1st Lieutenant Albert Newton Leatherwood
Dublin Core
Title
1st Lieutenant Albert Newton Leatherwood
Subject
Company E, 39th Regiment N.C. Troops
Description
Albert Newton Leatherwood lived with his parents, prosperous farmers, in the Shooting Creek District of Clay County. On November 1, 1861, he enlisted in a new company organized at Hayesville and was elected second lieutenant on November 6. The company traveled to Camp Patton, Asheville, and was attached to Major David Coleman’s Battalion N.C. Troops as Company E. In May 1862, with the addition of several companies, Coleman’s Battalion was designated the 39th Regiment N.C. Troops.
Leatherwood was absent on detached service much of the time from November-December 1862 through October 1863. However, he was present with the regiment at the Battle of Murfreesboro, December 31, 1862-January 1, 1863, where he was severely wounded in the shoulder. He was promoted to first lieutenant on February 23, 1863.
The nature of Leatherwood’s detached service is not specified in Company E’s muster rolls, but a document from April 1863 states that he was absent to “arrest deserters,” and another from October 1863 has him absent on recruiting duty. One can surmise that Leatherwood’s detached duty was in southwestern North Carolina, and he in fact was captured in Cherokee County on February 18, 1864.
Leatherwood was sent to the Federal prison at Camp Chase, Ohio, arriving on March 2. On March 27 he was transferred to Fort Delaware, Delaware.
Union forces in Charleston Harbor regularly shelled the City of Charleston, causing casualties and damage to civilian homes. In June 1864 the Confederate Army placed fifty Union officers in the city to serve as human shields to prevent the shelling. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton ordered fifty Confederate officers to Union-held Morris Island, where they would be subject to Confederate fire. An exchange of the officers was negotiated on August 4, 1864. However, Confederate authorities brought another 600 officers to Charleston. An exchange of these men was offered, but refused by General U.S. Grant. Instead, 600 Confederate officers were gathered and sent to South Carolina, where they were arrived on Morris Island in the first week of September. These men became known as the “Immortal 600.” One of them was Albert N. Leatherwood, who arrived at Hilton Head, South Carolina on August 20.
The Confederates remained exposed to friendly fire for more than a month. However, in early October a yellow fever epidemic compelled the Confederate authorities to remove the Union officers from Charleston, and on October 20-23, the Confederate prisoners were moved from Morris Island to Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, Georgia.
While at Fort Pulaski the “Immortal 600” became victims of another dispute. In reprisal against the poor conditions that prevailed at the Confederate prisons at Andersonville, Georgia, and Salisbury, North Carolina, for forty-two days the Confederate officers received a daily “retaliation ration” of half a pint of onion pickles and ten ounces of moldy corn meal. Dysentery and scurvy were prevalent among the men and eighteen died of disease.
On March 12, 1865, the survivors of the “Immortal 600” were returned to Fort Delaware, where, on June 16, Albert N. Leatherwood was released after taking the Oath of Allegiance.
Albert N. Leatherwood is buried at Peachtree Baptist Church, Murphy, Cherokee County.
Leatherwood was absent on detached service much of the time from November-December 1862 through October 1863. However, he was present with the regiment at the Battle of Murfreesboro, December 31, 1862-January 1, 1863, where he was severely wounded in the shoulder. He was promoted to first lieutenant on February 23, 1863.
The nature of Leatherwood’s detached service is not specified in Company E’s muster rolls, but a document from April 1863 states that he was absent to “arrest deserters,” and another from October 1863 has him absent on recruiting duty. One can surmise that Leatherwood’s detached duty was in southwestern North Carolina, and he in fact was captured in Cherokee County on February 18, 1864.
Leatherwood was sent to the Federal prison at Camp Chase, Ohio, arriving on March 2. On March 27 he was transferred to Fort Delaware, Delaware.
Union forces in Charleston Harbor regularly shelled the City of Charleston, causing casualties and damage to civilian homes. In June 1864 the Confederate Army placed fifty Union officers in the city to serve as human shields to prevent the shelling. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton ordered fifty Confederate officers to Union-held Morris Island, where they would be subject to Confederate fire. An exchange of the officers was negotiated on August 4, 1864. However, Confederate authorities brought another 600 officers to Charleston. An exchange of these men was offered, but refused by General U.S. Grant. Instead, 600 Confederate officers were gathered and sent to South Carolina, where they were arrived on Morris Island in the first week of September. These men became known as the “Immortal 600.” One of them was Albert N. Leatherwood, who arrived at Hilton Head, South Carolina on August 20.
The Confederates remained exposed to friendly fire for more than a month. However, in early October a yellow fever epidemic compelled the Confederate authorities to remove the Union officers from Charleston, and on October 20-23, the Confederate prisoners were moved from Morris Island to Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, Georgia.
While at Fort Pulaski the “Immortal 600” became victims of another dispute. In reprisal against the poor conditions that prevailed at the Confederate prisons at Andersonville, Georgia, and Salisbury, North Carolina, for forty-two days the Confederate officers received a daily “retaliation ration” of half a pint of onion pickles and ten ounces of moldy corn meal. Dysentery and scurvy were prevalent among the men and eighteen died of disease.
On March 12, 1865, the survivors of the “Immortal 600” were returned to Fort Delaware, where, on June 16, Albert N. Leatherwood was released after taking the Oath of Allegiance.
Albert N. Leatherwood is buried at Peachtree Baptist Church, Murphy, Cherokee County.
Creator
Unknown Photographer
Source
1860 U. S. Census, Shooting Creek District, Clay County, North Carolina, population schedule, page 175, dwelling 1152, family 1152, William Duckworth household [Clay County was created from Cherokee and Macon counties in February 1861]; ; Manarin et. al., North Carolina Troops 10:149-150; service record files of Albert N. Leatherwood, 39th Regiment N.C. Troops, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers from the State of North Carolina (M270), RG109, NA; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortal_Six_Hundred...; http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr...
Contributor
Gerald R. Duckworth, descendant.
Files
Citation
Unknown Photographer, “1st Lieutenant Albert Newton Leatherwood,” Tar Heel Faces, accessed May 17, 2024, https://tarheelfaces.omeka.net/items/show/90.
Comments
Brian Duckworth
Gerald "Ray" Duckworth passed away on December 31, 2021. He was a family historian of sorts and he took me to see Albert and his brother's grave up at Peach Tree. He is surely missed.