Private Louis Leon (1841-1919) -- A Tarheel Confederate Soldier

Louis Leon (1841-1919) pictured in his United
Confederate Veterans (UCV) uniform.

Louis Leon was born on November 27, 1841 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, U.K. to German-born Jewish parents Abraham Leon (1898-1878) and Eva Hirsch Leon (1800-1874). The family immigrated to America and settled in New York City, then sometime around 1858, at the age of 16, Louis moved to Charlotte, North Carolina and settle into the small Jewish community in Mecklenburg County, finding work as a clerk in a clothing store.

When the State of North Carolina seceded from the Union on May 20, 1861, Leon -- then 19 years-old -- joined the "Charlotte Grays" Company C of the 1st North Carolina Volunteers Regiment under Captain Egbert Ross, and began his tour of duty on May 21, 1861 in Richmond, Virginia, one day after North Carolina seceded from the Union.

His tour of duty through Virginia lasted six months, during which time he participated in the Battle of Big Bethel on June 10, 1861. The 1st North Carolina Regiment was commanded in the battle by then Colonel Daniel Harvey Hill. This was also the battle where the war's first enlisted Confederate soldier -- 19 year-old Private Henry Lawson Wyatt -- was killed, the only Southern soldier to die that day.

The regiment disbanded shortly after, and he returned to Charlotte.

On April 14, 1862, Leon would again join the service of his new country and become a private in Company B, 53rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment. The regiment was mustered into Confederate service at Camp Magnum in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 30, 1862 and sent to Virginia to serve in General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia throughout the war.

Leon kept a diary of his wartime experiences as a private soldier through the war and later as a prisoner of war when he was captured along with other members of his regiment at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864. Leon would remain a POW at the infamous Elmira Prison in New York until the end of the war when he would take the Oath of Loyalty to the Union upon learning of General Lee's surrender. Once he was released, he visited his parents in New York City, then returned to Charlotte to resume his career as a store clerk.

After the war and the Reconstruction Era, Leon became a Major in the North Carolina United Confederate Veterans (UCV) becoming very active in that organization both locally and nationally, and was known locally in Charlotte a "Major Leon" in honor of his service. Leon was also instrumental in helping to erect Charlotte's Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence Monument on May 20, 1898.

He married Sarah Levy (1850-1909) of New York and the couple had three children: Rebecca Leon DeLane (1874-1920), Henry L. Leon (1876-1943), and Clarence Leon (1886-1955).

His youngest son, Clarence, would serve in the United States Army in the American Expeditionary Forces as a Private in World War I. There is a photo showing the aged United Confederate Veterans at the State Capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina welcoming home North Carolina's American Veterans from Europe in early 1919 -- both father and son were in attendance.

North Carolina UCV members welcoming home North Carolina's "Doughboys" from the
European Western Front at the NC State Capitol in Raleigh in early 1919.
Image courtesy of the NC Department of Archives and History.

In 1913 at the age of 72, Louis Leon published his Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier with Stone Publishing Company in Charlotte, North Carolina. At the time when most first-hand accounts of the War Between The States were written by officers, Leon wanted to show the war from the point of view of the private Confederate soldier. The diary, which he kept throughout his military service and his time as a prisoner of war, shows the grizzly reality and horror of war up close and personally.

The following are the excerpts of Leon's account of the Gettysburg Campaign including the three days of fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) and aftermath:

June 25 -- Marched on, passed through Leesburg, Canada, Hockinsville, and Centerville, all small villages. We got to Carlisle, Pa., at sundown. Marched 21 miles to-day. This city is certainly a beautiful place. It has 8,000 inhabitants, and we were treated very good by the ladies. They thought we would do as their soldiers do, burn every place we passed through, but when we told them the strict orders of General Lee they were rejoiced. Our regiment was provost guard in the city, but were relieved by the 21st Georgia Regiment, and we went to camp at the U. S. barracks. So far we have lived very good in the enemy’s country. “We stayed here until the 30th, when we took the Baltimore pike road, crossed South Mountain at Holly Gap, passed through Papertown and Petersburg. We then left the Pike and took the Gettysburg road – 17 miles to-day. This has been a hard day for us, as we were the rear guard of the division, and it was very hot, close and very dusty, and a terrible job to keep the stragglers up.

