Timeline

April 16: District of Columbia Emancipation Act frees about 3,000 slaves

July 17: President Lincoln signs law authorizing rabbis to serve as battlefield chaplains, after Rabbi Arnold Fischel comes to Washington. Fischel used the bookstore of Adolphus Solomons (pictured) as his office.

August 28-30: Second Battle of Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia, won by Confederates

December 4: Bernhard Behrend asks President Lincoln to grant Jewish soldiers leave for Sabbath

December 17: Major General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Orders No. 11, expelling Jews from the Department of the Tennessee (including parts of southern Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi)