----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Ann Smith" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, November 06, 2005 8:19 PM > Source: [email protected] > Subject: William L. McLeod > > > > William L. McLeod has a story that needs telling since it has been brought > up on our list I think you will feel a little closer to him. > > > > The son of a wealthy landowner, William L. McLeod enrolled on Oglethorpe > College in the fall semester of 1859. > > > > With the outbreak of the War in the spring of 1861, William came back to > Emanuel County and joined a company that was being raised and financed by > his father. William was accompanied to war with his body servant, Moses. > McLeod was in many battles, he was leading a charge across Rock Creek and > up to the opposite bank, crossing a fence McLeod was struck in the right > temple by a Union rifle ball and fell mortally wounded. He was twenty-one > year olds. > > > > Back in Emanuel County in the hot summer afternoon of July 1, 1863 > William's parents were sitting on the veranda of their home. They were > rocking slowly, trying to escape the heat of the afternoon. Mary turned to > Neill and said, "I feel very sad today. I have the feeling that William is > not coming home." Later, as Neill and Mary continued to sit and rock, they > noticed a white dove fly up and landed on the railing in front of them. It > sat there for several moments, then flew away. Mary again turned to Neill > and said, "I believe William is dead." > > > > Jacob Kime's farm was on the Harrisburg Road near Gettysburg. He found > himself in the mist of the war and his house was turned into a hospital. > > > > It was at the Kime farm where Moses heard that William had been wounded. > Leaving the farm to go search for his master, Moses eventually found him > lying among his men, shot thru the temple. William was moved to the > brigade hospital at the Kime farm and Moses accompanied him to attend to > his final hours. With William's death came the task of his burial. Washing > the blood from his face, Moses wrapped William in a blanket and buried him > beneath a peach tree in the Kime orchard. > > > > Moses stayed with McLeod's unit until they returned to Virginia and then > he made his long journey back to Emanuel County which was between 40 to 50 > days. The news had reached his family by September 5 because his obit was > published in The Augusta newspaper then. > > > > Shortly after the surrender at Appomattox in April 1865, Neill McLeod > called on Moses, although a freed man by this time, to perform one last > service for the family. Moses, along with William's brother-in-law, John > Prescott were given a wagon, team of horses, provisions and an oak casket > for the journey to Gettysburg to return William's body. > > > > John and Moses located the body, carefully, gently, and reverently wrapped > in a funeral shroud and lovingly placed in the casket that had been > carried those many miles to receive him. > > > > As the casket laid in state in the McLeod parlor, visited by family and > friends, Mary McLeod remained at William's side. Even after the family had > retired for the night, Mary remained. Throughout that long night Mary sat > next to the casket cherishing the fact that her son was now home among > loved ones, to the land that had given him birth. Sometime during the > night, probably near dawn, Mary made a decision. William, who had laid for > two long years alone in the cold ground, would never be alone again. She > announced her decision to a somewhat disbelieving family later that > morning. > > > > And so it came to pass. Mary, gently but certainly strong willed, forbade > the interment. William would again be reburied, but only after another > family member died, thus ensuring that even in death, William would never > be alone. Hence, a ritual had begun, practiced faithfully, fresh flowers > or greenery being placed atop the casket daily by a loving mother. > > > > During the intervening years the McLeod family apparently remained in good > health. In 1872, however, some seven years later, Sarah McLeod's husband, > John R. Prescott, passed away. The brother-in-law who had journeyed north > with Moses to retrieve William's body would lie forever next to him. > Funeral services for both William and John were held together in Neill and > Mary's home. > > > > This is from the book written by Corporal Michael W. Hofe of the > Gettysburg Police Department after he answered a call from the Adams > County Historical Society on the morning of November 30, 1993. Within one > year he had published this book. > > > > Right after Michael published this book he was invited to speak at the > Emanuel County Historical Preservation Society April 28, 1995. Michael > had been in Emanuel County doing research for this book. He was a great > speaker and sold and autographed his book. That weekend there was a > memorial service at the McLeod Cemetery for William. > > > > Sometime since then Michael had a heart attack and died. > > > > > > Mary Ann > > Swainsboro > > > > > > --------------------------------- > Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.