July 1 -- We left camp at 6 A.M., passed through Heidelsburg and Middleton. At the latter place we heard firing in the direction of Gettysburg. We were pushed forward after letting the wagon trains get in our rear. We got to Gettysburg at 1 P.M., 15 miles. We were drawn up in line of battle about one mile south of town, and a little to the left of the Lutheran Seminary. We then advanced to the enemy’s line of battle in double quick time. We had not gotten more than 50 paces when Norman of our company fell dead by my side. Katz was going to pick him up. I stopped him, as it is strictly forbidden for anyone to help take the dead or wounded off the field except the ambulance corps. We then crossed over a rail fence, where our Lieutenant McMatthews and Lieutenant Alexander were both wounded. That left us with a captain and one lieutenant. After this we got into battle in earnest, and lost in our company very heavily, both killed and wounded. This fight lasted four hours and a half, when at last we drove them clear out of town, and took at least 3,000 prisoners. They also lost very heavily in killed and wounded, which all fell into our hands. After the fight our company was ordered to pick up all straggling Yankees in town, and bring them together to be brought to the rear as prisoners. One fellow I took up could not speak one word of English, and the first thing he asked me in German was “Will I get my pay in prison?” After we had them all put up in a pen we went to our regiment and rested. Major Iredell, of our regiment, came to me and shook my hand, and also complimented me for action in the fight. At dusk I was about going to hunt up my brother Morris, when he came to me. Thank God, we are both safe as yet. We laid all night among the dead Yankees, but they did not disturb our peaceful slumbers.

July 2 -- Our division was in reserve until dark, but our regiment was supporting a battery all day. We lost several killed and wounded, although we had no chance to fire — only lay by a battery of artillery and be shot at. The caisson of the battery we were supporting was blown up and we got a big good sprinkling of the wood from it. Just at dark we were sent to the front under terrible cannonading. Still, it was certainly a beautiful sight. It being dark, we could see the cannon vomit forth fire. Our company had to cross a rail fence. It gave way and several of our boys were hurt by others walking over them. We laid down here a short time, in fact no longer than 10 minutes, when I positively fell asleep. The cannonading did not disturb me. One of the boys shook me and told me Katz was wounded by a piece of a shell striking him on the side, and he was sent to the rear. We went on to the Baltimore Turnpike until 3 in the morning of the 3d.

July 3 -- When under a very heavy fire, we were ordered on Culps Hill, to the support of Gen. A. Johnson. Here we stayed all day — no, here, I may say, we melted away. We were on the brow of one hill, the enemy on the brow of another. We charged on them several times, but of course, running down our hill, and then to get to them was impossible, and every time we attempted it we came back leaving some of our comrades behind. Here our Lieutenant Belt lost his arm. We have now in our company a captain. All of our lieutenants are wounded. We fought here until 7 P.M., when what was left of us was withdrawn and taken to the first day’s battlefield. At the commencement of this fight our Brigade was the strongest in our division, but she is not now. We lost the most men, for we were in the fight all the time, and I have it from Colonel Owens that our regiment lost the most in the Brigade. I know that our company went in the fight with 60 men. When we left Culps Hill there were 16 of us that answered to the roll call. The balance were all killed and wounded. There were 12 sharpshooters in our company and now John Cochran and myself are the only ones that are left. This day none will forget, that participated in the fight. It was truly awful how fast, how very fast, did our poor boys fall by our sides — almost as fast as the leaves that fell as cannon and musket balls hit them, as they flew on their deadly errand. You could see one with his head shot off, others cut in two, then one with his brain oozing out, one with his leg off, others shot through the heart. Then you would hear some poor friend or foe crying for water, or for “God’s sake” to kill him. You would see some of your comrades, shot through the leg, lying between the lines, asking his friends to take him out, but no one could get to his relief, and you would have to leave him there, perhaps to die, or, at best, to become a prisoner. Our brigade was the only one that was sent to Culps Hill to support General Johnson. In our rapid firing today my gun became so hot that the ramrod would not come out, so I shot it at the Yankees, and picked up a gun from the ground, a gun that some poor comrade dropped after being shot. I wonder if it hit a Yankee; if so, I pity him. Our regiment was in a very exposed position at one time to-day, and our General Daniels ordered a courier of his to bring us from the hill. He was killed before he got to us. The General sent another. He was also killed before he reached us. Then General Daniels would not order any one, but called for volunteers. Capt. Ed. Stitt, of Charlotte, one of his aides, responded, and he took us out of the exposed position.

July 4 -- We laid on the battlefield of the first day, this the fourth day of July. No fighting to-day, but we are burying the dead. They have been lying on the field in the sun since the first day’s fight; it being dusty and hot, the dead smell terribly. The funny part of it is, the Yankees have all turned black. Several of our company, wounded, have died. Katz is getting along all right. The battle is over, and although we did not succeed in pushing the enemy out of their strong position, I am sure they have not anything to boast about. They have lost at least as many in killed and wounded as we have. We have taken more prisoners from them than they have from us. If that is not the case, why did they lay still all today and see our army going to the rear? An army that has gained a great victory follows it up while its enemy is badly crippled; but Meade, their commander, knows he has had as much as he gave, at least, if not more. As yet I have not heard a word from my brother Morris since the first day’s fight.

