Background
Leake, Joseph Bloomfield was born on April 1, 1828 in Deerfield, New Jersey, United States. Son of Lewis and Lydia Leake.
Leake, Joseph Bloomfield was born on April 1, 1828 in Deerfield, New Jersey, United States. Son of Lewis and Lydia Leake.
Removed to Cincinnati, November 1836. Bachelor of Arts, Miami University, 1846, Master of Arts, 1849, Doctor of Laws, 1910.
He became a Brevet Brigadier General before the war was over. After the war he became the United States. District Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. Early life & He was admitted to the bar in 1850 and set up a practice in Davenport, Iowa.
Leake was elected to the Iowa Senate and served during the war session of 1861.
Military Service
Leake resigned his seat in the state senate and became a captain of Company G of the 20th Iowa Infantry. He was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel when the regiment was organized at Camp Kirkwood in Clinton, Iowa.
He led the regiment at Prairie Grove, Vicksburg, Yazoo City, and Portuguese Hudson. In September 1863 in an engagement called Stirlings Farm near Morganza, Louisiana Leake was injured and captured by the Confederates.
He was held prisoner at Camp Ford near Tyler, Texas.
He was the highest ranking Union officer in the camp and he looked after the needs of the other Union Prisoner Of War’son He was released from Camp Ford in a prisoner exchange in July 1864. Some of the soldiers from the 19th Iowa Infantry presented Leake with a new sword to replace the one he lost when he was taken prisoner.
He returned to his regiment and participated in the capture of Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan near Mobile, Alabama.
On March 13, 1865 he was awarded the rank of Brevet Brigadier General. The following month Leake led his regiment during the Battle of Fort Blakely in Alabama.
Later life & Death
After the war Leake returned to Davenport and was re-elected to the Iowa Senate. He moved to Chicago in 1871 and was appointed the United States. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
On September 21, 1887 he was elected the attorney for the Chicago Board of Education.
Leake was married twice. He had no children. Leake died in Chicago and was buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Davenport.
He was a member of the Ulysses South. Grant Post #28 of the Grand Army of the Republic and served as State Commander of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States from 1894 to 1895.
Married Cordelia M. Scott, October 4, 1854 (died 1858). Married second, Mary P. Hill, November 28, 1865.