Letter from Isaac J. Levy (brother of Ezekiel J. Levy) to his sister Leonora from Adams Run, South Carolina, April 24, 1864.

Celebrating Passover in the Field

Writing to his sister, Leonora, from an encampment in Adams Run, South Carolina, Isaac Levy (1842-1864) described his preparations for celebrating Passover in the field. He reported that their brother Zeke had traveled to Charleston for provisions including matzot (written in Hebrew in the middle of the first page), which at two dollars per pound was far more expensive than the matzah available in New York City at six cents per pound. He also writes that the brothers, in the 46th Virginia Infantry, were both "observing the festival in a truly orthodox style." Levy was killed in the trenches near Petersburg, Virginia on August 21, 1864, a few months after this letter was written and only a few weeks before his twenty-second birthday.