Soldier of Fortune. Claimed to have fought in Algeria, Morocco, South America, the Crimean War, the Sepoy Mutiny as well as the War Between the States in the United States. He grew up in the town of Penzance. Early in his life, he was sent to Holland and France where he trained in the family's business of banking and metal dealing. He immigrated to Paris in 1830 and joined the Royal Guard. As part of the Royal Guard, he took part in the fighting that led to the downfall of the Bourbon monarchy. Due to financial irregularities that led to his father's ruin, Grenfell left France in 1837. He next took part in the Crimean war where he was a Captain under the command of fellow Cornishman Major-General Hussey Vivian. After the war, he went to live in South America, involving himself in several revolutions. When he heard of the outbreak of the American Civil War, he thought this was the opportunity that he had been waiting for. He immigrated to the United States in 1862, and joined the Confederate side of the War. An introduction to General Robert E Lee led to a meeting with Colonel John Hunt Morgan who made him his adjutant-general. Grenfell was said to be as hard as steel and tough as leather and an excellent horseman during his time under Col. Morgan. After working with Morgan in many battles with the Union Army throughout Kentucky, he chose to leave in 1863. He joined Braxton Bragg's Army in Tennessee and subsequently moved on to Virginia serving with General J.E.B. Stuart. He resigned from the Confederate Army in 1864. Since he was not an American citizen, he was able to travel to the North and was allowed to live freely. He became involved with the Northwestern Conspiracy, a plot to take over the governments of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinos to establish a Northwest Confederacy. When their plot was discovered, he along with one hundred and fifty co-conspirators were arrested. His court-martial took place in 1865 and created a great deal of publicity, reaching London where it was reported daily in the London Times. He was found guilty and sentenced to hang. After numerous demands from the British Parliament, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment at the isolated Fort Jefferson military prison located about 70 miles west of Key West, Florida, in the Dry Tortugas island of the Gulf of Mexico by President Andrew Johnson. When a epidemic of yellow fever broke out he and a fellow prisoner, Dr. Samuel Mudd, worked endlessly to ease the suffering of others in the camp. The grateful camp commander wrote to President Johnson asking for Grenfell's release. President Johnson was adamant and his appeal was denied. No longer in chains and able to cultivate a garden outside, he decided to make a break for freedom. During a storm on the night of 7th March 1868 he and two companions escaped from the prison to the shore where they joined two desperadoes, one chained to a 30lb weight. They rowed out into the storm and were never seen again.