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Note: Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons states that he had ONLY DAUGHTERS! - which is contrary to that is sourced here. Confirmation of issue in process. . . THE VIRGINIA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY SKETCH OF GOV. WALTER LEAKE, OF MISSISSIPPI. The list of native Virginians who became governors of other States, appearing in our last issues, reminds us of some incidents concerning the life of Governor Walter Leake, of Mississippi. Walter Leake was born in Albemarle county, May 20, 1762. He was the son of Captain Mask Leake, a Revolutionary officer, and Patience Morris, of Hanover, and was named for his paternal grandfather, Walter Leake, of Goochland, who was a son of William Leake and Mary Bostick, first of the family in Virginia. He was at one time a member of the Virginia Legislature from Albemarle county, and a few years later we find him a candidate for the United States Congress against Governor Thomas Mann Randolph, Mr. Jefferson's son-in-law. Randolph beat him by two votes. Leake immediately announced his intention of running again; but before another election Mr. Jefferson appointed him Chief Judge of the Mississippi Territory, which appointment he accepted. He accordingly removed with his wife (Elizabeth Wingfield) and family to Mt. Salus, Hinds county, Mississippi; and upon the admission of that State into the Union in 1817, he was elected its first Senator in Congress, which office he held until 1820, when he resigned to accept the nomination of Governor of Mississippi. He died in the year 1825 while serving his second term as Governor. Leake county, Mississippi, was named after him. A grandson of his, Colonel Walter Leake Keirn, a gallant Confederate officer and lately Speaker of the House of Delegates of Mississippi, just recently died in that State. The following editorial, which appeared some years ago in the Hinds (Miss.) Gazette, is apropos and interesting: Governor Leake. Many of our older citizens remember Walter Leake, in whose honor a neighboring county is named. He was Governor of the State, and the first elected Senator in Congress. We have often heard him spoken of as a sterling specimen of the better days of the Republic. Chivalrous and ingenuous, patriotic and the "soul of honor," he was in his day the idol of our people. In the prominent traits of character there is a striking similarity between him and General Quitman. A late number of the Richmond (Va.) Enquirer relates the following incident of Governor Leake, which will be read with interest, and deserves a more enduring record than the columns of a newspaper: Walter Leake was Governor of Mississippi when Lafayette was in that State in 1824 or '5. He was then confined to his bed by a disease, of which he died a year or two after; but sent his aide-de-camp to pay his respects to the illustrious French American. As soon as his name was mentioned, Lafayette repeated it; "Walter Leake! I think I remember him! Is he not from Virginia?" He was told that he was. "Well," said Lafayette, "he was a deserter during the Revolutionary war." He then related an incident which he believed to be authenticated. When Captain Mask Leake was about leaving home, in 1781, to lead his company into war, Walter (then 17 years old), insisted on going with him; but the old man told him that he had given up his first-born, William, to the cause of his country, and was to dedicate himself to the cause; and that he (Walter) must stay at home to aid in taking care of his mother and the little ones. He accordingly left him. In two days after, the old lady (a true Revolutionary matron, by the way), fitted up Walter, and told him to go and fight for his country, and that she would take care of the farm and little folks herself. The boy accordingly went, and participated in the siege of Yorktown. On reaching that point his father carried him to Lafayette, and, stating the circumstances, begged some easy berth for his runaway son, which was granted. "And so," said Lafayette, "Walter Leake deserted home to fight for his country." ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Leake, Walter (1762-1825) Born in Albemarle County, Va., May 25, 1762. Democrat. Federal judge, 1807; U.S. Senator from Mississippi, 1817-20; Governor of Mississippi, 1822-25; died in office 1825. Died in Mt. Salus, Hinds County, Miss., November 17, 1825. Interment at a private or family graveyard, Hinds County, Miss. Leake County, Miss. is named for him. LEAKE, Walter, 1762-1825 Senate Years of Service: 1817-1820 Party: Republican [Obvious error . . .j.c.] LEAKE, Walter, a Senator from Mississippi; born in Albemarle County, Va., May 25, 1762; served in the Revolutionary War; studied law; was admitted to the bar and practiced; appointed by President Thomas Jefferson one of the United States judges for Mississippi Territory in 1807; moved to Hinds County, Miss., and engaged in the practice of law; upon the admission of Mississippi as a State into the Union was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from December 10, 1817, to May 15, 1820, when he resigned; chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs (Sixteenth Congress); appointed United States marshal for the district of Mississippi in 1820; Governor of Mississippi 1821-1825; died in Mount Salus, Hinds County, Miss., November 17, 1825. --------------- "The first settler of Mount Salus was Walter Leake, then a Territorial Judge, who in 1812 came to Hinds county from Virginia, purchased a large tract of land in the Choctaw cession, and with slave labor felled the forest round about, dressed the timbers, burnt the bricks, and built the first brick house in Hinds county, calling it Mount Salus. This home, fashioned after the style of the old English manor-houses; square built, with wide windows, heavy doors and solid floors, was inviting in its hospitality ans was often the scene of social gayety. While as yet the corn cribs and chicken houses of Choctaw Indians were in the land, forty-five slaves did the bidding of their master and took his name: six yoke of oxen started to Vicksburg every Monday morning to fill Walter Leake's generous larders; Chickasaw Indians came with itinerant Methodist preachers to the hospitable home and read and sang and prayed, and in 1825, "before the stars fell in 1833," the great Lafayette visited Mississippi as a guest of Gov. Leake at Mount Salus." [Franklin LaFayette Riley - Mississippi Historical Society publication from 1903.] _________________ History of Clinton, Mississippi The first settlement was founded in 1805 at the junction of the Natchez Trace and Old Vicksburg Road. Originally, the location was home to the Indian agency Mt. Dexter, operated by Robert H. Bell. The settlement was home to many settlers in 1823 when Walter Leake, the Governor of Mississippi, purchased land in the area to build his home. When the governor�s home was completed, it was christened Mt. Salus, meaning mountain of health, since it was built near a large, flowing spring. Soon after Governor Leake took residence, the community adopted the name of his manor home. The Mt. Salus community became well known to the travelers along the Natchez Trace for its many healthful and refreshing springs. Greene Co., MS Leakesville, Mississippi Leakesville was settled as early as 1812 and had a sawmill in operation. It was named for Governor Walter Leake and was incorporated around 1904. Leakesville, Mississippi, with a population of 1,129 is the largest community in Greene County in 2003. Appletons Encyclopedia LEAKE, Walter, senator, born in Virginia about 1760; died in Mount Salus, Hinds County, Mississippi, 17 November, 1825. He fought during the Revolutionary war, and afterward removed from Virginia to Hinds county, Mississippi, where he practised law. He was elected United States senator from that state, and served from 11 December, 1817, till 1820, when he resigned. Immediately afterward he was appointed a judge of the circuit court, and so continued till 1821, when he was chosen governor of Mississippi, which office he held till 1825. Mississippians in Washington STATEHOOD Mississippi was admitted to the Union as the twentieth state on December 10, 1817, during the first year of the first administration of President James Monroe. The first two U.S. Senators from Mississippi in the 15th Congress were Walter Leake from Red Bluff and Thomas Hill Williams from the town of Washington, site of the General Assembly meeting which sent both men to Washington, D.C. Both men took their seats one day after statehood on December 11, 1817. As determined by lot, Senator Leake's term expired on March 3, 1821, and Senator Williams' term expired on March 3, 1823. Mississippi originally had only one member in the U.S. House of Representatives: George Poindexter from Woodville. He took his seat on December 15, 1817. Leake resigned from the Senate in 1820 and served as Governor of Mississippi from 1821 until his death in 1825.
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