During the American Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln took sharply different approaches toward Jewish merchants, especially in the Mississippi Valley war zone.

The key event was General Order No. 11 in December 1862.

Grant’s position

As commander of the Union Army’s Department of the Tennessee, Grant became frustrated with widespread illegal cotton trading between Northern merchants and the Confederacy. He believed speculators and smugglers were undermining the Union war effort.

On December 17, 1862, Grant issued General Order No. 11, expelling “Jews, as a class” from areas under his command in parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. It was one of the most explicitly antisemitic official acts in U.S. history.

The order did not distinguish between individual lawbreakers and innocent civilians. Jewish families were forced to leave towns such as Paducah, Kentucky, on short notice.

Historians generally view the order as:

• rooted in wartime frustration over smuggling,

• influenced by common antisemitic stereotypes of the era,

• and unusually sweeping even by Civil War standards.

Lincoln’s response

Jewish leaders protested directly to the Lincoln administration. A delegation led by Cesar J. Kaskel met with Lincoln in Washington.

Lincoln quickly revoked the order in January 1863.

According to contemporary accounts, Lincoln reacted negatively to the idea of punishing an entire religious group for the actions of some individuals. He rescinded the order and signaled that collective punishment based on religion was unacceptable.

This episode became an important moment in American Jewish history because it demonstrated:

• the vulnerability of Jews to discrimination even in the Union,

• but also Lincoln’s willingness to intervene against religious prejudice.

Grant later changed his relationship with Jewish Americans

Interestingly, Grant’s later career looked very different from this incident.

As president (1869–1877), Grant cultivated strong ties with Jewish Americans:

• He appointed more Jews to federal office than previous presidents.

• He condemned antisemitic persecution abroad, especially in Romania and Russia.

• Jewish communities later viewed him far more favorably than they had in 1862.

Historians debate whether this reflected political pragmatism, personal growth, remorse, or all three.

Bottom line

• Grant temporarily embraced collective punishment against Jewish merchants during wartime through General Order No. 11.

• Lincoln rejected that approach and revoked the order.

• The contrast is often cited as an example of Lincoln’s broader commitment to religious inclusion versus Grant’s harsher wartime instincts at that moment.