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\nREAD AHEAD FOR SCRIPT AND IMAGES IN SCRIPT
\nAndrew Leopold\u2019s Forlorn Hope (2) \u2013 by Jim Surkamp With Author Steve French
civilwarscholars.com\/?p=13391<\/a> 5515 words.<\/p>\n
by Jim Surkamp on June 19, 2014 in Civilian, Confederate, Jefferson County, Union, Wartime
\nAndrew Leopold Warmaker To Peacemaker With Steve French, Author \u201cRebel Chronicles,\u201d contact: info-sfrench52@yahoo.com<\/p>\n
Made possible with the generous, community-minded support of American Public University system, offering a quality, affordable, online education. Interpretations in civilwarscholars.com videos and posts do not in any way reflect modern-day policies and positions of American Public University System. More . . .<\/p>\n
Redmond Burke, Andrew Leopold, and Their Gang Descend on The River Towns:
\n1_Leopold is ordered by General Stuart
\n2_on \u201cdetached service\u201d and, with a small team
\n3_from Berryville to Shepherdstown
\nLeopold is ordered by General Stuart to join Redmond Burke on \u201cdetached service\u201d and, with a small team, stays behind in the Potomac River area from Berryville to Shepherdstown while the main Confederate Army moves further south. His job is to find conscripts, carry mail between homes and soldiers, steal horses and watch the movements of the Federal army. Leopold in carrying mail, is also enabled to determine the names of, and whereabouts of able-bodied men not enlisted in his Confederate army, such as Jacob Hudson and Charles Entler.<\/p>\n
The Wayward Letter:
\n4_One letter to be delivered that would cause much controversy
\n(One letter to be delivered that would cause much controversy was a \u201cthank you\u201d note to widow Lily Parran Lee in Shepherdstown. Gen. Stuart had been trying to order a new uniform while at The Bower. He had visited Mrs. Lee, a dear and trusted friend in Shepherdstown. Her husband, William Fitzhugh Lee, died at First Manassas\/Bull Run wearing silver spurs Stuart had given him. It seems, according to the letter, that Daniel Rentch, a merchant in Shepherdstown, was commissioned and \u2013 did indeed have made \u2013 the famed cape that J.E.B. Stuart would wear in the war. It was delivered. In the letter Stuart tells Mrs. Lee to thank Mr. Rentch for the cape. Burke was carrying a letter between Stuart and Mrs. Lee, maybe this one).<\/p>\n
Wednesday \u2013 November 19, 1862, Dam No. 4 on the Potomac River \u2013 Leopold\u2019s First Victim:<\/p>\n
5_Leopold\u2019s First Victim
\nFearing conscription, Unionist residents hastily relocated across the Potomac into the safety of Maryland. The large family of one Jim Dunn was making such a move across the river near the guard lock of Dam No. 4, wth some pickets from the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry watching from the Maryland side. Burke\u2019s and Leopold\u2019s gang suddenly appeared and with gunfire broke up the moving, leaving most of Dunn\u2019s family stuck still on the Virginia side. Dunn was stuck on the Maryland side. Dunn asked three local men \u2013 Theodore \u201cMort\u201d Cookus, a farmer with land on the Virginia side, Charles Ridenour and William Colbert \u2013 ambling along on the towpath \u2013 to help get his family and cargo across the river. After over an hour, the four men re-crossed the Potomac to the Virginia side. Burke and Leopold and others attacked again:<\/p>\n
Author French Recounts Leopold\u2019s Firing On \u201cMort\u201d Cookus:<\/p>\n
6_Author French Recounts
\nSuddenly Burke, Leopold, Hipsley and O\u2019Brien appeared. Leopold shouted to Ridenour, \u201cHalt you Yankee Son-of-a bitch!\u201d. . . He (Ridenour) remembered Cookus crying out, \u201cFor God\u2019s sake men, don\u2019t shoot me!\u201d Burke replied, \u201cSurrender or we will surely kill you.\u201d Then almost simultaneously, the captain and Leopold each fired once into the skiff. Cookus, now hit on the left side, jumped into the river. \u201cAfter Cookus jumped out,\u201d Ridenour later testified, \u201che swam twelve or fifteen feet and received three more shots. Every time the guns crack, he dodged his head under water. Capt. Burke says don\u2019t kill him. Laypole says I will kill the son of a bitch.\u201d And he did. Union Gen. George Gordon wrote: . . . a brave and plucky fellow named Cookus . . . plunged into the river and struck out vigorously for the Maryland shore. Two-thirds of the way across he was hit by a bullet and sank dead to the bottom of the river. \u2013 Gordon, p. 14.
