By

Christopher G. Peña(1)

At 4:15 p.m. on June 11, 1863, a single shot was heard coming from the captain’s stateroom aboard U.S.S. Albatross whilst on patrol on the Mississippi River above Port Hudson near the port town of Bayou Sara, Louisiana. A wardroom steward rushed into the room to discover the body of Lt. Commander John Elliot Hart lying on the floor with a trail of blood oozing from just behind his right ear. He immediately summoned the acting assistant surgeon, William J. Burge, who pronounced Hart dead. Lying beside the body was Hart’s Colt revolver with one of its barrels discharged.(2) His unexpected death that afternoon ushered in a strange series of events over the next twenty-four hours that culminated in an unique truce between warring sides during the American Civil War and helped establish an enduring friendship between Northern and Southern Masonic Lodges.

Bayou Sara and her sister community of St. Francisville had a history of sharing fates, good and bad, because of their proximity to one another. By the fall of 1860, both towns, situated in West Feliciana Parish approximately thirty miles north of Baton Rouge, were the quintessential examples of prosperity resulting from hard work, their ideal location along the river, and an economy based upon cotton, some sugar, and slavery. According to 1860 census data, slaves constituted approximately eighty percent of the total parish population, and their labor produced tremendous wealth in the parish prior to the Civil War. By the start of the war, total assessed property values in West Feliciana Parish were estimated to be $8.2 million. As such, the parish was considered one of the wealthiest regions in the state. (3) 

Bayou Sara, resting along the eastern banks of the Mississippi River, and St. Francisville, situated atop a bluff less than a mile from the river bank, benefited greatly from the waterway which served as a chief means of transporting produce to and from the  region. St. Francisville, in particular, shielded from the threat of rising Mississippi waters during the spring and summer months, became the parish seat and main commercial center of the region. It was once describe as a well groomed town comprised of beautiful homes, spacious gardens, thriving business establishments, and a majestic courthouse to serve the public needs. Serving the religious needs of the community were the Methodist Church in Bayou Sara, Rev. Thomas Donner, pastor, and Grace (Episcopal) Church in St. Francisville, Rev. Daniel S. Lewis its rector. St. Francisville’s partnership with Bayou Sara made it the largest east bank river port between New Orleans and Memphis during the antebellum period.

The strong economic and agricultural ties to slavery clearly made West Feliciana Parish, particularly St. Francisville and Bayou Sara, a hotbed for secession after the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in November 1860. When Governor Thomas O. Moore called for an election to choose delegates to serve at the Louisiana Secession Convention in January 1861, the citizens of West Feliciana Parish overwhelmingly elected men who campaigned for immediate secession from the Union. In April 1861, when war erupted between the North and South, scores of men from the parish eagerly volunteered for Confederate service, including William Walter Leake of St. Francisville.(4) His role in the war would catapult him to the forefront of this story.

By sheer coincidence, William Leake played a pivotal role in the aftermath of Lt. Commander Harts’ suicide and the momentary truce that followed his death. No one before the war could have predicted the meeting of both men – one in death, one on his way to a long and distinguished life, one a Yankee, one a staunch Confederate. But a bond developed nevertheless that transcended political differences. Capt. Leake’s actions displayed that day endeared him to those who knew and loved Commander Hart, including his son, Abraham.  

W.W. Leake was born on April 22, 1833, in West Feliciana Parish. Educated at Kentucky Military Institute and Centenary College in Jackson, Louisiana, he had various jobs including a store clerk in Bayou Sara and an agent and cashier of the old West Feliciana Railroad Company before determining that the law was to be his vocation. Successfully passing the bar in 1857, Leake entered the offices of Brever & Collins in St. Francisville where he practiced law until joining the Confederate ranks in late summer of 1861. Meanwhile on December 10, 1857, he married Margaret Emmet Mumford (1837-1904), whose father was a prominent banker in Bayou Sara. The couple had eleven children during their forty-six-year marriage, two of whom were born before the war (Hunter – 1859 and Robinson M. in early 1861), another during the war (James – 1862).(5)

But pivotal to this story was Leake’s association before the war with Feliciana Lodge No. 31, F. & A.M., a Masonic Lodge located in St. Francisville. Seeking admission to the Fraternity during the summer of 1854, Leake was initiated an Entered Apprentice to the worldwide fraternity, whose belief in God and dedication to friendship, morality, and brotherly love transcended any political or national barriers.(6) His membership as a Freemason and the later recognition that Lt. Commander Hart was likewise a brother in the Fraternity played a direct part in the events that transpired on June 11-12, 1863. After the war broke out in April 1861, John Simms Scott (reared in East Feliciana Parish) found himself serving as a very able scout in Virginia for Confederate General John Magruder. His exceptional skill in providing reliable intelligence about the location and disposition of the enemy made him a valuable asset to Magruder and other Confederate commanders in the field. It did not take long to recognize that Scott would make an able cavalry officer. Promoted to colonel, Scott was ordered back to Louisiana during the summer in order to raise a regiment of cavalry. Scott, who at the outbreak of war resided in West Feliciana Parish but owned a plantation across the river in Point Coupee Parish, was well known and respected among the local populace. As such, he was able to recruit easily from within the central parishes of the state.(7)

