General Order No. 11 is the title of General Ulysses S. Grant's infamous order of December 17, 1862 that all Jews in his district (areas of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky) be expelled.

Previous orders

On April 10, 1862, Grant issued an order to all the conductors on the road, that no Jews are to be permitted to travel on the road southward.

On December 8, an aide, Colonel John V. DuBoise , ordered all cotton speculators , Jews, and all other vagabonds with no honest means of support, to leave the district.

Reasons for the order

The order was issued as part of a campaign led unwillingly by Grant, who would much have preferred devoting his energies toward the capture of Vicksburg, against a black market in Southern cotton. Eventually he became convinced that it was being run, "mostly by Jews and other unprincipled traders, " although only a handful of them were in fact Jews.

Text of the order

HDQRS. 13TH A. C., DEPT. OF THE TENN.,
Holly Springs, December 17, 1862.

The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the department within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order. Post commanders will see that all of this class of people be furnished passes and required to leave, and any one returning after such notification will be arrested and held in confinement until an opportunity occurs of sending them out as prisoners, unless furnished with permit from headquarters. No passes will be given these people to visit headquarters for the purpose of making personal application for trade permits.

By order of Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant:
JNO. A. RAWLINS,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

Reaction

A Jewish businessman, one Ceser Kaskel , of Paducah, Kentucky was expelled from his home by this order.

Furious, he formed a delegation that telegraphed a petition to President Abraham Lincoln. Following Grant's order would, the petition said, "place us...as outlaws before the whole world. We respectfully ask your immediate attention to this enormous outrage on all law and humanity..."

There is no record of a direct reply from the President, but five days later, a message from the War Department was sent to Grant, stating, "A paper purporting to be General Orders, No. 11, issued by you December 17, has been presented here. By its terms it expels all Jews from your department. If such an order has been issued, it will be immediately revoked. "

See also

• 40 acres and a mule, aka Special Field Order No. 15

External links

• Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress: Order No. 11