The Miami Community Newspapers’ anecdote about Lincoln’s pardoning of a Jewish deserter is pretty basic, but it does open up the topic of Jews in the Civil War. Apart from some Jewish Confederate soldiers pardoned from the front lines during Yom Kippur, and Grant’s bizarre order expelling Jews from his camp, I don’t know much about this topic. There is a helpful citation from a book that promises more information, though: Jewish Participation in the Civil War.

A street in Jerusalem is named after America’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. The honor is well-deserved “as Jews throughout the world see Lincoln as a hero of unsurpassed stature and distinction.” Although he was not a deeply religious man, Lincoln read the Old Testament Scriptures and continually expressed how God “showered his blessing upon the Israelites in times if peril.”

Source: Historically yours : Lincoln, Simon Wolf and the Jewish Deserter – Miami’s Community News