When the 1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment was finally organized mid-September 1861 in Baton Rouge, Col. Scott had recruited the services of some nine hundred men from several parishes, including East and West Feliciana. The regiment proved to be one of the most financially endowed units recruited from Louisiana procuring some $500,000 in funds, mainly from an abundance of rich planters living in the region whose sons or relatives had eagerly joined the regiment. Leake joined the regiment on September 12, 1861, and was soon after elected captain of Company C by fellow West Feliciana volunteers who comprised the company’s rank and file.(8)

Following induction, the regiment’s companies were sent to various training facilities in Louisiana for drill and instruction before being re-mustered in Baton Rouge in late October 1861. Soon after, the regiment boarded several steamers bound for Memphis where they disembarked. After several days “in this delightful little city” recalled one soldier, the men boarded a train to Nashville. From there, the men had their horses shod and then rode to Bowling Green, Kentucky, reporting to General Albert S. Johnston whose army was in winter quarters there.(9)  

The 1st Louisiana Cavalry remained in Kentucky until February 1862 when a general evacuation of the state occurred. Union forces were on the move in eastern Tennessee threatening to flank the Confederates. Scott was ordered to take his regiment to Clarksville, Tennessee and later to Indian Mound, Tennessee located on the eastern bank of the Cumberland River nearly opposite the river from Confederate Fort Donelson. Scott’s mission was to prevent Union batteries from establishing a strategic position opposite the fort. By the first week of February, Union forces had captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and were poised to capture Fort Donelson. 

In spite of whatever support Scott offered the Confederacy, Fort Donelson fell on February 16. Soon after, Scott’s regiment was once again on the move, having been ordered to fall back to Nashville. When that city fell during the third week of February, Scott withdrew to Franklin, then Columbia, then Pulaski, Tennessee before crossing the Elk and Tennessee Rivers in northern Alabama relocating to Decatur on March 25. Scott’s only engagement during that time came after his withdrawal from Nashville when he skirmished with Union forces six miles south of Nashville, driving them from the field.(10)

By the first week of April, Scott and his regiment were in Corinth, Mississippi, and were ordered to Shiloh, Tennessee where they were attached to Col. Nathan B. Forrest’s Cavalry on the extreme right of the Confederate line. The ensuing battle fought on April 6-7 left Gen. A. S. Johnston dead, Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard in charge, and his Confederate army in retreat south. Beauregard regrouped his army in Corinth. Meanwhile, Scott was ordered to move his regiment back to northern Alabama battling Union forces near Athens. It was there that events turned negative for Capt. Leake and other officers who questioned Scott’s leadership in the field.(11)

On May 1, 1862, Scott attacked Col. Timothy Stanley’s 18th Ohio Regiment garrisoned at Athens. The ensuing battle caused the complete rout of the 18th Ohio who fled to within six miles of Huntsville. Scott had nothing but praise for Capt. Leake who preformed gallantly during the heated engagement. The defeat of the Union force netted Scott a considerable amount of commissary stores, camp equipage, arms, and ammunition that were left in Athens.

Not to be out done, the following day Col. Stanley sent a cavalry regiment back to Athens, but Scott had already evacuated the town, burned the Limestone Bridge between Decatur and Huntsville, and captured a Union provision train, destroying about twenty cars in the process, and killing or wounding thirty-four of the enemy. Meanwhile, Union forces in Athens, under command of Col. John Turchin and comprised of the 18th Ohio, 19th and 24th Illinois, and the 37th Indiana, retaliated against local residents who had supported Scott’s brief stay. The town was subsequently burned, property stolen, and at least twenty of the women were allegedly raped.(12)

Meanwhile, a Union cavalry regiment caught up with the 1st Louisiana as they were crossing the Elk River, half the men not yet across to the west bank. In spite of being low on ammunition and their horses “very much jaded”, Scott’s troopers skillfully kept the Union cavalry at bay, repulsing two of their charges before the Federals backed off, and the men were able to cross unimpeded. Crossing the Tennessee River by means of a ferry, Scott finally rested his men at Courtland, Alabama, but not before stirring up a sea of controversy. By then, most of his company commanders, including Leake, had had their fill of Scott’s leadership.(13)

Citing Col. Scott’s incompetence and reckless endangerment of his men during the Elk River crossing and other events surrounding the Tennessee River crossing and subsequent loss of the ferry to Union forces, nine of the company commanders left their post in Courtland, traveled to Gen. Beauregard’s headquarters in Corinth, and tendered their resignations on May 22. Beauregard’s reaction was swift. On May 24 Beauregard ordered the arrest and confinement of eight of the nine captains, including Leake, for “having abandoned their commands in the face of the enemy.” The men were sent under guard to Brig. Gen. John H. Forney, commander at Mobile, Alabama, to be confined at Fort Morgan.(14)

The men arrested apparently were never confined in Fort Morgan, but rather stayed in the general vicinity of Mobile under house arrest. Gen. Forney refused to imprison them until he received official charges from Beauregard’s headquarters, which never came. By then, Beauregard was in the midst of evacuating his army from Corinth and retreating south to Tupelo. The general due to poor health was eventually relieved of command, but Beauregard’s relationship with President Davis had soured long before that. With Beauregard no longer in command, Secretary of War G. W. Randolph released Leake and the other officers and ordered them to report back to Col. Scott. This was done, but Leake wrote Randolph on October 12, 1862, that he was tendering his resignation immediately as captain of Company C. He indicated in his resignation letter that he wanted to return home to form an a