July 5 -- Left this morning a 5 o'clock. Only marched ten miles to-day. The enemy being in our rear, and skirmishing very strong. 

Major Louis Leon, at the age of 78, died in his sleep on June 28, 1919 in New York City, New York while visiting relatives. He is buried with is wife in the Hebrew Cemetery in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The grave of Confederate veteran Louis Leon & his wife, Sarah 
at Hebrew Cemetery, Charlotte, North Carolina.

I would like to add an important caveat to this story.

In doing research on the life of Private Louis Leon, I found that there was a granite marker at the Charlotte Hebrew Cemetery near the old chapel honoring Leon along with 12 other Jewish men from Mecklenburg County who served in the Confederate military. In addition to photographing Private Leon's grave site, I was going to add a photo of that marker as well.

However, I was informed by cemetery employees that the marker had since been removed at some point by staff around 2017 out of "fears of vandalism" following the dishonorable purge of Confederate symbols and markers around that time.

Out of respect for the South's dead, I will list the names of those Jewish Confederates buried there:

Captain Julius Roessler, 13th Regiment NC Troops
1st Lieutenant Edward B. Cohen, 1st Regiment NC Volunteers
2nd Lieutenant Solomon A. Cohen, 1st Regiment NC Volunteers
Sergeant Major Aaron Katz, 53rd Regiment NC Troops
Corporal Henry Wertheim, 53rd Regiment NC Troops
Corporal Phillip Schiff, 44th Regiment GA Infantry
Private Louis Leon, 53rd Regiment NC Troops
Private Charles S. Liberman, 13th Regiment, NC Troops
Private Jonas Engel, 53rd Regiment NC Troops
Private Jacob Donau, 53rd Regiment NC Troops
Private I.C. Levi, 1st Regiment NC Volunteers
Private Sam Oppenheim, 1st Regiment NC Volunteers
Private Jacob Katz, 1st Regiment NC Volunteers

"Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad."
("Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.")
In blessed and eternal memory of those Southern men of Jewish faith who answered the call to defend Dixie 1861-1865.
May their names continue to live on as a blessing to their heritage and community.
Deo Vindice.

Source for the quotes come from the Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ISBN-13: 978-0692288214. Pages 33-38.

Flat Rock Cemetery Memorial Service 2025 -- In Memory Of The Seven

On Saturday, April 19th of this year, my travels took me to Mount Holly, North Carolina to attend the annual service honoring the Flat Rock Seven -- a group of seven Confederate veterans who died by accidentally drowning in the Catawba River on their way home from the final surrender of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House (April 9th and 10th) earlier the same month. These men are buried together at Flat Rock Cemetery in Gaston County, North Carolina not far from the site where they'd drowned.

I've told the story of the deaths of these veterans before and the article can be found HERE. The tragic tale of the deaths of these young men, as well as the more well-known story of the Union soldiers who died in the Sultana disaster, serve as another reminder of the terrible cost in human lives of war, and even its aftermath.

The service was a small one with just about 18 people in attendance -- your favorite blogger included, but it was still an honor to be present with the men and women who saw fit to remember the story of these men.

The following are the photos I took of the event. 

American Veterans At Gettysburg 1938

Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

This photo was taken at a reunion of American veterans of the War Between The States (American Civil War) 1861-1865 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 3, 1938 showing Confederate and Union veterans shaking hands across the stone wall on Cemetery Ridge at the Gettysburg National Battlefield -- 75 years after the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863).

Two Confederate Veterans In Honor Of Black History Month

Pictured in this photograph are two Confederate Veterans at a reunion of the United Confederate Veterans taken near the battlefield at Brice Crossroads near Baldwyn, Mississippi in July of 1921.

On the left is Joe Wiley, then 90 years old, who served in Company A, 7th Georgia Infantry Regiment, CSA. On the right is Howard Divinity, then 91 years old, who served in Company A, 12th Mississippi Infantry Regiment CSA.

This month of February, designated as Black History Month in the United States, this blogger honors their service, and that of all African-Americans who served honorably in America's wars.

The Wartime Service Of Lieutenant John Grimball C.S.N. (1840 - 1922) & The Last Sovereign Confederate Flag

Lieutenant John Grimball (1840-1922)
in Confederate Naval Uniform.
Photo taken in Paris, France in 1864 by
French photographer Georges Penabert.
Photograph courtesy U.S. Library of Congress.

Confederate naval veteran and South Carolina's own Lieutenant John Grimball, CSN, holds two unique distinctions in Southern history as both one of the longest serving Confederate servicemen of the War Between the States (1861-1865) and serving under the only sovereign Confederate national flag to circumnavigate the Earth, as well as the last official Confederate flag to formally surrender seven months after the war ended.

He would be present for the very first shots of the war, and also be there to surrender the last official Confederate military holdout.

