Second Friday Lecture: Wisconsin Civil War Soldiers with Jewish Heritage

Friday, November 10  |  12:00pm – 1:00pm  |  Speaker: Richard Kane

Richard Kane’s presentation will be based on original research that he has been compiling since 2014 and include the following topics. In the mid 1890’s, Simon Wolf, a well-known Jewish attorney and diplomat, with access to thirteen presidents during his lifetime, attempted to identify Jewish Civil War soldiers. This was based mostly on name profiling and word of mouth, and, as a result, was quite inaccurate. Even with today’s modern research tools, there are many challenges in identifying Jewish soldiers. The soldiers’ countries of origin and their involvement with the Turners Society show that most of them were recent immigrants to the country. Their fatalities and disabilities represent a microcosm of these conditions in the army as a whole. Also, many of the soldiers and their family members have interesting and sometimes surprising stories to learn about.