Raphael Jacob Moses (1812–1893) was an American lawyer, plantation owner,

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

officer and politician.

Biography

Early life

Moses was born in 1812 to a prominent Jewish-American family in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

.Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities - Columbus, Georgia

Institute of Southern Jewish Life An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

Lewis Regenstein
Raphael Moses (1812-1893)
''New Georgia Encyclopedia'', 12/16/2004
/ref>Columbus State University: Raphael J. Moses Collection (MC 57)
/ref> His family fought in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

of 1775–1783, and he was a fifth-generation South Carolinian. His father was Israel Moses and his mother, Deborah Cohen. He grew up in Charleston.

Career

He practiced as a lawyer in St. Joseph, Florida, and

Apalachicola, Florida Apalachicola ( ) is a city and the county seat of Franklin County, Florida, United States, on the shore of Apalachicola Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The population was 2,341 at the 2020 census. History The Apalachicola Province, a ...

, settling down in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

, in 1848. He purchased The Esquiline, a plantation named after

Esquiline Hill The Esquiline Hill (; ; ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Its southernmost cusp is the ''Oppius'' ( Oppian Hill). Etymology The origin of the name ''Esquiline'' is still under much debate. One view is that the hill was named after the ...

in Rome, Italy and located in what is now known as the neighborhood of Benning Hills in

. He owned fifty slaves in 1850 and sixty slaves by 1860. He pioneered the commercial growing of peaches on his plantation, becoming of the first merchants to ship them to the North (New York City) in 1851. He shipped his peaches in champagne baskets instead of shipping them in containers of pulverized charcoal, the standard method at that time. The result was a fresher peach, which proved very popular with consumers. In the late 1850s, he became an outspoken proponent of

secession Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

of 1861–1865, he served as the chief commissary officer for Generals

Robert Toombs Robert Augustus Toombs (July 2, 1810 – December 15, 1885) was an American politician from Georgia, who was an important figure in the formation of the Confederacy. From a privileged background as a wealthy planter and slaveholder, Toomb ...

and

James Longstreet James Longstreet (January 8, 1821January 2, 1904) was a General officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War and was the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Ho ...

in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

(CSA). As such, he was responsible for providing food and supplies to 54,000 Confederate troops and personnel. He was also a confidant of Confederate General

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

, especially during the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union and Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, ...

on July 1–3, 1863. On May 5, 1865, he attended the last meeting of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

government at the Bank of the State of Georgia (later the Heard House) and carried out its last order. It was then that Confederate

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

instructed him to take US$40,000 in gold and silver bullions from the Confederate Treasury to feed and clothe the defeated Confederate soldiers. His three sons served in the CSA as well. After the war, he returned to law practice in Columbus, Georgia. He was, however, greatly impoverished by the Confederate defeat, as his wealth plummeted from $55,000 in 1860 to $35,000 in 1870. Moreover, fifty-nine of his sixty slaves left his plantation. He had a dispute with William Hugh Young and lobbied against Eagle & Phenix, Young's business vehicle. Additionally, he became an outspoken critic of the Republican-led

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

efforts in Georgia and the South. He was later elected to the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republican Party (United States), Repu ...

and was Chair of the Judiciary Committee. Shortly after he was elected, he declared, "I wanted to go to congress as a Jew and because I...would have liked in a public position to confront and do my part towards breaking down the prejudice." He added, "I feel it an honor to be of a race whom persecution can not crush, whom prejudice has in vain endeavored to subdue." In 1892, he wrote his autobiography.

Personal life

He married Eliza Matilda Moses (1812–1892), the daughter of Isaac Clifton Moses (1781–1834) and Hannah Lazarus Moses (1783–1835). They had six children: *Hannah Maria Moses (1840–1860). *Albert Moses Luria (1842–1862) killed at the

Battle of Seven Pines The Battle of Seven Pines, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or Fair Oaks Station, took place on May 31 and June 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. The Union's Army of the Po ...

, aged 19.Robert N. Rosen, ''

The Jewish Confederates ''The Jewish Confederates'' is a 2001 history book authored by Robert N. Rosen about Jewish citizens of the Confederate States of America who served in the Confederate States Army (CSA) during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. As they made u ...

'' (2000). University of South Carolina Press, pp. 4. *Raphael J. Moses Jr. (1844–1909). *Penina Septima Moses Robison (1846–1921). *Isabel Adeline Moses Levy (1850–1934). *Israel Moses Nunez (1838–1905) died in Texas.

Death

He died on October 13, 1893, in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moses, Raphael J. 1812 births 1893 deaths Politicians from Charleston, South Carolina Politicians from Columbus, Georgia 19th-century American planters Confederate States Army officers Peach production Members of the Georgia House of Representatives Jewish state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) American slave owners Confederate Jews Lawyers from Charleston, South Carolina 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American Jews 19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly