William Walter Leake
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St. Francisville, Louisiana
William Walter Leake | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 22, 1833 |
| Died | January 20, 1912 (aged 78) |
| Resting place | Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery[1] St. Francisville, Louisiana |
| Occupation | attorney |
| Known for | Confederate Army officer |
| Spouse | Margaret Mumford |
| Children | 11 |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  Confederate States |
| Branch |  Confederate States Army |
| Rank |  Captain |
| Unit |  1st Louisiana Cavalry[2] |
| Conflicts | American Civil War |
William Walter Leake (April 22, 1833 – January 20, 1912)[3] was an officer in the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War. He was also an attorney, a member of the Louisiana State Senate, a circuit court judge, a bank president, and a newspaper publisher. He is best known for his role in burying a Union Navy officer in Louisiana, an event now commemorated as "The Day the War Stopped".[4]
Leake was born April 22, 1833, in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. He attended Kentucky Military Institute and Centenary College of Louisiana. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1857. He went into practice in St. Francisville, Louisiana. He became a Freemason in 1854, joining Feliciana Lodge No. 31.[5]
Civil War
When war broke out in April 1861 Leake volunteered and was commissioned a captain. In September 1861 he was named captain of Company C of the First Louisiana Cavalry Regiment under Col. John Simms Scott. The regiment took part in various engagements, including the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, where they were part of the cavalry forces under General Nathan Bedford Forrest. After a poorly managed river crossing and other incidents, the regiment's officers questioned Scott's leadership, accusing him of incompetence and reckless endangerment of his men. In May 1862 nine company commanders went to General P. G. T. Beauregard's headquarters and resigned their commissions. Beauregard refused to accept their resignations and had them arrested for "abandoning their commands in the face of the enemy". They were later ordered to report back to the First Louisiana Cavalry. In October 1862 Leake again resigned his commission and returned home to St. Francisville, where he was commissioned a captain in the Third Battalion, State Guard, Louisiana Cavalry. He subsequently raised another company of cavalry that served as part of Cochrane's Brigade in the Army of Tennessee until the end of the war.[4]
Post-war career
Following the war Leake returned to his law practice in St. Francisville. He served in the Louisiana State Senate from 1880 to 1882, and was a member of the Louisiana Constitutional Convention in 1882. From 1896 to 1904 he served as a circuit court judge. From 1906 until his death in 1912 he served as president of the People's Bank in St. Francisville.[6] Leake and his wife May founded the local newspaper, the True Democrat (now the St. Francisville Democrat), in 1892.[7]