John Grimball was born in Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday, April 18, 1840, the fifth of nine children to wealthy planters John Berkley Grimball (1800-1892) and Margret Ann "Meta" Morris Grimball (1810-1881).

His father, John Berkeley Grimball (1800-1892), a graduate from Princeton University, grew rice at his plantation home, Pinebury, located in Colleton County, South Carolina south of Charleston. In 1830, the elder Grimball married Margaret "Meta" Morris, whose family owned the nearby Grove Plantation. The plantation was originally built by George Washington Morris (1799–1834), a grandson of Lewis Morris (1726–1798), signer of the Declaration of Independence. John inherited the Grove from his wife’s family in 1858, and they owned several African-American slaves. John Berkeley Grimball became a South Carolina State Senator and would later cast his vote in favor of secession from the United States in December 1860. 

Young John Grimball (Jack to his family and Johnnie to his close friends) left home in 1854, at the age of 14, to join the Navy. He earned an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, graduating 14th out of 15 in his class in 1858 becoming an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. One of his classmates and fellow graduates was future Spanish-American War (1898) hero Admiral George Dewey (1837-1917).

Now 18 year old John Grimball only U.S. Navy service was aboard the frigate USS Macedonian for two years and saw peacetime service in the Mediterranean Sea and the Caribbean; notably when the American ship and her crew assisted in the refloating of the British ship HMS Curacoa on Thursday, October 28, 1858 when the later ran aground on the Pelican Reef, off Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey) a few days before.

However, any dreams that the young man might have had of earning military glory in the U.S. Navy blue would soon come to an end with the secession of South Carolina two years later.

On Christmas Eve, Monday, December 24th, 1860, just four days after South Carolina seceded from the Union, Lieutenant Jack Grimball resigned his commission and offered his services to South Carolina Governor Francis W. Pickens (1805-1869). For this act he was publicly praised in an article by the Charleston Courier on Saturday, December 29, 1860, stating: "Nothing less can be expected of true sons of the South."

Four of John's five brothers also joined the newly sovereign State of South Carolina and Confederate service in infantry and artillery units. The fifth brother was too young to have served.

Two brothers, Private Berkley Grimball (1833-1899) and Private Arthur Grimball (1842-1894) both served in the SC Light Artillery, Parker's Company, also known as the Marion Artillery.

The third brother, Doctor Lewis Morris Grimball (1835-1901) served initially in Company I, 2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment, and then in Company B, 11th South Carolina Infantry (St. Paul's Rifles) before being assigned as a surgeon to various units for the remainder of the war. 

The last brother, Lieutenant William Heyward Grimball (1837-1864) served in Company E, 1st Regiment South Carolina Artillery in Charleston. He would be the only brother to die in the war on Wednesday, July 27, 1864 of typhoid fever contracted at James Island, South Carolina.

Grimball’s first assignment as an officer in the military of the State of South Carolina was in the garrison of Fort Moultrie. The coastal fort had been occupied by Federal forces until a few days prior on Wednesday, December 26, 1860 when the garrison commander, U.S. Major Robert Anderson, moved his men to nearby Fort Sumter in the center of Charleston Harbor, which offered better opportunities for defense.

Meanwhile, the outgoing U.S. President James Buchanan dispatched the unarmed merchant steamer ship Star of the West out of New York Harbor, with a cargo of supplies and military reinforcements for Major Anderson and his men.

Despite the fact the Star of the West was a civilian ship, when news of the mission spread to South Carolina, it was interpreted as an act of aggression by what was now seen as a foreign power.

When the ship arrived at Charleston Harbor on Wednesday, January 9, 1861, John Grimball and the rest of the defenders of Charleston were ready to greet them.

The ship was fired upon by Grimball and the defenders of Fort Moultrie and by cadets from the Citadel Military Academy manning a battery on nearby Morris Island. Seventeen shots were fired at the steamer, which was hit twice in the hull causing only minor damage. These shots are considered by many historians as the actual the first shots of the war. Although Star of the West itself suffered no major damage, her captain considered it too dangerous to continue and turned about to leave, abandoning the mission and returning to New York Harbor.

Two months later, after six more Southern States withdrew from the Federal Union, the Confederate States of America was officially formed on Monday, March 4, 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama. John Grimball officially joined the navy of the new American nation shortly afterward, receiving a commission as a Master (or sailing master-warrant officer) by Confederate Secretary of the Navy, Stephen R. Mallory. 

Still serving at Fort Moultrie, John Grimball was present for, and participated in, the bombardment of Fort Sumter on Friday, April 12, 1861 -- the official start of the war. The fort surrendered to the new Confederate States authorities two days later.

