SAN DIEGO — Born in Hungary; living in Portsmouth, United Kingdom; spending many hours of research at the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio; and even boasting a cousin (Judit Sipos-Szabo) here in San Diego, Peter Kovacs Rosenbluth understands links between European Jewish history and American Jewish history about which most of us, including yours truly, have been unaware.
His diligent research and expertise are showcased in the video above in the 50-minute video documentary The Jewish ’48ers — In the American Civil War. During the time of Napoleon, Jews were extended some measures of freedom; followed after Napoleon’s defeat by repression; followed in the early 1840s by a wave of liberalism that saw in Hungary some remarkable Jewish successes, for example the 1841 founding by Moric Ullman of the first Hungarian commercial bank of Pest, which helped to finance Hungary’s first railway. Another Jew, Mor Fischer, helped to found Hungary’s porcelain industry. And if it’s true that “there is no revolution without music,” another Jew, Gyula Roshavolgi, who became a lieutenant in Hungary’s Revolutionary Army that fought the Habsburg Empire’s armies, could take pride in the fact that his father, who had changed his name from Mordechai Rosenthal, was the inventor of the Hungarian folk dance known as czardas that was suppressed by the Austrian-ruled empire on the grounds the music was insurrectionist.
At the same time as Jews were making strides in these arenas, the religion itself was undergoing changes. What in America would become known as the Reform movement was taking root in Hungary under Rabbi Ignac Einhorn, who later renamed himself Edward Horn, as well as in Germany under Rabbis David Einhorn and Samuel Holdheim.
The Empire and its supporters fought back with overwhelming force against the revolutionaries of Central Europe, while persecuting with special vigor those revolutionaries who also were Jewish. Anti-Semitic pogroms in the wake of the 1848 revolutions throughout Central Europe became common-place, and in response a Central Emigration Committee was established that year to facilitate Jewish emigration to the United States. The Jewish population in the U.S. grew from approximately 15,000 in 1840, to 75,000 by 1850, the latter number representing about a half percent of the overall U.S. population.
Many of the Jews who had fought in the anti-Habsburg revolutionary wars of 1848 brought with them to America not only their military training, but also their liberal ideology, which found special expression in support for the abolitionist movement to end Black slavery. For example, Michael Heilprin, who fought in the war and was a friend of Hungary’s revolutionary leader Lajos Kossuth, arrived in the U.S. in 1856 and quickly took up the abolitionist cause. He and the German Jewish Rabbi David Einhorn, who also emigrated from Europe, propagated the view throughout the North that “slavery is against Judaism.”
The struggle against slavery also found expression in the exploits of John Brown’s armed raiders, who illegally freed slaves from their masters in the time before the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. An Austrian Jew, August Bondi, joined Brown in the “Bleeding Kansas” raids in the mid 1850s. He went on to serve as a sergeant in the Kansas Cavalry during the Civil War, and post-war was active in the Jewish community.
Once the Civil War began with the Confederacy’s attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, European Jewish ’48ers flocked to the Union cause. In the South, a lesser number of European Jewish veterans joined the Confederacy. Rosenbluth’s research indicates that overall approximately 7,000 Jewish fighters for the North outnumbered 3,000 who fought for the South.
It should be remembered that the U.S. government did not have a large standing Army to put down the Southern insurrection. It issued a call for volunteers, most of whom had no military experience whatsoever. Thus the Europeans who actually had served on the battlefield proved to be an important resource for the North. One of them was Leopold Blumenberg, who helped organize the 5th Maryland Volunteers Regiment and eventually rose to the level of general. A strict Prusian-style disciplinarian, Blumenberg’s training methods were sharply criticized, but not by President Abraham Lincoln who commented that Blumenberg “suffered for us and served us well — had the rope around his neck for being our friend–raised troops-fought; and has been wounded. He should not be dismissed in a way that disgraces and ruins him without a hearing.”
Another German Jew, Edward S. Solomon, serving as a colonel in the 82nd Illinois Regiment (also known as the 2nd Hecker Regiment) had two horses shot out from under him, but was not himself wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. General Carl Schurz, a fellow German, praised Solomon saying, “He was the only soldier at Gettysburg who did not dodge when [Robert E] Lee’s guns thundered; he stood up, smoked his cigar and faced the cannon balls with the sang froid of a Saladin.” Solomon went on to be appointed as a brevet brigadier general and following the war was appointed as the territorial governor of what became Washington State.
Julius Stahel, whom Rosenbluth believes was Jewish on his father’s side, had been a lieutenant in the Austrian military before switching sides to the revolutionaries. In the United States he recruited German Americans to the Union cause, rising from lieutenant colonel to major general. He distinguished himself covering the Union retreat from the disastrous First Battle of Bull Run, and for later action at Piedmont, where he was wounded twice, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Lincoln.
Frederick George Utassy, an Austrian Jewish lieutenant, who helped the revolutionary Guiseppe Garibaldi in his drive to unify Italy, emigrated to the U.S. in 1860, and soon thereafter organized the 39th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which brought together volunteers of some 15 nationalities. Although he distinguished himself in such battles as those at Cross Keys, Virginia, and Harpers Ferry, his men resented him because he required only English to be spoken officially and he banned the use of alcohol in his regiment. Charges of selling Union horses for personal gain were brought against Utassy, which resulted in his being sentenced to one year imprisonment in Sing Sing. Everything about the trial and sentence was controversial, with Utassy (né Strasser) believed by many to be the victim of outright anti-Semitism. Lincoln described Utassy as one of his best officers, but declined to give him a presidential pardon.
The careers of other Central European generals and officers who served the Union cause are covered in the documentary, which you can view for yourself above. This was documentary film maker Rosenbluth’s debut effort. He anticipates making more documentaries exploring some of the unknown or barely remembered recesses of American and European Jewish history. Rather than creating a Go Fund Me account seeking contributions for the first documentary, he figured he’d show the public what he was capable of, and, should anyone want to help him in his future endeavors, he may be contacted via this email.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com