Jewish Soldiers and Sailors in the Spanish-American War

BACKGROUND

This database is created from names published in a “Preliminary List of Jewish Soldiers and Sailors Who Served in the Spanish-American War” compiled by Dr. J. H. Hollander and Cyrus Adler that appeared in The American Jewish Year Book for 1900-1901. A revised and final list may be housed at the American Jewish Historical Society.

If a name is found in this data set, the images for pages 525-622 can be viewed online through the “Open JSTOR Collection” starting at https://www.jstor.org/stable/23600173?fbclid=IwAR1JDngCdWiVMEE9YaaZplP+%3E+3g8MTtHmURHRTnjpP2OKKGk7SD85hyEX8bqk&seq=1#page_thumbnails_tab_contents.

2,531 names are included. According to Cyrus Adler, “Where names are starred, I have no evidence that the persons are Jews, and have judged simply by the name; this statement does not apply to the New York State list, where practically no stars are given, although the Jewish identity has not been established in every case.”

Adler cites the following sources: “For officers of the Army and Navy, the official registers; for non-commissioned officers and enlisted men in the Army and Navy, the Jewish newspapers and private information, since the War Department muster-rolls are inaccessible; for the volunteer troops organized by various States, the rosters where published and again private information and the Jewish press.”

The Spanish-American War was a short armed conflict between the United States and Spain April 21, 1898 – August 13, 1898. Predominantly about Cuban independence from Spain, it was fought in both the Caribbean and Pacific. See Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War.

Many thanks to Malka Chosnek for entering the data into a spreadsheet during 2021 and to Eric Feinstein for his assistance locating a volunteer and coordinating the project.

-Ellen Shindelman Kowitt
JewishGen USA Research Director
EKowitt@JewishGen.org

DATABASE

The database includes 2,532 records. The fields for this database are as follows:

• Given Name
• Middle Initial
• Surname
• Title
• Birth Place
• Appointed from Place
• Rank
• Other
• Page #

Searching the Database

This database is searchable via the JewishGen Unified Search, and the JewishGen USA Collection.