Ezekiel, Moses Jacob
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- Connection to Legacies of American Slavery Database
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- Date of Death
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Ezekiel, Moses Jacob
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Moses Jacob Ezekiel (1844-1917) was a world-renowned artist and sculptor as well as a VMI alumni who fought at the Battle of New Market as a cadet.
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Moses Ezekiel was born in Richmond, Virginia 1844. At an early age displayed an impressive talent for art. He matriculated into the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in September 1862 "secretly hoping it would be one of the means of my getting into the war," he later claimed. He is claimed to be the first Jewish cadet at VMI. Before entering VMI he had resolved to make his artistic tendencies secondary to his Confederate military career. After the Confederacy's defeat, he later claimed the matter of secession in Virginia's case was not about slavery but rather state's rights, illustrating the Lost Cause. Ezekiel, along with Corps of Cadets, fought at the Battle of New Market on May 15th, 1864. Following the battle, Ezekiel attempted to integrate himself into General Robert E. Lee's army but was stopped, jailed, and subsequently released by Union soldiers.
After the Civil War, Ezekiel launched a successful career as a noted sculptor in Europe and the U.S. An active proponent of the Lost Cause at VMI and in Virginia, Ezekiel sculpted many statues and busts, among them, the Statue of "Stonewall" Jackson that previously stood outside the barracks at VMI, as well as Virginia Mourning Her Dead (which still stands beside the Parade Ground at VMI), and the Confederate War Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, where he was reinterred four years after his death in Rome in 1917.
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28 October 1844
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27 March 1917
Position: 719 (9 views)
