Leroy Pope Walker

Leroy Pope Walker

LeRoy Pope Walker (* 7. February 1817 in Huntsville , Alabama ; † 23. August 1884 ibid) was a lawyer, US politicians, CSA - Minister of War and General of the Confederate .

Origin and career

Walker was the son of John Williams and Matilda (Pope) Walker and was thereby a member of a well-known patrician family in Alabama. He attended the University of Alabama and the University of Virginia and was admitted to the bar in Alabama after successfully completing the latter in 1837 . Walker was married twice. His first marriage to Miss Hopkins, in 1843, he had two sons. After her death, in July 1850, he married Eliza Dickson Pickett. From this relationship three more children were born. He was considered an outstanding lawyer and an advocate for the interests of the south .

Political career

From 1843 to 1844 he represented Lawrence County and from 1847 to 1851 and 1853 Lauderdale County in the Alabama House of Representatives . In 1849 he was elected President of Parliament. In 1850, Walker was appointed Justice of the Fourth Court of Alabama, and in 1855 he moved to Huntsville to continue his legal practice. As a lifelong convinced Democrat , he was a delegate at the electoral congresses of this party in 1860 in Charleston , South Carolina , where he was also head of delegation, and in Richmond , Virginia .

Secession period

In 1861, Walker served as the Confederate Commissioner to promote Tennessee state secession . From February 24, 1861 to September 16, 1861 he was Secretary of War in the cabinet of CSA President Jefferson Davis . His appointment was presumably a political decision due to the confusion and lack of organization and coordination in the Confederate army . She was also not adjusted for war as the army of the northern states . After his appointment as minister, he met the most urgent needs of the army and ordered the acquisition of transactions from abroad. Walker equipped the first combat units, but had no influence on the military strategy . The Congress turned against him because of the course of the war and asked him to resign. He complied with the request on September 16, 1861. After serving as Secretary of War, he served as brigadier general in the Alabama and West Florida districts until 1862 when he was appointed judge in the military tribunal . He held this office until the end of the war.

Post war

After the war was over, Walker returned to practice in Huntsville. In 1875 he chaired the Alabama Constituent Assembly. He died in Huntsville and was buried there in Maple Hill Cemetery.

family

Leroy Pope Walker's grandfather was LeRoy Pope , founder of Huntsville. His father, John Williams Walker, was a US Senator from Alabama. Leroy also had two brothers, Percy Walker and Richard Wilde Walker . His brother Percy represented the state of Alabama in the US House of Representatives, with his brother Richard Wilde being a delegate in the Provisional Confederate Congress and Senator of the Confederate States. In addition, his nephew Richard Wilde Walker, Jr. was a judge at the Alabama Supreme Court and later at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit .

literature

• Jon L. Wakelyn: Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge ISBN 0-8071-0092-7

Web links

• LeRoy Pope Walker in the database of Find a Grave (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
No predecessor	Minister of War the Confederate February 25, 1861 - September 16, 1861	Judah Philip Benjamin