\n\u2013 See more . . .<\/p>\n
7_sank dead to the bottom of the river<\/p>\n
Author Steve French:<\/p>\n
8_they\u2019re all back with Stuart
\nThey are taken to Fort McHenry. The soldiers who are captured \u2013 they\u2019re released very soon afterwards, paroled. And by January the first, 1864, they\u2019re all back with Stuart at his camp near Fredericksburg, Virginia. That winter, as soon as he is exchanged and the others are exchanged, they\u2019re back in the service \u2013 dispatched service \u2013 operating once again in the Shepherdstown\/Berryville area, carrying mail back and forth between the citizens and armies, scouting and so on.<\/p>\n
March 6, 1863 \u2013 Leopold \u2013 the Deserter\u2019s Avenger in Shepherdstown:<\/p>\n
9_he comes into Shepherdstown with John O\u2019Brien
\nAuthor Steve French:
\nOn the night of March the 6th, he comes into Shepherdstown with John O\u2019Brien, and he\u2019s hunting for a man named Jacob Hudson. He finds Hudson caring for his uncle at his house at Shepherdstown. And he knocks on the door with O\u2019Brien. Evidently he doesn\u2019t know Hudson, but Hudson has been talking about him around town. When Hudson opens the door, Leopold asks for Hudson \u2013 \u201cIs Hudson in the house?\u201d \u2013 Hudson immediately becomes scared and he runs toward the back door and he is shot down. George Brantner, who was a former Confederate soldier, he\u2019s seated right in that room, cannot tell whether it was Leopold or O\u2019Brien who shot the young man, but he sure identifies him later on, because Leopold met Brantner at the door and (Leopold) told him he had mail for him. Leopold will come down the street that night. He will tell one resident (Federal postmaster Elias Baker on German Street-JS) here in the town that he did shoot a man up the street and then they will leave the mail here and head back for camp.<\/p>\n
10_Leopold Avenges Again
\nMarch 15-16, 1863 \u2013 Leopold Avenges Again at the Bridgeport, MD Ferry:
\nAuthor French:<\/p>\n
11_group of men go to Sharpsburg
\n12_Charles Entler
\nTen days later, on the night of March 15th 16th, Leopold and a group of men go to Sharpsburg, Maryland, and, in Sharpsburg that night they steal six horses from an oyster wagon, parked outside of a local tavern. After midnight on the 16th, they return to try to get across the river. They go to Bridgeport where the ferry is, directly behind me, and they knock on the door. They say they have a dispatch to take to Harper\u2019s Ferry to (Federal) General Stevenson. The young man, Charles Entler and his friend Samuel Jones, that are in the office that night, sleeping in the office, refuse to answer the door. Finally, Leopold starts tearing the shutters off the windows and Charles decides to come out. Samuel Jones would later say he knew it was Leopold at the door, but he was too scared, too frightened to say a word. As Charles comes out the door, his brother, Luther, who is in the ferry house himself, walks outside; and, as soon as he gets outside, he hears a man shout at his brother:<\/p>\n
13_By God, I\u2019m Captain Leopold
\n14_Charles, nineteen-years-old, runs off and dies
\n\u201cBy God, I\u2019m Captain Leopold and I\u2019ve been looking for you a long time.\u201d Immediately the gunshot goes off, Luther turns, makes haste into his house to get his revolver. His brother, Charles, nineteen-years-old, runs off and dies in the road, going up towards Ferry Hill. Leopold and his men escape. Now, they\u2019re wanted men. The Middletown Valley Register over in Maryland, a few days later, comes out with a long article about Leopold and his band and at the end of it says: \u201cLeopold deserves a hempen collar.\u201d So he\u2019s a wanted man, not only by the authorities in Maryland, but by Union soldiers, especially Major General Robert Milroy, the famous \u201cGrey Eagle,\u201d who was headquartered at that time in Winchester.<\/p>\n
April 21-22, 1863 south of Millwood, Va.- Leopold and his team are recaptured:<\/p>\n
French continues:
\nTowards the end of April around April 21st, Union forces are sent out of Berryville and they go to Castleman\u2019s Ferry. That night, they will capture Leopold, and, once again, some of the Burkes \u2013 Hipsley and some other men when they surround the house, and they threaten to burn it down, if the Confederates don\u2019t come out.<\/p>\n
