William Leach / Elvira Helm Tama Iowa - Wilson Kansas
January 1864 marked the start the final full year of the American Civil War. The War had already raged for almost three years and the outcome of the fighting was still very much in doubt. President Lincoln faced a steep uphill battle of his own for re-election.
The staggering cost in lives, the immense cost in property, and no satisfying end in sight had left many Americans grief-stricken, weary of the fighting, and doubtful of Lincoln's policy goal to maintain the Union at any cost. They were losing faith in the administration and in their generals.
In Tama County, Iowa, an English-born immigrant named
WILLIAM LEACH still believed in the Cause. He had seen
for himself the injustice, the rigid class restrictions, and extremely limited opportunities offered by society in an aristocracic Europe. He knew, perhaps better than his American-born neighbors, what the unraveling of the great American experiment in democracy might mean for himself, the people of America, and for the entire world.
Leach was no one special, just an ordinary working man, a farmer, and a married man with a stepson and two young sons of his own. But he knew what needed to be done and so he stepped forward to put his own life on the line in
order to help do his small part to get that noble goal achieved. He enlisted as a private into Company G of the 14th Iowa Infantry.
Little is known of William Leach. Company records state that he was born in Marlborough, England. His age at enlistment in some records is given as 34, in others as
44. Based on the 1860 census, the 44 is probably closest
to the truth. He was a foriegner, a new recruit of middle age, training and marching into battle beside American young men barely out of their teens.
Within two months of his enlistment Leach was on a long
hard march through the hot wet climate of Louisiana. He
participated in the Red River campaign, the taking of Fort deRussy, and several minor skirmishes which culminated in the intense battle at Pleasant Hill. There, after holding their ground for several hours, suffering many casualties in deaths, severe wounds and men taken prisoner by the enemy, the brave men of the 14th Iowa played a crucial role in securing the costly victory.
Later Leach and his Company marched on campaigns, and fought several smaller battles, through Mississippi and Missouri.
In November 1864 the three-year men of the 14th Iowa were mustered out at the end of their term of duty. Leach and the other new recruits left over in Company G were then re-organized into Company A of the 14th Iowa Residuary Battalion.
Early in 1865, after a year of combat, Leach and the 14th Iowa were stationed at Camp Butler outside Springfield, Illinois. The War was finally coming to a climax around Richmond and heading toward the surrender at Appomattax.
Following the fall of Atlanta, Lincoln had been re-elected and the feeling throughout the North was one of relief and joyous hope, the long terrible ordeal was finally nearing an end. Then in April, a week after Lee's surrender. came the shocking, incredible news of Lincoln's assassination.
The 14th Iowa was in the right place and in the right time to become a part of Lincoln's funeral and burial in Springfield. They helped escort the President's body from the train station to the rotunda of the Illinois statehouse where it lie in state and where some of the Iowa combat veterans were chosen as special honor guards at the bier. The 14th Iowa helped in the ceremonies at the funeral and in the procession to the cemetery. After Lincoln's entombment some stood guard at the crypt.
William Leach's exact role is not known but he most likely was a particpant in, and witness to, one of the saddest events in our nation's history.
After the War Leach left Iowa and moved to Wilson County Kansas, near Fredonia. The fate of his wife, ELVIRA HELM, is not known, but the 1880 census shows Leach's two sons, William Jr and Charles, now young men, living in Verdigris township with his step-son, their step-brother, Harvey Adams.
Two years earlier, in September 1878, William Leach died near Middletown, attended by Dr. Benjamin Cope of Verdigris township. Dr. Cope attributed the cause of
death, at least in part, to a fever from an infection of an old gunshot wound Leach received during the War. William Leach was laid to rest in Little Sandy Cemetery. His headstone said he was 61 years of age.
William Leach's sons remained in the Fredonia area, married and started families, but William Jr. died in 1896 and was buried beside his father. Charles was still in Fredonia in 1920 but at present little is known of Charles's final years.
Recently, interested Wilson County historians and concerned area genealogists discovered that William Leach's weathered headstone in Little Sandy was broken, all but unreadable, and lying in pieces on the ground.
With the generous help of a local funeral home and cemetery caretakers, they arranged for a new military style headstone to be placed over his grave to mark
William Leach as a Civil War veteran and to make sure he is remembered and honored for his sacrifices and courageous service to his adopted country.
Here is William Leach's entry in the published roster of the 14th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Company G:
Leach, William. Age 34. Residence Buckingham, Tama County, nativity England. Enlisted January 4, 1864. Mustered January 23, 1864. -- Consolidated into Company A, Residuary Battalion Fourteenth Infantry. Mustered out August 8, 1865, Davenport Iowa.
Although Leach is specifically mentioned only in footnotes, a new book of first-hand narratives about the 14th Iowa Infantry has been recently published by the Traer, Iowa museum. The book, SOLDIER LIFE - MANY MUST FALL, contains a complete wartime diary and a full volume of letters written by some of Leach's fellow soldiers, three-year men from Tama County who served with Leach in Company G. Anyone interested in learning more details of Leach's day to day wartime experience, or in good first-person accounts from frontline soldiers of the Civil War, may enjoy this book which can be seen at the museum website, www.traermuseum.com .