APRIL 24, 1864:
Confederate Private Isaac J. Levy writes home to
assure his family he is observing a proper Passover. Levy served in a
“Jewish” regiment of which his brother Ezekiel was Captain:
“No doubt you were much surprised on receiving a letter from
me addressed to our dear parents dated on the 21st which was the first day of
Pesach,”
he wrote to his sister Leonora, with the word “Pesach” carefully printed in
Hebrew letters. “We were all under the
impression in camp that the first day of the festival was the 22nd,” and he
had therefore unwittingly failed to observe the holiday’s start on the
appropriate day.
But Levy went on to
assure her that his brother had purchased matzoh “sufficient to last us for the week” in the city of Charleston at
the cost of two dollars per pound, and that they were “observing the festival in a truly Orthodox style.” Sadly, just
four months later, Isaac Levy was killed in the trenches during the Siege of
Petersburg on August 21, 1864. He was 21 years old.
In the Civil War, 7,000 Jews fought for the Union, and 3,000 for the Confederacy. Nine
Jews (of both sides) reached the rank of General and 21 attained Colonelcies.