Master John Grimball's first naval service with the new Confederate States Navy was aboard the gunboat CSS Lady Davis -- named in honor of Confederate First Lady Varina Davis. At that time, the little gunboat served as flagship of Commodore Josiah Tattnall III's Savannah Defense Squadron, consisting of CSS Savannah, CSS Sampson, and CSS Resolute.

In spring of 1862, Grimball was promoted to Second Lieutenant and ordered to Memphis, Tennessee to serve aboard the casemate ironclad, CSS Arkansas, under the command of CSN Lieutenant Issac Brown. It would be serving aboard the Arkansas commanding the ship's bow gun that Lieutenant Grimball would receive his first serious taste of naval combat when the ship would make her famous run down the Yazoo and Mississippi Rivers.

At the mouth of the Yazoo River on Tuesday, July 15, 1862, the CSS Arkansas engaged in battle with the three Union ships sent to intercept the ironclad: the timberclad gunboat USS Tyler, the ram ship USS Queen of the West, and the ironclad USS Carondelet -- the later causing the heaviest damage to the Arkansas in the engagement. The battle between the ironclads caused heavy damage to the Carondelet and inflicted 35 casualties. About 25 of the Arkansas crew had been killed or wounded during the battle.

The Arkansas would continue on her way downriver towards the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, where it would fight its way through USN Commodore David G. Farragut's Union fleet on the Mississippi River, damaging 16 of the Union ships. The Confederate ship had fired 97 shots during the day's fighting, of which only 24 of which had missed the Union ships. The Arkansas received an enthusiastic welcome by the citizens of Vicksburg.

These actions would result in Farragut withdrawing his fleet downriver and giving the Confederacy a temporary reprieve on the Mississippi River. Out of the Arkansas crew of 160 men, 30 became casualties during these engagements -- 12 killed and 18 wounded, including several men from Grimball's gun crew.

The ironclad CSS Arkansas would soon meet her end when she ran into serious engine problems and was ultimately scuttled by her crew on the morning of Wednesday, August 6, 1862 near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She was the shortest serving Confederate Naval ironclad of the war -- about 21 days -- but one of the toughest.

Lieutenant Grimball was then transferred to the ironclad CSS Baltic in Mobile, Alabama, where he would serve from late August of 1862 till May of 1863 helping to lay torpedoes (Naval mines) in the Mobile Bay.

On Monday, May 18, 1863, John Grimball left Wilmington, North Carolina aboard the paddle-steamer CSS Robert E. Lee, a fast blockade runner that was bound to Bermuda, and then on to Liverpool, England, U.K. His assignment there was to assist Confederate agents in purchasing and building of blockade runners and commerce raiders for the fledgling C.S. Navy. 

Despite Great Britain officially being neutral in the American conflict, Liverpool was the unofficial home port of the Confederate overseas fleet. Confederate Naval Commander and foreign agent James D. Bulloch (1823-1901) was based in the city. The city provided ships, crews, munitions, medical supplies, and provisions of war.

Lieutenant Grimball's new duties would also have him travel across the English Channel to France (also officially neutral, and more strictly so than Britain) to help find crews and supplies for the Confederate fleet. He was in the French port city of Cherbourg on Saturday, June 11, 1864, when the commerce raider CSS Alabama arrived for a much-needed refit and resupply.

The Alabama, under the command of CSN Captain Raphael Seemes (1809-1877), had just completed her two-year voyage during which she'd captured or destroyed 65 Union merchant ships. Grimball and another officer volunteered to serve onboard Alabama if needed, but the French authorities prohibited them from joining the ship’s crew. Eight days later on Sunday, June 19, 1864, the CSS Alabama met and engaged in battle with the USS Kearsarge just off the Cherbourg harbor entrance and was sunk. Grimball witnessed the battle from shore.

It would be back in Liverpool that Lieutenant Grimball would soon find himself a more permanent home, as well as his greatest adventure of the war, as a top lieutenant aboard the famous Confederate warship CSS Shenandoah captained by CSN Commander James Iredell Waddell.

Originally built by the British in Glasgow, Scotland in 1863 as the troop transport ship Sea King, the vessel was secretly purchased by the Confederate States Navy along with a support vessel, the Laurel.

The Sea King left London on October 8, 1864, allegedly for an announced trading voyage to Bombay, India. The Laurel sailed from Liverpool the same day, carrying the Confederate officers and crew. The two ships rendezvoused at Funchal, Madeira, an island off the coast of Portugal a few days later. There, it was refitted as a battle cruiser with several naval guns, ammunition, and ship's stores.

The new Confederate cruiser was commissioned on Wednesday, October 19, 1864, with the symbolic lowering the British Union Jack and the raising the "Stainless Banner" and the former Sea King was renamed the CSS Shenandoah, a ship that would earn both world-wide acclaim and infamy depending on who you ask.

