Vicksburg's Jewish Cemetery
When the call to arms was made in 1861, men from all walks of life answered, including a number from the Jewish community. They served the Confederate States with honor, and once the conflict was over, those who survived took their places as leaders of the community.
The first local citizen wounded in the Vicksburg campaign was Philip Sartorius, and the last local veteran of the Lost Cause was Louis Hornthal, who died in 1939; both are buried in Anshe Chesed Cemetery along with at least six other Confederate veterans. They are Jacob and Morris Gustofer and A. B. Kuhn, all members of General Wirt Adams' Cavalry; Emanuel Teller of the 18th North Carolina Infantry; and Leon Fischel of the 15th Battalion of Louisiana Calvary, of which group Sartorius was also a member; and Louis Hornthal of the Sartartia Rifles, which became Company 1 of the 12th Mississippi.
Pvt. Raphael Dreyfus of Company G of the 27th Louisiana Infantry is the only soldier with a military stone, which was not erected until 1998. Dreyfus, whose name was spelled Draifouse in the Louisiana records, was buried in the old cemetery in 1862 and moved to the new one in 1865.
The first rabbi to be interred in the same cemetery, Bernard H. Gotthelf, wore the blue during the War Between the States. In death all were at peace, all were brothers.
|Text and photo are courtesy of Charles Riles, from his book Anshe Chesed: Vicksburg's Jewish Cemetery. Hat tip to Wayne McMaster.|
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