of 125 Jewish soldiers of the Prussian Army who served in the campaigns of 1813-15, 20 of them officers, one a drum-major. Sixteen of these received the Iron Cross for valor. Altogether 343 Jews served in the Prussian Army at that time, of whom only 80 were conscripts and no At the conclusion of the less than 263 volunteers. war there were 731 Prussian Jews serving. Among these may be mentioned Lehmann Cohn, a sergeant of the Second Cuirassiers, who earned the Iron Cross at Leipsic, and fought in La Haye Sainte at Waterloo. One of his sons fought as a captain in Italy in the fateful year 1848; and another, still living in London, earned his medal under the walls of Delhi in 1857. Mention must also be made of that remarkable woman, Louise Grafemus (really Esther Manuel), who, in search of her husband who was in the Russian Army, disguised herself and served in the Second Konigsberg Uhlans, was wounded twice, and rose to be sergeant-major, and received from Billow the Iron Cross. She found her husband in 1814 under the walls of Paris, only to Jewess see him fall in action the next day, Sergeant- when grief betrayed her sex. She Major. was then thirty years of age, and was sent back to her two children at Hanau, her home, with great honor. Jews served in the Austrian Army from the year 1781. Emmanuel Eppinger became an officer in 1811, and earned decorations from two monarchs. In 1809 Von HOnigsberg was made lieutenant on the battlefield of Aspern, and several sons of Herz Homberg, the Bible commentator, were officers (see Wertheimer, " Jahrbueh," i. 16, ii. 187 and 237). The Dutch to

A

Jews behaved particularly well in 1813-15. They had been recognized as brothers-in-arms since 1793. In considering the naval and military services of European Jews after the Napoleonic campaigns, it must be remembered that Jews have not been treated more indulgently than their Gentile neighbors in the matter of military duty where universal service is the rule, especially where, as in Russia, and particularly

Rumania, they are

bilities.

still exposed to civil disaIn Russia, indeed, 38 per cent of the Jews

Army are called out, as against 30 per cent of the general population; but this is due to the retention on the books of the names of absentees and possibly of deceased persons also, whenever these happen to be Jews. In this way it is made to appear that an overwhelming proportion of Jews seek to escape their military duties but the experience of every other country would suffice to liable to serve in the