15_They\u2019re taken to Winchester and put in the Clarke County jail
\nAuthor French continues:
\nThey\u2019re taken to Winchester and put in the Clarke County jail. While in that jail, one of Milroy\u2019s citizen spies named Michael Graham from Woodstock, Virginia, talks to Leopold and find out what he wants. Leopold wants to either join the Union Army or be allowed to get out of jail and go to Ohio. In return he will tell Milroy who the scouts and spies are in the lower Shenandoah Valley. He will meet with Milroy, and Milroy will listen to all this, but Leopold plays his hand too fast, and tells Milroy what he needs to know beforehand.<\/p>\n
16_brought before Federal Major General Robert Milroy
\nLeopold (Laypole, Leopole) is brought before Federal Major General Robert Milroy at Winchester, VA and begins bargaining:<\/p>\n
Major-General SCHENCK,WINCHESTER, VA., April 25, 1863. Baltimore, Md.: Rebel [Andrew T.] Leopole, the last two days in irons, hoping for leniency, makes this statement:<\/p>\n
Residence, Sharpsburg, Md. Enlisted in Confederate service two years ago, as ensign First Regiment Virginia (rebel) Cavalry, and remained in that regiment until Stuart\u2019s appointment as brigadier, about a month after the first battle of Manassas, when I became ensign of his brigade, which I continued to be until last May, when I was transferred to the Virginia Cavalry as third lieutenant. I continued in that regiment until after the battle of Sharpsburg, in September last, when I was promoted to first lieutenant of Company D, same regiment, in which regiment I served until November 24 last, when I was captured at Shepherdstown. I remained a prisoner until January 6 last, when I was exchanged, and reported, as ordered, to General Stuart, at his headquarters, where I remained until January 13, acting as his couriers. On January 14, as ordered by him, I left for Castlemans Ferry, in command of 70 men, where I remained until last Tuesday, when, with 6 of my men, I was captured. My business there was to observe the movements of Federal forces, . . .<\/p>\n
NOTE \u2013 At this point Leopold appears to be divulging intelligence on Confederate positions to Milroy in hope of leniency \u2013 JS:
\nand report to General Fitzhugh Lee, who is now between Markham Station and Manassas Gap Railroad and the Shenandoah River, about 2 miles east of the Blue Ridge, with the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Tenth Virginia Cavalry and two batteries. Regiments average about 350 men each. The locality of these troops is about 16 miles from Castlemans Ferry and 10 miles from Berrys Ferry. General Trimble, with three infantry brigades, is near Orleans, in Fauquier County. Lee\u2019s and Trimble\u2019s forces moved at the same time from Culpeper Court-House to their present position, where they arrived about two days before my capture. There are two other brigades one from Louisiana and the other from Virginia encamped between Sperryville and Little Washington. They belong to Trimble\u2019s division. With each brigade is a battery, and a battalion of artillery besides, attached to the division. The brigades, I think, will average 1,900 men each. The two brigades near Sperryville came that far with the other brigades, and halted there. I saw Geueral Stuart on the 17th of this month between Salem and Jefferson, and learned from him that A. P. Hill, with a portion of his command, had left for the Valley by way of Hanover Junction, Charlottesville, and Staunton. I saw Hill\u2019s baggage at Culpeper, and learned from the master of transportation that it was en route from Staunton. I heard General Stuart say that the Federal forces at Winchester would be captured as soon as the Shenandoah River became passable. I also learned from his general order book that Jones had been ordered to march to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and destroy certain trestle-work on that road. I am tired of fighting, and wish to take the oath of allegiance and retire into Ohio. I have always stood high with General Stuart, enjoyed his confidence, and, when at his headquarters, ate at his table.<\/p>\n
Milroy concludes in this report:
\nThe above statement is strongly corroborated by other circumstances and information. I recommend that Heintzelman be directed to ascertain the truth of the above statement, so far as it refers to Fitzhugh Lees and Trimbles forces and their locality. R. H. MILROY, Major-General. \u2013 Letter to Maj. General Robert C. Schenck from Maj. General R. H. Milroy. pp. 252-253.<\/p>\n