The destruction of the North's whaling industry was part of the Confederate naval strategy to damage the North's economy and commerce, hindering their war effort. It was also hoped that the actions of these commercial raiders would draw Union warships from the blockade of Southern ports to protect the whalers.

To those ends, Commander Bulloch issued the following orders to the CSS Shenandoah:

Sir: You are about to proceed upon a cruise in the far-distant Pacific, into the seas and among the islands frequented by the great American whaling fleet, a source of abundant wealth to our enemies and a nursery for their seamen. It is hoped that you may be able to greatly damage and disperse that fleet, even if you do not succeed in utterly destroying it. 

Detailed Instructions from Commander Bulloch, C.S. Navy,
to Lieutenant J.I. Waddell, C.S. Navy, October 5, 1864.

The CSS Shenandoah undergoing repairs at dry dock in her extended stopover in
Melbourne, Australia in early February, 1865.
The 2nd Confederate National Naval Jack flies proudly above.
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Naval History and Heritage archives.

For twelve-and-a-half months of service the CSS Shenandoah undertook commerce raiding around the world -- mostly the significant being New England whaling ships largely from New Bedford, Massachusetts. These commerce raids resulted in the capture and sinking (or bonding) of approximately 38 Union merchant vessels between Sunday, October 30, 1864 and Wednesday, June 28, 1865.

John Grimball was one of five lieutenants to serve among the Shenandoah’s crew, along with fellow South Carolinian, Dr. Charles Edward Lining (1834-1897) the ship's surgeon. Lieutenant Grimball served as second officer (third in command) and frequently led the boarding parties that captured the crews of the U.S. whaling ships encountered at sea. Once the crews were removed, most of the enemy vessels and their cargo were burned rather than sent into port as prizes.

Shenandoah was said to have destroyed 32 vessels, ransomed 6 others, and taken 1,053 Yankee prisoners (who were paroled and sent via neutral ships to American ports). In all the value of the vessels and cargoes destroyed by the raider, according to her officers' calculations, came to $1.4 million.

Ironically, it would be on June 28, 1865 -- five days after the surrender of the last Confederate land forces by Brigadier General Stand Watie at Doakesville, Choctaw Nation, Oklahoma -- that the CSS Shenandoah would have the most lucrative day of her career, Shenandoah encountered and decimated nine New England whaling ships working together in the Bering Strait in an 11-hour span.

It was here that the CSS Shenandoah fired the last actual shots of the American Civil War, across the bow of the New England whaler Nile and forcing her surrender almost three months after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on Sunday, April 9, 1865. Lieutenant Grimball himself is reported to have fired this last shot.
 
Two months later, on Wednesday, August 2, 1865, while traveling south towards the US west coast to wreak havoc on more shipping, the crew of the Shenandoah confirmed the news of the end of the war from a British vessel. The crew then removed and stored away their guns, which would never be fired again -- and sailed east around Cape Horn into the South Atlantic and returning to Liverpool where she began her journey a year before to formally surrender to neutral Great Britain.

British citizens stood on the shores in awe to see the Shenandoah arriving on the morning of Monday, November 6, 1865; her Confederate National colors flying proudly from her mast -- the last one to do so as a representative of a sovereign Southern nation.

Captain Waddell maneuvered his ship near the British warship HMS Donegal, dropping anchor in the river. The CSS Shenandoah was then formally surrendered his command to Royal Navy Captain James Dorset Paynter of Donegal. The Confederate flag was lowered again for the very last time under the watch of both the British Navy personal and now former Confederate Navy crews.

Lieutenant Grimball, the young man who'd seen the first shots fired at the Star of the West and at Fort Sumter in 1861, now witnessed the surrender of the last official Confederate military holdout. His was the longest service of any Confederate military officer in the War.

During her incredible thirteen month voyage of 58,000 miles (or 93,342 kilometers) -- about 50,400 nautical miles -- the CSS Shenandoah became the only Confederate Navy warship to circumnavigate the Earth.

The Shenandoah crossed the equator four times, covering points from its departure at Liverpool, around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope, into the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean, across the Indian Ocean with an extended stopover in Australia, then from the South Pacific north into the Arctic Ocean above the Aleutian Islands into the Bering Strait, then back south around South America's Cape Horn, then back into the Atlantic Ocean and returning to Liverpool to surrender. 

Like her sister ship, the famed raider CSS Alabama, the CSS Shenandoah never made port in a Southern State during the course of the War Between The States. Her Stainless Banner Naval Jack is the only sovereign Confederate national banner to circle the globe during wartime -- a voyage that covered all five of the world's oceans and all of the traditional "seven seas" -- and the very last to be lowered in surrender.

The crew of the Shenandoah were held over briefly by British authorities before being released on parole. It was ruled that the crew of the Confederate sailors did not violate international law in carrying on their duty and were not guilty of piracy.

