Judah P. Benjamin Confederate States of America War Department Printed Circular. One page, 7.5" x 9.75", [Richmond]; circa late 1861 to early 1862. A circular relating to the raising of Companies, Battalions and Regiments within the Confederate Army. Judah Benjamin of Louisiana resigned his seat in the U.S. Senate when the Civil War began (he was only the second Jewish senator in U.S. history). He was appointed the Confederate attorney general in early 1861; later he served at different times as the Confederate secretary of war and secretary of state. Benjamin was somewhat vilified for his role as secretary of war, due to the fact that many believed he was incompetent at his job and would not send supplies where they needed to be. It was only revealed after the war that he and Jefferson Davis arranged to make himself the scapegoat rather than reveal the true shortage of arms and supplies in the Confederacy (which would have thrown the Southern public into a panic). After Richmond's fall, Benjamin became a wanted man and found refuge in England. From the Bret J. Formichi American Civil War Rarities Collection. Condition: Flattened folds with a few small tears at the edges where folding weakened the paper. Else very good. HID03101242017