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Jews Who Served Washingtc n
I N all the glorious annals of the Jewish race
there is no more brilliant chapter than that
recording what they did on the battlefield and
in finance and statesmanship to help George
Washington in his two great undertakings: the
winning of the Revolutionary War and the estab
lishment of this nation upon a firm foundation.
Consequently, the Jew of today is bound to be
profoundly interested in the George Washington
Bicentennial, for in doing homage to Washington
and his work he also pays tribute to his ancestors.
The Jews helped to finance the Continental
Congress and some of the great statesmen of that
time, often without thought of gain, and some
times with the practical certainty of never being
repaid. They joined in the boycott of English
goods before the Revolution began.
Since most of the American Jews in those days
came from the wealthy and educated classes, they
furnished a considerable number of able officers
to Washington’s army. Among these Jewish
Continental officers were four lieutenant-
colonels, three majors, and at least six cap
tains. A few of these Jewish officers were
outstanding figures and received recognition
for their services in a more public manner than
often falls to the lot of patriots.
Major Benjamin Nones has been called
“the Jewish Lafayette.” In 1777, he left
France and came to Philadelphia, enlisting at
once in the revolutionary cause as a volunteer
private. He rapidly rose to the rank of an
officer and eventually became a major. Major
Nones served on the staffs both of General
Lafayette and of General Washington, com
mander-in-chief of the Continental Army. At
a later period in the war, at the head of four
hundred men, he was attached to the command
of Baron de Kalb, in which there were a
number of Jews. Three Jews carried de
Kalb from the field when he fell. They were
Major Nones, Captain Jacob de la Motta and
Captain Jacob de Leon.
There was a Jewish family named Pinto
in Connecticut, which had three, and probably
four brothers who took active parts in the
Revolution. Abraham Pinto joined as a pri
vate Company V’ of the Seventh Connecticut
Regiment. Solomon Pinto was a revolution
ary officer and in the British attack on New
Haven he was wounded. In the revolutionary
records Wiliam Pinto appears as a volunteer
both in 1779 and in 1781. It has not been
determined whether these were two different
men.
There was then a larger proportion of Jews
in the South than there is today. The Jews
of that section furnished their share of active
Jewish soldiers against King George III. A corps
of volunteer infantry, composed largely of Jews,
took the field in Charleston, S. C. The officer in
command of these soldiers was Captain Lushing-
ton. They saw service later at Beaufort under
General Moultrie.
One of the outstanding Jewish heroes of the
Revolution was Mordecai Sheftal, who was one
of the first white children born in the colony of
Georgia. When hostilities began, he organized
what was called the Parochial Committee and as
chairman of that body he regulated the internal
affairs of Sjivannah. In July, 1 777, Sheftal was
appointed Commissary General to the Colonial
troops of Georgia.
The .British captured Savannah and Sheftal
was taken prisoner. He was placed on board one
of the terrible prison ships of that period, where
more than one patriot met his death. Sheftal was
regarded as one of the most “dangerous” rebels
by the British authorities. His name in 1780 was
Our Share in the
Washington Bicentennial
Celebration
By Honorable Sol Bloom
{Member of the House of Representatives)
An article on how the Jews helped George Wash-
ington by Congressman Sol liloom of New York,
Director of the United States George Washington
Bicentennial Commission, written exclusively for
The Southern Israelite on the occasion of George
Washington’s 200th birthday.
he Gib-
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Haym Salomon
placed close to the top of the list of those who were
anathematized by the British Government in the
Disqualifying Act. Two years later Sheftal was
in Philadelphia and the next year he received a
grant of land in recognition of his services to the
colonists in the Revolution. Sheftal was active
in several fields after the close of the war. He
figured prominently in the earlv history of Free
masonry in the United States. He was one of the
founders of the Union Society of Savannah, or
ganized in 1/86, which w r as one of Savannah’s
most representative organizations.
Another American Jew who attained rank in
the Revolutionary Armv was Isaac Franks He
enlisted at the age of seventeen. He was captured,
and after three months made a daring escape. After
he had been in the army two years he was made
foragemaster and three years after that he was
appointed ensign in the 7th Massachusetts In-
tantry. Isaac Franks was a friend of General
\\ ashington. I he general stayed at his house in
Germantown when yellow fever broke out in that
[6]
vicinity in 1793. His portrait was j
friend Gilbert Stuart and was place
son collection of the Pennsylvania
Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
Another member of the same fan
to considerable prominence in the Re
Major David Franks, whose resid*
Montreal. In 1775 he was arrested
ing disrespectfully” of King Georg,' |] ' jr
was one of the names on a list of , r j
which was sent to the British ministr^ CinT.i
principal persons settled in the provin u -
zealously served the rebels in the wim () f j -;V
76 and fled upon their leaving it.”
Because Major David Franks was n aide ,i c
camp to Benedict Arnold some persons sought u
implicate him in Arnold’s treachery to the rev,!
lutionary cause. He was not only completeh
exonerated, but was promoted in the public sen
ice. Robert Morris sent him in 1781 with dis
patches to Jay at Madrid and to Franklin at
Paris. Besides taking dispatches to these two
famous diplomatic representatives of the col
onies in Europe, David Franks on other occa
sions served the United States as a diplomatic
agent in a confidential capacity.
In supplying the sinews of war the aid of
the American Jews was of enormous value.
Many American Jews gave freely to their
country in the form of loans and voluntary
contributions. One of these was Haym Salo
mon, a Polish immigrant Jew, who never re
ceived one penny in compensation for the for
tune he generously placed at the disposal of
the infant Republic.
Haym Salomon was born in 1740 in Lissa,
Poland. He had come to New York four
years before the outbreak of the Revolutionary
War. He was a man of considerable educa
tion, speaking a number of languages, includ-
f ing German, French, Italian and Russian,
| besides his native Polish. In 1 776 he was
fUl arrested by the British on a charge of espion-
■7 age, but he managed to escape punishment,
/I and on account of his linguistic accompli'ti
ments he was placed in the British Commis-
sariat. 'Phis position he used to bring about
i ] the escape of a number of Americans w ho had
been captured by the British Army. He him
self escaped later and went to Philadelphia,
where he became associated with Robert Mor
ris, Superintendent of Finance for the colo
nies. According to the documents afterward
submitted to Congress he advanced to the
Government $658,007.13, which was con
sidered an enormous sum of money tor nut
period, especially w T hen commerce and busine»
was largely prostrated.
Salomon did not confine his financial aid to tju
Government as such, but he financed some ot
men who played leading parts in the formation
the new r Nation. Jefferson, Madison, Fee ten
ben, Monroe, Mercer and others were u‘lea> u
Salomon from the worries of procuring a >' e 1
hood at the very time when their services 'JC
most needed by the public. Writing m ^
Robert Morris declared that many r ‘ u
tionary leaders would have gone to v tu ^
if they had not received financial assi> [Ke
private sources. ,
Madison, in a letter written to \ it- 1 aUt - n er
ties, said: “I have for some time been 2" u cr .”
in the favor of Haym Salomon, a . olir
Again Madison wrote: “1 he km ' ^ in0 n)
little friend in Front Street (Hay: ( . xt remi-
... is a fund that will preserve me t nl0 rti-
ties, but I never resort to it withou 1 n >e.
fication, as he obstinately rejects all
Haym Salomon had a {Please tu>
* THE SOUTHERN IS-