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Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk (April 10, 1806 – June 14, 1864) was an American Confederate military officer, a bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and founder of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America, which separated from the Episcopal Church of the United States of America.
Leonidas Polk (born April 10, 1806, Raleigh, N.C., U.S.—died June 14, 1864, Pine Mountain, Ga.) was a U.S. bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, founder of the University of the South, and lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the U.S. Civil War.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Leonidas Polk. Date of Birth - Death April 10, 1806 - June 14, 1864. Born April 10, 1806 near Raleigh, North Carolina, Leonidas Polk led a long and colorful life that was cut short by a cannonball in 1864. He was raised by extremely wealthy parents.
Leonidas Lafayette Polk (April 24, 1837 – June 11, 1892), or L.L. Polk, was an American farmer, journalist and political figure. He was a leader of the Farmers' Alliance and helped found the Populist Party .
- Early Life
- U.S. Military Academy Cadet
- Clergyman
- Marriage
- Southern Planter
- Episcopal Bishop
- Civil War
Leonidas Polk was born in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 10, 1806. He was the second son and third of eleven children born to William and Sarah (Hawkins) Polk. Polk’s father was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, who acquired a great deal of land working as a surveyor. A prominent planter, the elder Polk was also a member of the North Carolina G...
Young Polk grew up on his family’s plantation, studied at the Raleigh Academy, and briefly attended the University of North Carolina, before receiving an appointment to the United States Military Academy. He entered the Academy on July 1, 1823 and graduated on July 1, 1827, ranking eighth in his class of thirty-eight cadets. During his four years a...
During his senior year at West Point, Polk joined the Episcopal Church. Chaplain Charles P. McIlvaine baptized Polk in the academy’s chapel. Polk’s religious fervor prompted him to forsake his military future for a career in the clergy. Upon graduating from the Academy, Polk received a brevet promotion to second lieutenant of artillery on July 1, 1...
Polk pursued his religious studies for three years, and on Good Friday, April 9, 1830, Bishop Richard Channing Moore ordained him as a deacon in the Episcopal Church. One month later, on May 6, 1830, Polk married Frances Ann Deveraux. A childhood friend of Polk’s, Deveraux was the daughter of a prominent North Carolina planter and slaveholder. Thei...
Following their wedding, Polk and his bride settled in Richmond, where he began his duties as an assistant to Bishop Moore at the Monumental Church. In 1831, Polk took an extended visit to Europe without his wife or first-born child. Upon his return, Polk briefly lived in North Carolina. In 1833, Polk moved his family, along with many slaves, to Ma...
While engaged as a planter in Tennessee, Polk continued his clerical duties, serving as the priest of St. Peter’s Church in Columbia. In 1838, the Episcopal Church selected Polk to serve as the missionary bishop of the southwest, a vast area encompassing Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, the Republic of Texas, and part of the Indian Territ...
Confederate Officer
When the Civil War began, Polk cast his lot with the South. The bishop contacted Jefferson Davis, his old friend from West Point, and offered his service to the Confederacy. Even though Polk had never served in the military or commanded a soldier in combat, Davis offered him a commission as a major general in the Provisional Confederate Army, effective June 25, 1861. Davis placed Polk in charge of Department No. 2, which encompassed the area along the Mississippi River from the Red River in L...
Invading Kentucky
Within four months of receiving his commission, Polk committed one of the bigger blunders of the Civil War. One day after President Abraham Lincoln issued his call for volunteers on April 14, 1861, Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin tersely responded that his state would provide no troops. On May 24, the Kentucky legislature passed a resolution officially declaring the state’s neutrality. Throughout the summer, the North and South courted support from the vital border state. On September 4, 18...
Clashes with President Davis and Albert Johnston
Six days after Polk’s impolitic invasion of Kentucky, President Davis reorganized the Confederate defenses in the West. Davis placed Albert Sidney Johnston (Polk’s former roommate at West Point) in charge of the Western Military Department, which encompassed most of the Confederacy west of the Appalachian Mountains. On September 21, 1861, officials assigned Polk to command the 1st Division of the Western Department. Put off by the reorganization, Polk tendered a letter of resignation to Presi...
- Harry Searles
Jan 12, 2024 · Key facts about Confederate Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk, an ordained Episcopal bishop who was killed by a Union artillery shell at Pine Mountain, near Marietta, Georgia, on June 14, 1864.
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Jun 12, 2006 · The 3-inch solid shot that killed Episcopal Bishop and Confederate Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk on the morning of June 14, 1864, nearly tore him in half.
