Leopold Karpeles (9 September 1838 – 2 February 1909) was a flagbearer in the Union Army who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the American Civil War.

Born in Prague, he immigrated to Texas early in life and made a living protecting convoys on the American frontier.

Leopold Karpeles was born in Prague to a prominent and wealthy Jewish family, spending much of his early life around farms and ranches near the city.

[2] Studies early in his life left Karpeles fluent in English, French, German, Greek and Czech, and in Texas he also became proficient using the knife, lasso, rifle, pistol and saber as weapons.

Accounts from his family claim he participated in a number of skirmishes, but documentation of his activities during this time have not been found in state or national archives.

[4] During this time he is believed to have been involved in the Underground Railroad, helping escaped slaves find refuge with both Mexican and Seminole sympathizers.

Of the experience, Karpeles later wrote it was "inspiring" to be a flag bearer but also found that, "A soldier's life is a balancing act of striving to exercise control over one's mind and body despite unhealthful, wretched living conditions.

"[7] Karpeles then decided to rejoin the army in late 1863, answering a call from Colonel William Francis Bartlett who had mustered 1,038 men to form the 46th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a unit consisting of veterans who had served at least nine months, as part of 1st Brigade, 1st Division of IX Corps.

Advancing through difficult terrain and low visibility owing to musket smoke, Karpeles was assigned to Company H in the regiment's leading element.

Once it made contact with the Confederate Army, the 57th was heavily engaged in brutal fighting; nearly half of the 548 men who entered the battle became casualties.

"We succeeded in forming these men into a fighting line and ordered them to advance on the approaching rebels, and by a rapid discharge of firearms managed to check the enemy.

[12][13] Anderson and Bartlett filed reports on the action with the Adjutant General's office on 18 April 1870, with the award granted 11 days later.

Amid an ill-conceived attack ordered by an intoxicated Ledlie against strong Confederate positions, the 57th advanced across open ground and was nearly annihilated in the process.

Initially thought to require an amputation, it was saved as part of the efforts of a 16-year-old volunteer, Sara Mundheim, who convinced doctors to allow her family to care for Karpeles in their home.

[17] The family set up a hat shop catering to the wealthy in Washington, D.C., and Karpeles took to overseeing sales and bookkeeping while his wife handled manufacturing.

In 1875 he was hired as a clerk in the United States Department of the Treasury in a job that paid $900 (~$24,971 in 2023) a year, but was known to spend much of it both on parties for people he cared about and for loans to friends in need.

With the 1898 outbreak of the Spanish–American War, Karpeles expressed a desire to return to the military, but age and a limp developed as a result of his wartime injury made this impossible.

[18] Karpeles died in 1909 and was buried in the cemetery of the Washington Hebrew Congregation, with a gravestone that includes the Medal of Honor emblem.