was a British mercenary, of the Cornish family, who claimed to have fought in Algeria, in Morocco against the Barbary pirates, under Garibaldi in South America, in the Crimean War, and in the Sepoy Mutiny.
Immigrating to the United States, he fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and was a leader of a notorious plot to seize control of parts of the Northern U.S. Grenfell was born in London, England.
He resigned from the Confederate Army in 1864 to join a plot to take over the governments of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois and establish a Northwestern Confederacy.
The great majority of the 527 prisoners at Fort Jefferson when Grenfell arrived were Union Army privates whose most common transgression was desertion.
Fearing a larger escape attempt of the state prisoners, the five men were confined together for the next three months in a ground level cell known as the "dungeon."
Bruce, of these facts.In an April 16, 1867, letter to Tom Dyer, his wife's brother in New Orleans, Dr. Mudd again wrote of Grenfell: Colonel St.
They could not conquer him, and he is doing now that which he never objected doing.In a 1926 Saturday Evening Post article, author George Allan England provided a description of Colonel Grenfell, as told to him by a former Fort Jefferson lighthouse keeper: All sorts and conditions were herded into the prison of Dry Tortugas.
He had a tremendous black beard, too, an' wore a red flannel shirt open at the neck, an' his pant legs tucked in high boots.
The surveying steamer Bibb which was lying in the harbor was dispatched in pursuit of them about 8 o'clock the same morning but after cruising the whole day failed either to overhaul or hear anything concerning them.Most assumed that Grenfell and the others perished at sea, but there were persistent rumors he had survived.
St. Leger Grenfell – The public was greatly gratified not long since to learn that this gallant English soldier had escaped his prison at the Dry Tortugas, and in his love of liberty at the risk of life, he had trusted himself to the mercies of a frail boat in an attempt to cross the Florida Straits to Cuba.
We do not doubt that every gentleman officer belonging to the garrison of his prison guard rejoices at his escape.Most historians believe that notices such as this about Grenfell were fabrications.