Combat Gallery: The Martial Art of Moses Ezekiel

Via Adam

Born into a family of that included 14 brothers and sisters on the rough side of Richmond, Virginia October 28, 1844 was one Moses Jacob Ezekiel. The son of penniless Spanish-Jewish parents who themselves were first generation Americans, he sought out a position at the nearby Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington as it was a public school and, most importantly, affordable.

Accepted into the Class of 1866, on September 17, 1862 he became the first Jewish cadet of that storied academy. No sooner did he arrive then he had to fight off prejudice and scorn, which he overcame to become a well liked, by all accounts, adjusted cadet. During his time at VMI, he was selected as part of the special guard for the casket of fallen Confederate Lt-Gen Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson who had been before the war an instructor at the school. It was not to be his only brush with history during the war.

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