While we know a great deal about early Protestant contributions to America’s founding, we hear less about the very early Jewish settlers.
Mordecai Sheftall was born in Georgia when it was one of America’s newest colonies. His parents were Jewish immigrants from England, with skills but without funds. In 1733, a British member of Parliament arranged for 40 families to get a fresh start in a new environment an ocean away. Tailors, bakers, carpenters, merchants, and farmers were among the debt-ridden who were chosen.
The experiment went well for the Sheftalls and others. They cleared the land and built houses and fortifications. In 1735, Mordecai was born, and life was good. The only major challenge for the new generation was the sparseness of schools. The young Sheftall’s formal education, for example, ended when he was 11. His practical learning, however, never stopped. By age 17, he was tanning deerskins to earn money. By 18, he had saved enough to buy grazing land in a coastal town nearby. Then, he began to raise cattle. By age 25, he owned a warehouse on the Savannah River and had established himself as a trader in the area.
Political change, however, was in the air. Georgia, named after King George II, was originally governed by trustees who made all the laws. Complaints developed about the paternalistic rule, and in 1752 the original charter was revoked and Georgia became a Royal colony in which large plantations gradually developed with enslaved labor.
A Son of Liberty
Politically, Sheftall was an outspoken proponent of American independence. He joined the “Liberty Boys” to protest British taxation. In 1775, the Liberty Boys disabled British cannons that were to be fired in celebration of King George III’s birthday. They also set up a Liberty Pole to protest British taxes.The following year, Sheftall was elected chairman of Savannah’s Revolutionary Committee, which took control of the town. Soon after independence was declared, the Continental Congress put him in charge of getting food, clothing, weapons, and supplies for both its Georgia and South Carolina troops. When his fundraising fell short, Sheftall used his own money and later took out huge loans to buy whatever was needed.
Giving His All
He also signed up for military action, became a colonel, and fought alongside his 15-year-old son in the First Battle of Savannah in December 1778. Unfortunately, the Americans were overpowered and outgunned and left with two choices—surrender or escape by swimming across the Savannah River. Knowing his son could not swim and refusing to abandon him, Sheftall chose to surrender, along with 185 others.The British demanded information and, when refused, sent the Sheftalls to one of their infamous prison ships, the Nancy, with orders that no meat other than pork be given to them. Neither of them would eat meat forbidden by their faith. Later, Sheftall was allowed to live under house arrest although his son was kept imprisoned on the ship. The rest of the family had fled to Charleston. With the help of friends, Sheftall and his son were paroled.
However, they were then hunted down by British sympathizers. To escape certain death, the two patriots found passage on an American brig headed for Charleston. Once at sea, their luck did not hold; a British frigate overtook their vessel and sent its passengers to Antigua, a British colony in the Caribbean, where they were once again thrown in prison. In June 1780, the Sheftalls were paroled and ended up in Philadelphia, where Fanny and the rest of the family had found refuge. The final years of the war were spent seeking to help the American cause and trying to earn a living.
When the Sheftalls were finally able to return to Savannah, they found their business in shambles and their property vandalized. None of the many loans Sheftall had made to support the Revolution were ever repaid. It’s doubtful that they could have been because of the shaky economy at that time, and the British efforts to keep it so.
Nevertheless, Sheftall offered his services to the state of Georgia, working as a procurement agent to rebuild what had been destroyed during the war. Regardless of his personal circumstances, he was proud that his home state was now part of a free and independent country. Mordecai Sheftall was a patriot who never gave up no matter how difficult the circumstances. What he believed in, he fought for to his last breath.
