William Walter Leake (April 22, 1833 – January 20, 1912) was an officer in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. He was also an attorney, a member of the

Louisiana State Senate The Louisiana State Senate (french: Sénat de Louisiane) is the upper house of the state legislature of Louisiana. All senators serve four-year terms and are assigned to multiple committees. Composition The Louisiana State Senate is compose ...

, a circuit court judge, a bank president, and a newspaper publisher. He is best known for his role in burying a

Union Navy ), (official) , colors = Blue and gold , colors_label = Colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label ...

officer in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, an event now commemorated as "The Day the War Stopped".

Early life and education

Leake was born April 22, 1833 in

West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana West Feliciana Parish (French: ''Paroisse de Feliciana Ouest''; Spanish: ''Parroquia de West Feliciana'') is a civil parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 15,625, and 15,310 at the 2020 census. ...

. He attended

Kentucky Military Institute The Kentucky Military Institute (KMI) was a military preparatory school in Lyndon, Kentucky, and Venice, Florida, in operation from 1845 to 1971. Founding One of the oldest traditional military prep schools in the United States, KMI was maintain ...

and

Centenary College of Louisiana Centenary College of Louisiana is a private liberal arts college in Shreveport, Louisiana. The college is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Founded in 1825, it is the oldest chartered liberal arts college west of the Mississippi Rive ...

. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1857. He went into practice in

St. Francisville, Louisiana St. Francisville is a town in and the parish seat of, West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,765 at the 2010 U.S. census, and 1,589 at the 2020 population estimates program. It is part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan ...

. He became a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

in 1854, joining Feliciana Lodge No. 31.''William Walter Leake'', by Robert Leake, 2008

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 The Battle of Shiloh (also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in the American Civil War. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield i ...

in April 1862, where they were part of the cavalry forces under General

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...

. 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 Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (May 28, 1818 - February 20, 1893) was a Confederate general officer of Louisiana Creole descent who started the American Civil War by leading the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Today, he is commonly ...

'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 The Army of Tennessee was the principal Confederate army operating between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. It was formed in late 1862 and fought until the end of the war in 1865, participating i ...

until the end of the war.

Post-war career

Following the war Leake returned to his law practice in St. Francisville. He served in the

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. Leake and his wife May founded the local newspaper, the ''True Democrat'' (now the ''St. Francisville Democrat''), in 1892.

"The day the war stopped"

In June 1863, while Leake was home on furlough, a Union navy commander who was part of the

West Gulf Blockading Squadron The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederate States of America, Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required ...

on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

near St. Francisville died on board his ship. (Decades later a story developed that the ship had been shelling St. Francisville, but no such record can be found in the ship's log, and the historic shelling of St. Francisville actually took place in January 1864.) The officer,

John E. Hart John Elliot Hart (April 4, 1824 – June 11, 1863) was an officer in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. He died in June 1863 on board his ship USS ''Albatross'' while taking part in the Union attempt to blockade the Mississippi River ...

, was a

Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...

, and his second officer went ashore under flag of truce to ask if there were any Masons in the area who would conduct a funeral. He was directed to Leake, who was then senior warden in the St. Francisville Masonic lodge. Leake made arrangements for Hart to be buried at Grace Episcopal Church there. A truce was arranged so that the Union officers could bring his body ashore, attend the funeral, and return to their ship to resume their blockade. A joint party of Union and Confederate officers, all Masons, participated in the funeral on June 12, 1863. The pastor of Grace Church, Rev. Daniel S. Lewis, conducted an Episcopal service, and Leake as acting master of the lodge led the Masonic service. For the rest of his life Leake, who later became Master of the lodge, tended Hart's grave and decorated it with flowers. Leake was buried near Hart, and the two former enemies (who never met in life) are commemorated with a single marble slab, placed in 1955 by the Grand Lodge of the state of Louisiana and "dedicated to the universality of Freemasonry." Since 1999 there has been an annual commemoration and re-enactment of the incident, sponsored jointly by the St. Francisville Masonic lodge and Hart's home lodge in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

, and attended by descendants of both men. During the re-enactment, members of the St. Francisville lodge portray Leake; past portrayers have included a U.S. Congressman and Leake's great-great-grandson.

Personal

He married Margaret Mumford on December 10, 1857. They had eleven children. He died January 20, 1912, and was buried in the Grace Episcopal Church cemetery, not far from Hart.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leake, William Walter Confederate States Army officers People of Louisiana in the American Civil War Louisiana lawyers Louisiana state senators People from St. Francisville, Louisiana American bank presidents American Freemasons 1912 deaths 1833 births 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American businesspeople