![]() ![]() Heintzelman’s 2nd Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Levy subsequently returned to the 1st New York, which on Jwas attached to Brig. 7–8, it was rammed and sunk by the Union warship Commodore Perry off Elizabeth City, North Carolina on the 10th. ![]() CSS Sea Bird did not last much longer-after participating in the unsuccessful defense of Roanoke Island from Feb. After its safe arrival at Fort Monroe, Levy was commended by both generals Mansfield and Wool for his quick-thinking initiative. This resulted in its capture by the Rebels, but gave Express the extra knots it needed to outrun its pursuer. Swiftly assessing the situation, Levy cut the schooner loose. (New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center) Levy was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1865. Levy saved the regimental flags from being captured and used them to rally fellow New York troops against Confederate forces. national pattern as prescribed by the U.S. This battle flag carried by the 1st Regiment of the New York Volunteer Infantry shows the U.S. Express was unarmed and towing a water schooner, whose weight and drag clearly favored the enemy gunboat’s prospects of overhauling its prey. Wool at Fort Monroe aboard the steamboat Express when the vessel came under attack near Norfolk by CSS Sea Bird, a sidewheeler seized by the Confederates, armed with a 32-pounder smoothbore cannon and a 30-pounder rifle and made the flagship of the small but aggressive “Mosquito Fleet” harassing the Union coastal blockade. In February 1862, Levy was carrying dispatches from Mansfield to Maj. Levy spent some of his time there assigned as an orderly to Brig. October saw the 1st New York in Newport News, Virginia. It may be added that Ben’s younger brother, Robert, also enlisted and was likewise assigned as a drummer boy to the 7th New York Infantry. was then part of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Department of Virginia. Not yet 17 years of age, he was assigned to Company G of the 1st New York Infantry Regiment of Volunteers as a drummer boy. ![]() What is recorded is that he enlisted in the Union Army on April 22, 1861, just days after war broke out. The only known photograph of him was taken years after the war, but confirm descriptions of his being a small, scrawny individual. 22, 1845, little or nothing is known of Benjamin Bennett Levy’s prewar schooling or employment. Benjamin Levy.Īside from being born in Brooklyn, New York on Feb. As to an “unpatriotic disinclination to stand by the flag as a soldier,” Twain could have kept his foot out of his mouth had he checked the Civil War career of Pvt. Having more closely checked the “statistics,” he discovered that Jews had taken up arms for the United States since the Revolution. In contrast to his contemporaries, however, Twain was not averse to publicly admitting how wrong he was just a year later. “He is a frequent and faithful and capable officer in the civil service, but he is charged with an unpatriotic disinclination to stand by the flag as a soldier, like the Christian Quaker.” So wrote Mark Twain in Harper’s magazine in 1897, reflecting a virtually worldwide stereotype of his time and all too often still believed today. How a 17-Year-Old New Yorker Became the First Jewish Medal of Honor Recipient Close ![]()
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