Grimball, and some of the other former Confederate officers, feared reprisals from the United States government for their raids after the formal end of the war. Grimball left Great Britain and stayed in Mexico where he and a few others worked for a time on a ranch.

A year later, after learning that the government would not charge him or any of his fellow officers with "piracy", John Grimball returned to South Carolina where he began a career in law, practicing in his native Charleston at first, then in New York City. He later returned to Charleston in the 1880s. In 1885, he would marry to Mary Georgianna Barnwell (1857-1920) and the couple would have two sons: Arthur (1886-1951) and William Heyward (1886-1964).

Lieutenant John Grimball died on Christmas Day, Monday December 25, 1922 at the age of 82; and is buried in historic Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.

The grave of Lt. John Grimball at
Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, SC.
Photo courtesy of Find A Grave.

John Grimball wouldn't be the last member of the Grimball family to serve the State of South Carolina and his country in time of war.

First Lieutenant John "Jack" Grimball (1914-1991) was named for his grandfather and served in World War II with the U.S Army's 9th Armored Division (Co. A, 14th Tank Battalion) where he earned the Silver Star medal at the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944 - January 1945). Lieutenant Grimball was also awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for his role in the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany on Wednesday, March 7, 1945 as part of Operation Lumberjack.

The Naval Ensign of the CSS Shenandoah behind a replica model of the vessel.
The flag is currently on display at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia, USA.

The special thanks to the following sources used for this article:

John Grimball family papers, 1804-1893, South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston, South Carolina.

Sea of Gray: The Around the World Odyssey of the Confederate Raider Shenandoah. Hill and Wang. 2006.
The Voyage of the CSS Shenandoah: A Memorable Cruise. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2014.
Waddell and James D Horan. C.S.S. Shenandoah: The Memoirs of Lieutenant Commanding James I. Waddell. Bluejacket Books. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1996.
The American Civil War Museum, Richmond, Virginia.
The U.S. Library of Congress.
The U.S. Naval History & Heritage Command archives.

Private James D. Faires C.S.A. -- Thrice Wounded Confederate Veteran

Private James D. Faires
Company H, 18th S.C. Infantry Regiment, C.S.A.
shown here after his capture in March 1865 with a terrible
bullet wound that split his head -- his third wound during
his 8 months as a Confederate soldier.

Born on November 11, 1846, young James Daniel Faires of York, South Carolina was just a farm boy of 17 years when he joined the Catawba Light Infantry, Company H, 18th South Carolina Infantry in August of 1864 -- less than a year before the bloody War Between The States would formally end.

Faires joined his new regiment along with General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia during the nine-month-long Siege of Petersburg, Virginia (June 15, 1864 - April 2, 1865) where the young recruit would soon be introduced to the horrors of prolonged trench warfare.

Just over two months there, Faires received his first wound, being shot in the chest and sent to Jackson Hospital in Richmond. He soon recovered and rejoined the 18th S.C. where he would again be wounded in the trenches before Petersburg with a gunshot wound to the face in March of 1865.

Young Faires would again return to his regiment just as Petersburg fell and arrived in time for the Battle of Five Forks (April 1, 1865) where the regiment left the trenches with Major General George E. Pickett’s Division to defend a vital crossroads southwest of Petersburg from the combined forces of Major General Gouverneur K. Warren’s 5th Corps and Phillip Sheridan’s Cavalry Corps. Outnumbered and eventually outflanked, the Confederates fought hard, but were ultimately overwhelmed. As a result, Lee’s Army was soon forced to abandon Petersburg and Richmond the next day and retreat west towards Appomattox Court House where Lee would surrender to Lieutenant General U.S. Grant just over a week later.

The grave of Pvt. James D. Faires
at Christian Cemetery
in Nacogdoches, Texas.

It was during the battle that Faires was shot for the third, and final time, receiving a ghastly bullet wound in the head that nearly split his skull open. He would be captured along with over 2,000 other Confederate soldiers that day.

The wounded Faires was sent to Lincoln General Hospital in Washington City where Union Surgeon J.C. McKee would remove shattered bone fragments from his skull and replaced with a steel plate on April 20th.

After signing his Oath of Allegiance to the Union in June 1865, Faires was released from the hospital and walked home from Virginia. He returned to his family farm and then later married his wife, Martha Jane Campbell, in 1878 and started his own family farm at Steele Creek, North Carolina where they would live for a time before moving to Nacogdoches, Texas. He and Martha would eventually have six children.

Faires would continue to suffer the painful effects of his final wound his whole life with off and on headaches. By 1910, the then 63 year old Confederate veteran would go blind.

He died on June 5, 1914 at the age of 67 and is buried in Christian Cemetery in Nacogdoches with his wife and other family members.