Author French recaps:
\nThey\u2019re taken to Winchester and put in the Clarke County jail. While in that jail, one of Milroy\u2019s citizen spies named Michael Graham from Woodstock, Virginia, talks to Leopold and finds out what he wants. Leopold wants to either join the Union Army or be allowed to get out of jail and go to Ohio. In return he will tell Milroy who the scouts and spies are in the lower Shenandoah Valley. He will meet with Milroy, and Milroy will listen to all this, but Leopold plays his hand too fast, and tells Milroy what he needs to know beforehand. So Milroy won\u2019t agree to give him his freedom or allow him to switch sides and join the Union Army, but he will pack him to the prison at Fort McHenry.<\/p>\n
Fort McHenry, MD \u2013 Leopold is not trusted, is tried after much delay and hanged:<\/p>\n
French continues:
\nSo Milroy won\u2019t agree to give him his freedom or allow him to switch sides and join the Union Army, but he will pack him to the prison at Fort McHenry.<\/p>\n
17_Baker would write that Leopold is not trusted
\nCaptain Joel Baker, the guard, comments that most of the prisoners of the group \u2013 there\u2019s about eight or nine in the guard room \u2013 most of the prisoners are cultured gentlemen, but not Leopold. Baker would write that Leopold is not trusted by the other prisoners. They think he would sell them out for just a few cents.<\/p>\n
Leopold is held in prison until mid-December, 1863, when he is put on trial by a military tribunal. He\u2019s charged with a number of crimes, of being a guerrilla, murderer, violating an act of war, and being a spy. The tribunal is led by Col. W. W. Bates of the 8th New York heavy artillery. The Judge Advocate is Lieutenant Roderick Baldwin. Leopold will represent himself, but he will have the help of a local, Baltimore attorney, Milton Whitney Esq. who was well-known in Baltimore for many years.<\/p>\n
18_he will have the help of a local, Baltimore attorney, Milton Whitney Esq.
\nAuthor French continues:
\nThe trial opens up. A lot of local residents come from here to Fort McHenry to testify, including Daniel Rentch, Luther Entler, Samuel Jones, other men from Shepherdstown and also General Milroy will appear. The trial will go \u2013 on and off \u2013 for probably three, almost four, weeks. They break for Christmas a while; they break for different witnesses to arrive. Finally, two charges are dropped, but he is still charged with being a guerrilla and murderer, both capital offences.<\/p>\n
19_wasn\u2019t a guerilla, that he was a Confederate soldier
\nHis defense rests on that he wasn\u2019t a guerilla, that he was a Confederate soldier, especially dispatched into this area by J.E.B. Stuart. Also, he refused to admit that he had murdered Charles Entler. He said he didn\u2019t have anything more to do with the murder of that young boy than any of the judges on the tribunal; and, he said the shooting of Cookus was just part of a local skirmish. So he denied being a guerrilla; he denied being a murderer.<\/p>\n
In his summation, Lt. Baldwin, the Judge Advocate, would say: we owe something to the people of the border who have been hounded from their home, who have been murdered at their doorstep. We need to protect them.<\/p>\n
The verdict comes back. He is convicted of murder: the murder of Entler, the murder of Cookus \u2013 and he is convicted of being a guerilla. Afterwards, the verdict and the results of the trial \u2013 goes up through the chain of command. Finally, they reach that April, Judge Advocate Joseph Holt. Holt reviews all capital cases for Abraham Lincoln. In a four-page review, Holt will say this man has been convicted of these crimes and he deserves the death penalty. In late April, 1864, Abraham Lincoln will sign off on that.<\/p>\n
French continues:
\nAt that time, Leopold is taken from the guard room, shackled. He\u2019s put in a cell, still in the inner fort, but not with the rest of the men on death row. During that month, there is a big escape from the guard room at Fort McHenry. William Boyd Compton leads the rest of the men in the escape and they all eventually get back to the Confederate lines.<\/p>\n
