Event of 1862: General Order No. 11 issued by General Ulysses S. Grant, expelling all Jews from

Background. In late 1862, Grant focused on Jewish traders as the primary cause of smuggling and corruption in his military district. He viewed them as an intolerable nuisance violating trade regulations. On December 8, 1862, Grant issued General Order No. 2, mandating that cotton speculators, Jews, and vagrants leave within twenty-four hours or be sent to duty in the trenches. His anger mounted as complaints concerning Jewish traders arrived by mail.

Implementation. On December 17, 1862, Grant issued General Order No. 11, expelling Jews as a class from the Department of the Tennessee. Immediately after issuance, Jews at Holly Springs, Mississippi, Grant's supply depot, were rounded up and forcibly removed. The order was also implemented in Paducah, Kentucky, where thirty Jewish families were forcibly expelled from the city; this implementation, though delayed by Van Dorn's raid, is not dated to December 17 by the sources.

Reversal. A group of Jewish merchants expelled from Paducah, led by Cesar Kaskel, sent a telegram to President Lincoln condemning the order as a violation of the Constitution. Kaskel led a delegation to Washington, D.C., arriving on January 3, 1863. Lincoln received the delegation and instructed General-in-Chief Henry Halleck to have Grant revoke the order. Grant formally rescinded the order on January 17, 1863.

Legacy. Historians and Grant biographers have generally been critical of the order. During his 1868 presidential campaign, Grant claimed he had not issued the order due to antisemitism, but rather to address a problem caused by certain Jews. Historian Jean Edward Smith noted December 1862 as the low point of Grant's Civil War career, amidst growing anti-Jewish feeling.