Cemetery for Hebrew Confederate Soldiers - Richmond, Virginia - Veteran Cemeteries on Waymarking.com

The Hebrew Confederate cemetery on Shockoe Hill is the one of two Jewish military cemeteries located outside the state of Israel. The cemetery is maintained by Congregation Beth Ahabah.

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"Thirty Jewish Confederate soldiers are buried in a separate section of Hebrew Cemetery, having died in or near Richmond during the Civil War. One soldier is still unidentified. Most of the soldiers buried there were citizens of other Confederate states, dying too far away to be taken home for burial. The Hebrew Ladies’ Memorial Association cared for the graves, and was responsible for creating grave markers, holding yearly memorial services and erecting an ornamental iron fence to surround the section. In the 1950’s, the individual grave stones were replaced by a bronze plaque listing the soldiers’ names. It is believed the the Soldiers’ Section is the only Jewish military cemetery in the United States and one of the few outside of Israel.
In 1866 Mrs. Abraham (Rachel) Levy, corresponding secretary of the Hebrew Ladies’ Memorial Association, issued an appeal for funds to care for the graves of the soldiers. She wrote, in part, “In our own cemetery repose, alas!, the sacred remains of many a loved brother, son and husband, to whose relatives, in the far sunny South, it would be a solace to know that the pious duty of preserving from decay the last resting place of their lost ones, although denied to them to perform, is yet sacredly fulfilled by the members of the ‘Hebrew Ladies’ Memorial Association.'” Major William Barksdale Myers, a descendant of the colonial silversmith Myer Myers, designed an elaborate ornamental iron fence to surround the section. It depicts draped muskets, crossed swords and sabers, with a flat Confederate soldier’s cap adorning the top of the fence posts. These items were all emblems of the Confederate military. The fence was installed prior to May 20, 1868. Individual gravestones were initially installed, but their eventual decay required their removal and replacement with a bronze plaque listing the soldiers’ names, which is affixed to a large granite stone.
All but one of the soldiers in this plot is identified by name. Information about those buried varies, and may include their state of residence, military unit, and date and location of death. Several other Jewish Confederate soldiers from Virginia and beyond are buried in other locations in the cemetery.
In 1963 a correction was added to the bronze plaque regarding the name of one of the soldiers. Henry Gintzberger, a German immigrant, enlisted in the Salem Flying Artillery at the beginning of the Civil War and was killed at Cold Harbor, VA in 1864. His name was mistakenly reported to be “Gersberg” and he was buried in the Soldiers’ Section under that name. Richmond historian J. Ambler Johnston, whose father served with Gintzberger, correctly identified this long-dead soldier after more than 20 years of research. In a ceremony during the Civil War Centennial in 1965, Gintzberger’s name was added to the plaque. The soldier, who fought under Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville and was wounded at Gettysburg, now rests under his own name." - Beth Ahabah website (https://www.bethahabah.org/bama/hebrew-cemetery/)

Date cemetery was established: 1968 Visiting hours: Sunrise to Sunset Website pertaining to the cemetery: [Web Link]

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