Sketch by Alfred Waud, "Last Stand of Pickett’s Men" at the Battle of Five Forks (April 1, 1865)

Private Thomas S. Burgess -- Confederate Sharpshooter

 

Approximately 157 years ago, around 9 A.M. on the morning of Tuesday, May 9, 1864 during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, a Union officer dismounted from his horse and walked among men manning an artillery battery aimed at hastily erected Confederate earthworks just over 1,000 yards distance.

The commander of the Army of the Potomac's VI Corps, Major General John Sedgwick, known affectionately as "Uncle John" by his men, was directing the placement of the artillery battery against the left flank of the Confederate earthworks. In the distance, single shots rang out from Confederate sharpshooters sitting in trees and hiding behind the earthworks.

One of these sharpshooters was a 35 year old Confederate private from Jonesville, South Carolina named Thomas S. Burgess. He was among the skirmishers trading shots with members of the invading Union army's VI Corps along with the rest of Company F, 15th S.C. Infantry Regiment.

As a sharpshooter, his primary targets in combat were Yankee officers, easily identifiable by the rank insignia on the shoulders of their dark blue uniforms.

Most of the sharpshooters in the Army of Northern Virginia carried the new British-made Whitworth Rifle, one of the world's first real sniper weapons, equipped with a long brass telescopic scope for long range targets. Shots from the Whitworth rifles, easily identifiable due to the shrill whistling noises their hexagonal bullets made in flight, flew all around the artillery battery, causing members of Sedgwick's staff and nearby artillerymen to duck for cover.

Union Major General John Sedgwick.
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress.

In both a show to contempt for the Southern "rebels" and an attempt to boost the morale of his men, Sedgwick strode around in the open. He reportedly looked down at an artillery sergeant who ducked behind his cannon and, with a good-natured laugh, was quoted as saying what would probably become one of the best examples of cruel irony in the war, "What? Men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you! They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!"

A second later came the shrill sound of a Whitworth bullet in flight, followed by the sickening sound of a bullet finding its mark and "Uncle John" Sedgwick fell forward with a bullet just under his left eye and never regained consciousness.

The death of General Sedgwick made him, along with Major Generals James Birdseye McPherson, Joseph K. Mansfield, and John F. Reynolds, among the highest-ranking Union officers to be killed in the war. Of the four men mentioned Sedgwick was the most senior in rank in terms of commission.

Although five different (surviving) Confederate sharpshooters were claimed to have been responsible for killing Sedgwick, it has never been officially confirmed who actually took the most famous shot ever fired from a Whitworth rifle during the war.

The death of John Sedgwick at the Battle of Spotsylvania,
Tuesday, May 9, 1864.
Artwork courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS).

Of all the candidates who likely took the shot, Private Thomas Burgess was the only one who didn't brag about his actions during the battle. If he did in fact fire the shot that ended Sedgwick's life, the reasons he would not talk about it probably fell under several possibilities.

The main one being that most Civil War combat was blind with soldiers in massed groups firing wildly through a smoke-covered battlefield never truly being sure if they actually hit their target. This was not always true, of course, but for the most part a soldier will fire in the general direction of a target but never get confirmation they actually hit another enemy soldier.

With snipers, particularly those armed with a rifle with a scope, they usually get to bear witness to the results of their actions all too well. Like many other Southern-born men in the 19th century, Burgess was fighting because he felt it was his duty, but likely regarded this method of warfare as murder, and the idea of bragging about killing another man simply sickened him.

Or it could have been he feared some sort of retaliation after the war. Being responsible for killing one of the highest ranking Union officers of the war might have made him famous among fellow Confederate Veterans, but might also earn him scrutiny from other quarters he would have rather avoided.

Or perhaps he simply didn't want to talk about it because the memories were haunting to him, as they are to many veterans of warfare. There are many former soldiers and service-persons who will never speak of what they saw or did in war, probably for very good reasons given what we know today of PTSD.

For whatever reason, if Thomas Burgess was in fact the man who fired the shot that fell the Yankee general, he kept that detail to himself till the day he died.

Thomas Burgess survived the war, formally surrendering along with 161 other surviving members of the 15th South Carolina Infantry on Wednesday, April 26, 1865 at Bennett Place near Greensboro, North Carolina. He would return home to Union County, South Carolina where he would later marry his wife, Rachael Ward Burgess and have three sons: James, Hughes, and Oscar.

Burgess died on Saturday, April 4, 1908 (aged 79 years) and is buried in the graveyard at Gilead Baptist Church in Jonesville, South Carolina.

The grave of Private Thomas S. Burgess, Confederate sharpshooter,
Co. F, 15th SC Infantry Regiment at Gilead Baptist Church in Jonesville, SC.
Photo taken by C.W. Roden.