Cesar Kaskel

Cesar J. Kaskel (1833 – ?) was a Prussian-born Southern Unionist during the American Civil War.

Kaskel was a staunch supporter of the Union, serving as vice-president of the unionist Paducah Union League Club.

Deported from Paducah, Kaskel embarked on a press campaign against the order. Described as a "Paul Revere-like ride to Washington" by historian Jonathan Sarna, Kaskel successfully met with President Abraham Lincoln to protest the order, which Lincoln remanded on January 4, 1863.

Civil War

Arriving in Kentucky Kaskel immigrated to Paducah, Kentucky, in 1858. Kaskel opened a business in partnership with one Solomon Greenbaum, which struggled due to the Union blockade of Southern industry throughout the war. Major-General Ulysses S. Grant scapegoated Jewish merchants for the cotton black market.

Meeting with Lincoln Kaskel fled Kentucky on the steamship Charley Bowen, making stops in Cairo, Illinois and Cincinnati, Ohio, while his story was picked up by the Associated Press.