Judah Benjamin - The Jewish Confederate

[Gene C]

by Eli Evans, written in 1988 over 400 pages. Interesting book. Benjamin was the Secretary of State for the Confederacy. He was very intelligent with a talented legal mind. Probably one of the south's most able politicians. Becomes Jefferson's loyal, right hand man.

The book is almost as much about Jefferson Davis as it is about Benjamin. At the end of the war, Benjamin manages to escape and goes to England where he has a successful law career. Benjamin was a very private individual, left no diary and wanted most of his personal papers destroyed upon his death.

Full of interesting information from a different perspective. Benjamin and Davis had an unusual friendship and political relationship. Benjamin was also close to Varina Davis and wrote her several letters after the war. You can get a find a good used copy of the book fairly inexpensively, less than the cost of the s&h, (I got mine for $2.50) I enjoyed it and recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Judah-P-Benjamin-J...h+benjamin

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks, Gene, sounds interesting! I've always wanted to learn more about Judah Benjamin.

[RJNorton]

An interesting site to visit when in Florida is the Gamble Plantation. Benjamin hid out there for at least several days (possibly a few weeks) during his escape after the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamble_Plan...State_Park

Eva made a wonderful post about it on this page.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks, Roger! The Gamble Plantation is a wonderful, fascinating place with a unique atmosphere! Absolutely worth a visit - I'd love to see it again.
One more interesting aside: There were only few (I can remember two) closets in the entire big house, which were a sign of wealth. Since Colonial American times, houses had often lacked closets because of a "closet tax" imposed by the British crown. (No taxes for Mary's trunks...)

[Wild Bill]

Considering that he destroyed most of his personal and political papers, there has been a lot of work done on Benjamin, a testimony to this interesting character and his importance to attempting to achieve Rebel independence. He was the only person to serve in three positions under Jefferson Davis: Attorney General (February 25, 1861), Secretary of War (September 17, 1861), and Secretary of State (February 22, 1862). See Pierce Butler, Judah P. Benjamin (Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Company, 1906), good for its quotes of old letters and documents; Robert Douthat Meade, Judah P. Benjamin: Confederate Statesman (New York: Oxford University Press, 1943), which set a new standard for its time; Simon I. Niemon, Judah Benjamin (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1963); Martin Rywell, Judah Benjamin: Unsung Rebel Prince (Asheville, N.C.: Stephens Press, 1948), short, but poignant; and Eli N. Evans, Judah P. Benjamin: The Jewish Confederate (New York: The Free Press, 1988), by far the best of the lot, who examines his subject from the viewpoint of being a Jew, a Southerner, an American, and a cosmopolitan citizen of the western world. None of them see Benjamin as a conspirator against Lincoln's person, in any way, shape or form.

There are numerous shorter essays on Benjamin's role in the Confederacy, but the best for our purposes are Hudson Strode, “Judah P. Benjamin’s Loyalty to Jefferson Davis,” Georgia Review, 20 (1966), 251-60, the title of which reveals Benjamin's key to Davis' trust; Robert Douthat Meade, "Judah P. Benjamin," Civil War Times Illustrated, 10 (June 1971), 10-20, a good general survey; Meade, "The Relations between Judah P. Benjamin and Jefferson Davis," Journal of Southern History, 5 (1939), 468-78; and Eli N. Evans, "In Search of Judah P. Benjamin," in Evans, The Lonely Days Were Sundays (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1993), 17-34, a

[L Verge]

(11-04-2014 03:30 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Thanks, Roger! The Gamble Plantation is a wonderful, fascinating place with a unique atmosphere! Absolutely worth a visit - I'd love to see it again.
One more interesting aside: There were only few (I can remember two) closets in the entire big house, which were a sign of wealth. Since Colonial American times, houses had often lacked closets because of a "closet tax" imposed by the British crown. (No taxes for Mary's trunks...)

Be careful on the reference to "closet taxes." That's one of the historical myths that have been busted over the years by thorough research with groups such as Colonial Williams;burg Foundation. http://www.history.org/Foundation/journa.../stuff.cfm

HOUSES DIDN’T HAVE CLOSETS IN COLONIAL DAYS BECAUSE PEOPLE WANTED TO AVOID PAYING THE CLOSET TAX
Inventories and floor plans of the period show that many houses had closets. Typically found on either side of a fireplace, they were used for general storage. Clothing was usually kept in such furniture as a chest, a clothespress, or a chest of drawers, not hung on hangers in a closet.

