unrepentant

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in December 1864:

A DESERTER named “French Bill” was hung at Harper’s Ferry a short time ago. The gallows was one of the old fashioned kind, with trap-door, &c. Three thousand soldiers witnessed the sight. The culprit made a speech, in which he said he would pursue the same course under the same circumstances, if he could escape; although “life was sweet to all,” he was not afraid to die; that he was twenty years of age, and his face was the same then as fifteen years since; he died “a Southorn [sic] soldier, a brave man and a christian.” His hands and feet were then bound, the noose adjusted, and the cap placed over his head. A gauntlet was dropped to the ground as a signal, and the Assistant Provost Marshal immediately severed the rope sustaining the trap, when “Bill” fell some four feet, breaking the rope in his descent, falling to the ground. The Provost Marshal immediately ordered four men to carry him to the platform; the rope was knotted, and he was again hung, the whole operation from the time of the breaking of the rope to the final hanging of the culprit not occupying over a minute and a half.

I’m a couple weeks late with this story. The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (at West Virginia Archives) reported the story on December 8th. How could a Southern man desert from a union regiment? He did not exactly desert to help his wife and kids harvest their crops. According to Google Books^[1] he was a recent immigrant from France who joined a New York regiment after the war started. He deserted to Mobly’s [Mobley’s] band and “became a terror to the people of Loudoun [County].” Earlier this month the National Park Service commemorated William Loge’s December 2, 1864 hanging – exactly two years after John Brown was hung following his raid on Harper’s Ferry. A couple of John Brown’s accomplices were hung a couple weeks later:

“The Execution of Cook and Coppock … [Charlestown, W. Va., Dec. 17, 1859; panoramic view of soldiers surrounding gallows from which 2 of the Harper’s Ferry Raiders are hanging]” (Library of Congress)

1. ^[1]Barry, Joseph The Annals of Harper’s Ferry: With Sketches of Its Founder, and Many Prominent Characers Connected with Its History, Anecdotes, &c. Harper’s Ferry: “Berkeley Union”, 1872. Print. page 86.↩