December 17, 1862

Dear Readers,

We beg your pardon for the lapse in production we've suffered these past few weeks. Our old friend capitalism has put a lot on our table recently, and while we are thankful, perhaps you could click on the links of our sponsors in the spirit of commerce (wink wink).

In that light, our editors did want to take the time today to briefly mention a moldy old skeleton from the closet of one of the highest ranking American soldiers ever, Ulysses S. Grant. At the end of 1862, cotton export from the Confederacy was conducted solely on the black market, and apparently the Union Army in the Department of Tennessee had few doubts as to who was responsible. On December 17, 1862, Grant signed General Order #11, banning Jews from his district.

Not surprisingly, many were outraged. Union community leaders, Jew and Gentile alike, howled in protest, and the issue reached the floor of a Congress about to break for the Christmas holiday. The Army of the Tennessee claimed the order was curtail the rash of under-the-table cotton dealing to Northern mills. Grant, for his part, claimed the order was drawn up by a subordinate and he had signed it without reading it. Either way, the storm reached the desk of President Lincoln, who quickly had the order rescinded.

Just another lovely chapter in the ever-growing catalog of terrible things about warfare.