On the evening of April the 22nd, Leopold will be informed by his chaplain, Doctor Reese, that his execution will be the next morning. He will meet with Reese that evening for prayer and communion. During the winter, Leopold would become a committed Christian. He studied the Bible frequently. He had another small book that he would study. They had prayer. Reese left for a while.<\/p>\n
20_About, five-thirty (AM), he would return
\nAbout, five-thirty (AM), he would return. Once again, they would talk of the afterlife. Then he (Leopold) would go out under guard, get on the wagon atop his coffin, and he would ride to the execution site right outside the walls.<\/p>\n
21_Robert Baylor of Charlestown was also a prisoner
\nCaptain Robert Baylor of Charlestown was also a prisoner at Fort McHenry at the time. He was out on the grounds of the fort and as he passed Baylor, Leopold would wave to Baylor and said: \u201cTell the boys I remain true to the cause.\u201d As they neared the execution site, he could see the soldiers of the fort lined up on three sides of the gallows. The gallows there could have four executions at the time.<\/p>\n
22_Lew Wallace was there, later on the author of \u201cBen Hur.\u201d
\n(Federal) Major General Lew Wallace was there, later on the author of \u201cBen Hur.\u201d He was the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Corps Middle Department, and Brig. General W. W. Morris, the sixty-six year old commander of Fort McHenry was also there.<\/p>\n
23_Leopold pointed to Gen. Morris and said
\n24_The hood was put on his neck
\nHe was helped off the wagon. The reporter for \u201cThe Baltimore American\u201d said that \u201cLeopold went up the steps firm and undaunted.\u201d Once atop the scaffold, he was asked for any last words and Leopold pointed to Gen. Morris and said: \u201cOld man, you\u2019re the reason I\u2019m here. But I\u2019ll forgive and I\u2019ll meet you in Heaven.\u201d After that, he stepped back. The hood was put on his neck by Private Elijah Brown, and then the rope put around his neck.<\/p>\n
25_Leopold dropped into eternity
\nJust afterwards, Morris gave the signal, and then \u2013 Leopold dropped into eternity. He would hang there for about twenty minutes before the soldiers took him down. There were friends there in Baltimore, some of Leopold\u2019s friends. They brought him back to Sharpsburg, where he was prepared for burial. A few days later, he was going to be brought to Shepherdstown to bury in the Soldier\u2019s Cemetery. His plot will be right beside Redmond Burke, his old Captain. But he\u2019s going to be brought across here by the undertaker, (with) of course his mother and sisters are with that group.<\/p>\n
26_They\u2019re going to ride up this hill
\nThey\u2019re going to ride up this hill. At the Entler Hotel, there is a group of Unionists shouting at the undertaker to go back. Beforehand these same people had (gone) to the cemetery and warned the over four hundred mourners there to leave, but they ignored them. They go to the cemetery \u2013 once again \u2013 there\u2019s a big crowd there. Lots of girls crying and so on. He is buried.<\/p>\n
French continues:
\nAlthough maybe a year before, Leopold had been a hated person by most Confederates in this area because they heard that he was going to switch sides. By this time, he totally redeemed himself. His conversion to Christianity, his bravery on the scaffold had turned him into a local hero. Later on, that same day, the Unionists would strike. They would come back and would steal the undertaker\u2019s hearse and his horses and ride away with them. Whether he was really guilty of every crime that he was accused is questionable. He wasn\u2019t a guerilla. He was a member of the regular Confederate Cavalry and there\u2019s some question, on the murder of Entler that it might have O\u2019Brien did the shooting.<\/p>\n
27_Mary Louise Entler
\nMary Louise Entler who lived her life from rebel wild cat to 92-year old wise woman in Shepherdstown at the time she died there March 27, 1932 who carried mail with Leopold and tried to save him, wrote: \u201cHis fault was recklessness. He did not stop to consider what might be his fate if caught in the Union lines, and he had run the gauntlet so often without being caught that he became heedless of danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
28_he became heedless of danger<\/p>\n
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