The Jewish Soldiers in the American Civil War

“Never before,” writes Adam D. Mendelsohn in his new book, Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War: The Union Army, “had Jews joined a mass volunteer army—itself a relatively new historical phenomenon—in such numbers and with such enthusiasm.” Stuart Halpern writes in his review that this “comprehensive and nuanced” work explains much “that is confusing, unknown, or simply untrue about the role Jews played in the Civil War.” It also provides some fascinating vignettes, for instance: