THE STORY OF WILLIAM MCLEOD AND HIS JOURNEY HOME

Gen. Robert E. Lee decided in June 1863 that the only way he could defeat the Federal forces was with a strike into the North. Lee's men, triumphant in victory after Chancellorsville, marched north through the cover of the Valley of Virginia into Pennsylvania. Lee ordered a portion of his men to go to the crossroads town of Gettysburg to look for shoes for his men. They had orders not to engage. Little did they know that Gen. John Buford's Federal cavalry was moving toward them. What followed was three of the most horrific and defining days in our country's history.

General John B. Gordon's Brigade was moving from Heidlersburg south to Gettysburg. In mid afternoon, Lt. Col. William McLeod of the 38th Georgia anchored his regiment on Gordon's left along the Harrisburg Road. As Gordon's men moved up, their lines broke while they were fording Rock Creek. Col. McLeod led the charge up the slippery and rocky creek banks. As McLeod was crossing the fence, he was struck in the right temple by a Federal mini ball and fell to the ground. The fatal shot may have come from Pvt. Rich of the 153rd Pennsylvania. The wound was mortal. He was just twenty one years old. The assault continued. The Federals retreated.

Meanwhile back in McLeod's home of Emanuel County, his mamma and daddy, Mary and Neill McLeod, were sitting on the porch of their home. It was a hot day - like most July days in the South. Mary turned to Mr. McLeod and said, "I feel very sad today. I have the feeling that William is not coming home." Moments later the McLeods noticed a white dove fly in, landing on the fence rail in front of their home. Mary turned again and said "I believe William is dead."

Col. McLeod and the other wounded men were carried back to a field hospital on the Kime farm. Moses, Col. McLeod's body servant, heard the news that the Colonel had been shot. Moses searched among the dead and the dying and found Col. McLeod with blood streaming from his head. Moses knew the end was near and tended to the Colonel in his last hours.

Moses gathered the Colonel's lifeless body and wrapped it in a blanket. He then began the arduous work of burying his friend. Many of the servants had a special relationship with their masters. Moses buried Col. McLeod beside a peach tree on the Kime farm. Moses remained with the brigade until after the battle and eventually made it back to Swainsboro.

Neill McLeod began to lay out a family cemetery about a quarter mile from his home. There had never been a death in his immediate family before and no need for a burying ground. When the war ended, Neill McLeod contacted Moses and hired him to take his son in law back to Gettysburg and retrieve his son's body.

Moses found the body right where he had left it. Moses gathered the Colonel's remains and placed them in a casket fashioned from an Emanuel County oak. The casket was placed in the family parlor. Family and friends came to pay their respects. William's mother Mary sat up with William’s body all night. Mrs.

McLeod came to an unbelievable decision. It was her command that William would not remain in the ground any longer without a member of the family being buried along his side. William's burial would have to wait until the next family member died. Every day, for nearly seven years, Mary placed fresh flowers or green plants on top of the casket.

In 1872, John R. Prescott died. He was the son-in-law, who had accompanied Moses to Gettysburg to bring William home. Funeral services were held in the McLeod home for William and John. John's wife, Sarah, sat at the top of the stairs in a red dress holding her six week old child in her lap while she sang. William's grave was elaborate for the times. Today the top of the shaft leans, broken, against the base of his monument.

The whole story of Col. McLeod may have been lost for eternity if it not for the determined investigation of Gettysburg policeman, Michael W. Hofe. On the morning of November 30, 1993, Corp. Hofe answered at burglary call at the Adams County Historical Society in Gettysburg. A collection of Civil War items had been taken. Hofe received permission to investigate the theft, a matter which is usually left to the detective division. Within two months all of the missing items, except one, were found. The missing item was Col. McLeod's prayer book, "Flowers of Piety."

Apparently before McLeod was buried, the prayer book was given to Sarah Ellen Kime, the daughter of the farm's owner. Corp. Hofe speculated that Sarah may have stopped to read a passage to the Colonel while she was carrying water to the wounded. Despite the viciousness of the war, most people on both sides openly showed their compassion for the wounded. The prayer book was passed down through the family and eventually made it to the museum of the county historical society, until some idiot decided to take it.

Hofe made it his mission to find out as much about Col. McLeod as he could. He read battle reports. He read books about the battle and consulted experts from all over the country. Corp. Hofe contacted Col. McLeod's descendants in Georgia.

Swainsboro's "Forest Blade" published articles on the effort to put the story together. Hofe published the results of his research in a forty eight page booklet he named "That There Be No Stain Upon My Stones."

There are hundreds of thousands of stories about that terrible war. It was a war that changed our lives forever. This story, which happened 135 years ago this week, is worth remembering. Keep in mind what Gen. Robert E. Lee said after observing the carnage his men had raked upon eight thousand dead and wounded Federal soldiers at the base of Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg, Virginia. "It is well that war is so terrible, for we may grow too fond of it."

Source: That There Be No Stain Upon My Stones, Michael W. Hofe, Gettysburg, Pa., 1994.

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