Alexander Hart Alexander Hart ( October 1 , 1839 – September 21 , 1911 ) was a major in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War . Military career . Hart hailed from New Orleans and commanded soldiers from the Fifth Louisiana Regiment during the war . A veteran of many battles , Hart led troops in the Confederate victories at the Second Battle of Winchester ( see Winchester II Confederate order of battle ) , and Second Battle of Kernstown ( which Hart noted in his journal ) . Hart recorded in his journal that his regiment also participated in pushing back Union troops at the Battle of Smithfield Crossing . During the Battle of Strasburg , Hart ' s regiment captured numerous Union troops . Hart noted in his journal that his regiment " Captured a Lt . Col . And some dirty non - coms . Officers and men . " Some sources claim that Hart fought at the Battle of Monocacy ( see Monocacy Confederate order of battle ) , but his journal makes no mention of this battle . Rather , Hart records traveling with his troops across Virginia on the date of the battle . Hart also led his regiment at Gettysburg ( see Gettysburg Confederate order of battle ) . Hart mentions in his journal that he was injured in battle upon at least two occasions — first at Antietam and at the Battle of Opequon . Simon Wolf ' s 1895 book , " The American Jew as Patriot , Soldier and Citizen " , notes that Hart first held the rank of a non - commissioned colonel before being commissioned as a major in 1863 . After returning to Confederate territory as part of a prisoner exchange , Hart later was assigned to the general staff of a Montgomery , Alabama - based General Williams . Religious / Personal life . Hart was born in New Orleans , the oldest of Isaac and Julia Hart ' s twelve children . He married his fiancee , Leonora Levy , ( mentioned in his journal entry dated November 30 , 1864 as " Leonna " ) in Richmond , Virginia , August 15 , 1866 , and had four children . ( See the Hart family genealogy ) . Two of Leonora ' s brothers also fought for the Confederacy , including Captain Ezekiel " Zeke " Levy and Isaac J . Levy , both of the 46th Virginia Infantry . The latter was killed in action on Sunday , August 21 , 1864 , just shy of his twenty - second birthday . Isaac J . Levy ' s tombstone contains descriptions of his valor and commitment to his faith . One such example of his adherence to the strictures of Jewish observance are contained in a letter to his sister , Leonora , in which he describes the observance of his last Passover in 1864 . Captain Ezekiel Levy is mentioned in Hart ' s diary ' s April 2 , 1865 entry . Hart ' s sister - in - law ( Leonora ' s sister ) , Sarah Levy , married Corporal Edwin I . Kursheedt , a soldier in the Louisiana Washington Artillery battalion . Many Jewish soldiers are listed as having fought under Hart in " The American Jew as Patriot , Soldier and Citizen " . Among the Jewish officers who fought in the Louisiana Fifth were Lieutenant L . S . Lipman , who died in battle May 9 , 1863 , and is buried in the Cemetery for Hebrew Confederate Soldiers in Richmond , Virginia , and Captain David Cohen Labatt . About Labatt , the book notes that " . . . in consequence of severe illness , contracted in the service , resulting in chronic asthma , Captain Labat was compelled to resign his commission , J . Bankhead Magruder , the General commanding , endorsed the Captain ' s letter of resignation with the words : ' Captain Labat ' s resignation is a loss to the public service . ' " It is probable that , while in New Orleans , Hart worshiped at the Shangarai Chasset ( Gates of Mercy ) congregation . ( In 1873 this congregation merged with another New Orleans Jewish congregation to form the present - day New Orleans Touro Synagogue . ) In his journal , while leaving Richmond by train on April 2 , 1865 , Hart mentions that " Be . Florance was . . . there . " A Benjamin Florance ( as well as an Isaac Hart , likely his father ) are listed among the founding trustees of that New Orleans synagogue in the December 1843 issue of the " Occident and American Jewish Advocate " . Hart briefly writes in his journal about his observance of the Passover holiday during 1865 en route to serve General Williams . Hart settled after the war in Staunton , Virginia , where , in 1876 , he continued the family ' s commitment to Jewish community by organizing and becoming the founding president of the Temple House of Israel synagogue , a position he held for eighteen years . The building which housed Hart ' s original congregation still stands in central Staunton . As the Jewish community in nearby Harrisonburg , Virginia , became more organized and established a Sunday school for the young , Hart provided guidance . John Wayland , in his " History of Rockingham County ( c . 1912 ) " writes that in 1890 " Major Hart of Staunton . . . " confirmed the first class in the congregation ' s " . . . new place of worship . " Robert Rosen , in " The Jewish Confederates " , notes that after living in Staunton , Hart moved to Norfolk , Virginia . He was active in the Confederate War Veterans , serving as a commander in the Pickett - Buchananan Camp in Norfolk . Hart was reported to have led services in the Ohef Sholom Temple when the rabbi was absent . Hart died in ten days shy of his seventy - second birthday , and was buried in Norfolk . His tombstone reads " Major Alexander Hart , 5th La . Inf . C . S . A . "