James Madison Leach

James Madison Leach

James Madison Leach (born January 17, 1815 in Randolph County , North Carolina , †  June 1, 1891 in Lexington , North Carolina) was an American politician . Between 1859 and 1861 and again from 1871 to 1875 he represented the state of North Carolina in the US House of Representatives .

Career

James Leach attended the public schools of his home country and then the Caldwell Institute in Greensboro . He then graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point until 1838 . After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1842, he began to work in Lexington in this profession. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the American Party . Between 1848 and 1858 Leach was a member of the House of Representatives from North Carolina .

In the congressional elections of 1858 he was then elected as a candidate for the opposition party in the sixth constituency of North Carolina in the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he succeeded Alfred Moore Scales on March 4, 1859 . Until March 3, 1861 he was able to complete a legislative period in Congress . After North Carolina left the Union, this state was no longer represented in Congress until its resumption in 1868. During the Civil War , Leach served as an officer in the Confederation Army . There he made it to the lieutenant colonel. He was also a member of the Confederate Congress in 1864 and 1865 .

Leach served in the North Carolina Senate in 1865, 1866, and 1879 . In the meantime he had joined the Democratic Party . In the elections of 1870 he was re-elected to the US Congress in the fifth district of his state, where he succeeded Israel G. Lash on March 4, 1871 . After being re-elected, he could spend two more legislative terms in the House of Representatives until March 3, 1875. In 1874 he renounced another candidacy.

James Leach did not hold any other political office after leaving Congress. He died in Lexington on June 1, 1891.

Web links

• James Madison Leach in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• James Madison Leach in the database of Find a Grave (English)