The Capitol, with its unfinished dome and incomplete wings, presents but an imperfect picture of what its appearance is ultimately destined to be.
- A Jewish Soldier, “A Tour of Washington City,” The Jewish Messenger
When the Civil War broke out on April 12, 1861, the United States split between North and South. President Abraham Lincoln led the Union from the nation’s capital, just across the river from Confederate Alexandria, Virginia.
Nearly 25,000 of the nation’s 150,000 Jews lived in Confederate states. Over 8,000 Jews joined the fight on both sides.
In Washington and in Union-occupied Alexandria, members of the Jewish community—many of them recent immigrants—responded to the bloody conflict in diverse ways.