The Blue & the Gray

Senator from Florida

One of Florida’s first senators, David Levy Yulee left Washington when Florida seceded in 1861. As a senator in Washington, he faced antisemitic charges, even though he was not a practicing Jew and had married a Christian woman.

Union forces imprisoned Yulee at the end of the war. He spent longer in confinement than any other Confederate leader except President Jefferson Davis. After his release, Yulee returned to Florida and helped build a statewide railroad before returning to live in Washington in 1880. He is buried in Georgetown’s Oak Hill Cemetery.