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What is the Simon Wolf Database?
Simon Wolf, a Jewish activist of the 19th Century, collected the names of over 7000 Jewish-Americans who fought on both sides during the Civil War, and published the list in a directory published in 1895, as The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier, and Citizen. In 1992, the webmaster of this site loaded all the names and other statistics into a stand-alone database. This database was eventually converted to MS Access and contributed to Jewishgen.org, where it can be searched using the Daitch-Motokiff Soundex search engine. The database listing include each soldier's name, rank, state, and regiment. Some of the names have additional comments attached, such as whether the soldier was wounded, captured, killed in battle or died of other causes.
How do I perform a search?
The search engine on this site allows searches on different fields. (The search engine at Jewishgen.org allows searches on last name only).
The fields that can be searched are: Last name, OR Initial of last name, State, Regiment number, Branch of service, and Rank.
To select a field to search, place the cursor over the item to search and click. To select more than one item in a list, hold down the CTRL key and click.
When all search items have been selected, click Search the Database.
Although the most common service branches are Artillery, Cavalry, and Infantry, some soldiers, especially Confederates, are listed as "Battalion", "Command" "Guards", etc. so it is important to also select these fields in order to perform a more comprehensive search.
I highlighted everything in every field, and now it says Dataset too large -- Please narrow your search.
The server will time out if it has to retrieve a very large record set, so the number of names that can be retrieved by any one search has been limited to 300 or less.
Limit the selection to one or a few items in at least one field: for example, all soldiers of all ranks from all branches of service from ALABAMA, or all soldiers having the rank of CAPTAIN, or all CAVALRY from NEW YORK.
I want a list of names of every Jewish soldier who fought for the Confederacy, but it says "Dataset too large", so how can I get it?
Do a separate search for every state.
I want a list of all the Jewish soldiers from the state of New York, but it says "Dataset too large", what do I do?
States like New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, which had a very large number of Jewish soldiers, should be searched by individual regiments (select only specific regiment numbers and service branches).
How can I find out more information about someone whose name I found in the database?
The National Archives has detailed instructions on how to send for Civil War military records.
I'm a reenactor, and for my impression I would like to find a Jewish soldier from the original regiment my group portrays.
From the search list, highlight all the initials. Select the state, regiment number and service branch of your reenactment unit.
How do I search for regiments like "Washington Artillery" that don't have a regiment number?
From the regiment number search list, highlight the No Regiment Number, highlight the State the regiment is from, and highlight All Branches that might apply to this regiment. For example, for "Washington Artillery" highlight Louisiana and South Carolina for state and All Branches for service branch.
I'd like to download the search results into an Excel file. Can I do that?
This is planned for a future enhancement.
I know the names of some Jewish soldiers who aren't in the database. How can I get those names added?
Please email the administrator using our Contact Us form.