The 'other' Leonidas Polk

[Bruce Vail]

I came across a reference to Lt. Leonidas Polk in my random Civil War readings and I immediately thought the book must be in error because every Civil War buff knows that Polk was a semi-famous General who achieved some notoriety as the Confederacy's 'Fighting Bishop,' so named because Polk had been a prominent clergyman before the war.

Turns out that there was another man also named Leonidas Polk who was a Confederate officer. Leonidas L. Polk (1837-1892) served as a junior officer in the Confederate army but gained greater fame as a politician and early leader of the post-war Populist Party, a third-party movement that attracted considerable support from small farmers nationwide who felt hard-pressed by the difficult economic conditions of the 1880s and 1890s.

The North Carolina History Project has a good short biography on line at https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/leonidas-l-polk-1837-1892/ and there is a similar Wikipedia entry for him.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

View attachment 545148

I came across a reference to Lt. Leonidas Polk in my random Civil War readings and I immediately thought the book must be in error because every Civil War buff knows that Polk was a semi-famous General who achieved some notoriety as the Confederacy's 'Fighting Bishop,' so named because Polk had been a prominent clergyman before the war.

Turns out that there was another man also named Leonidas Polk who was a Confederate officer from Anson County, North Carolina. Leonidas L. Polk (1837-1892) served in the Confederate army but gained greater fame as a politician and early leader of the post-war Populist Party, a third-party movement that attracted considerable support from small farmers nationwide who felt hard-pressed by the difficult economic conditions of the 1880s and 1890s.

The North Carolina History Project ha a very good short biography on line at https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/leonidas-l-polk-1837-1892/ and there is a similar Wikipedia entry for him.

Leonidas L. Polk was probably a better officer than General Leonidas Polk.

 

[uaskme]

L. L. Polk was a 2nd Lieutenant. The Bishop was a Lt General. Doubt they were confused.

 

[TallTallMan]

Huh--a Confederate who was into taxes and workers' rights, plus a prewar Whig. Don't tell the Abbeville Institute!

Populist Party (United States) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[rpkennedy]

Huh--a Confederate who was into taxes and workers' rights, plus a prewar Whig. Don't tell the Abbeville Institute!

View attachment 545169

Populist Party (United States) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There were a few of them around. Brigadier General Ambrose Wright was a longtime Whig who only became a Democrat when the Whig party folded. In the 1860 election, he was a strong supporter of John Bell and the Constitutional Union ticket. It wasn't until Georgia seceded that he got on board that particular train.

Ryan

 

[Wizard of Cozz]

Leonidas L. Polk was probably a better officer than General Leonidas Polk.

Can't be worse.

 

[Bruce Vail]

NCPedia also has a nice entry on the other Leonidas Polk. Here is an excerpt:

As an ardent Union Whig he was elected to the state House of Commons in 1860. After President Abraham Lincoln's call for troops against the South the following spring, Polk declared himself "for resistance to the bitter end." He led a joint house-senate committee in the creation of a state militia; commissioned a colonel, he performed the delicate task of applying compulsory service legislation in his home county. In May 1862 he transferred to the Twenty-sixth North Carolina Regiment (as a private, then sergeant-major) commanded by Colonel Zebulon B. Vance. After Vance's election as governor, however, Polk joined the Forty-third Regiment (as a second lieutenant), in which he served until returned to the legislature in 1864. After the war he also won election to the constitutional convention that restored North Carolina to the Union.

See the full entry at https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/polk-leonidas-lafayette

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Can't be worse.

Haha! You are right, Wizard, although General Leonidas Polk had a boss (Bragg) who was probably worse.