“When people today think of a closet, they are thinking of a clothes closet,” says Patrick Sheary, DAR curator of furnishings, “so when they come across a closet in the dining room, they call it a cupboard.” The myth regarding the closet tax, he says, “probably results from a misunderstanding of how closets were used in the eighteenth century, and the fact that they were not always located in every bedroom, as they are today.” Taxes varied colony to colony, but research has turned up no examples of a tax on closets in any of the thirteen colonies that broke with Britain in 1776.

“People didn’t have as much stuff in those days,” says Alden O’Brien, curator of textiles and clothing. “They didn’t need to call California Closets to come organize their stuff in big, walk-in closets. Even a well-to-do colonial woman would have had just a few dresses.”

The myth of the second story tax is a variation on the closet tax story. The claim is that people in the eighteenth century built story-and-a-half houses to avoid the tax on the second story. Historians are aware of no building taxes in, for example, Virginia, where during the colonial period story-and-a-half houses were common. The story-and-a-half house with dormers was simply a popular style.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Wow, amazing - thanks Laurie! The tour guide at the plantation told about the closet tax when showing the closet in the "Judah-Benjamin-bedroom"! But I've also seen a Lincoln quote Lincoln definitely never said on display at Ford's Theater.

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Great info and recommendations, Bill, thanks!

[RJNorton]

(11-04-2014 08:34 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Great info and recommendations, Bill, thanks!

I second Eva. Fascinating post, Bill. He sure had an interesting life. I include two photos. The first one is the image I see most often in books. The second was taken after he became a barrister in England (also hangs on the wall at the Gamble Plantation).

[Jim Garrett]

If I remember correctly, (Gene please correct me if I'm wrong), Benjamin was the only high ranking Confederate official never to return to the United States. While a US Senator, his wife left him and took their daughter. She settled in Paris, and he regularly visited his estranged wife and child. He is buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, as are Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde.

[Gene C]

That's right. He also had an unusual marriage. He married his wife Natalie when she was 16. She later became known as being notoriously promiscuous.

"In 1845, after eleven years of marriage, Natalie took their daughter and moved to Paris. Natalie joined Benjamin briefly after his election to the Senate in 1852, but returned again to Paris because of scandalous rumors about her in Washington.

Though they never divorced, the couple rarely lived together again as husband and wife. Benjamin made a trip each summer to France to see his wife and child. His lifelong devotion to his wife has been well documented, and theirs was a romantic but tragic marriage that doomed Benjamin to much loneliness." From the Civil War Women Blog. http://civilwarwomenblog.com/natalie-benjamin/

[Sally]

(11-04-2014 09:18 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(11-04-2014 08:34 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Great info and recommendations, Bill, thanks!

I second Eva. Fascinating post, Bill. He sure had an interesting life. I include two photos. The first one is the image I see most often in books. The second was taken after he became a barrister in England (also hangs on the wall at the Gamble Plantation).

My first instinct when I saw Benjamin's photographs was, "Oh, he looks like such a nice guy!" Then I realized it's only because he's smiling! It's so rare to see 19th century people smiling.

[Jim Garrett]

Gene, I think it safe to say that Benjamin was a romantic and deeply devoted to ideals. Just before he "went South", he lived in the Decatur house on Lafayette Square, a few short steps from the home of John Slidell, also from Louisiana. Slidell's home was confiscated and was used as the residence for Gideon Welles.

Do you think that Benjamin feared arrest if he ever returned?

[Gene C]

(11-04-2014 09:19 PM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  Do you think that Benjamin feared arrest if he ever returned?

Yes, and maybe worse. For many southern leaders, just making a living was a new challenge following the war. Benjamin was fortunate to be able to re-establish his law career in England, where he became highly respected and was able to rebuild his finances.

[Rsmyth]

With Pere Lachaise being the most visited cemetery in the world, the top three visited graves are Wilde, Chopin and Morrison. Sadly, Benjamin does not make the list. Are their any photo's of his wife?

[RJNorton]

Rich, I found this:

Natalie Benjamin

Source: Civil War Women website