LeRoy Pope Walker was the first Confederate States Secretary of War. He was a member of one of the most politically powerful families in early Alabama.
Background
LeRoy Walker was born in Huntsville, Madison County, on February 7, 1817, to John Williams Walker and Matilda Pope Walker. LeRoy Pope Walker was named after his maternal grandfather, LeRoy Pope, a founder of the town of Huntsville. His father and grandfather were among the early settlers in Alabama called the Broad River Group, which exerted a powerful influence over state politics. Two of LeRoy Pope Walker's seven siblings, Percy Walker and Richard W. Walker, were also distinguished in Alabama politics.
Education
LeRoy Pope Walker entered the University of Alabama from 1833 to 1835. Later he studied law at the University of Virginia and under Arthur F. Hopkins.
Admitted to the bar in 1837, LeRoy Pope Walker began practice in Mississippi but after a year returned to Alabama, settling first at Bellefonte and later at Moulton. He served as state solicitor and in 1843 was elected to the lower house of the legislature from Lawrence County.
From 1847 to 1850 he represented Lauderdale County and served as speaker. In the latter year he was a delegate to the Nashville Convention, and in the fall, having been elected a judge of the circuit court, he moved back to Huntsville. Three years later he resigned and returned to the legislature. Active in Democratic politics and effective on the stump, he was chosen presidential elector for the state at large in 1848, 1852, and 1856.
By 1860 Walker was definitely identified with the secessionist wing of his party. He was chairman of the Alabama delegation to the Democratic convention at Charleston, and as such announced the withdrawal of the delegation; he was also a delegate to the Richmond convention, and supported John C. Breckinridge in his campaign. The Alabama secession convention sent Walker as a special commissioner to Tennessee in an effort to induce that state to secede, and he was received by the legislature, which he addressed. On February 21, 1861, President Jefferson Davis made him secretary of war in his first cabinet. The appointment was determined by political expediency rather than by Walker's fitness for that office since Davis wished to unite all the states and leading interests of the South in support of his administration, and Walker had been recommended by William L. Yancey. Walker was utterly inexperienced in administration, and the tremendous and, in many cases, impossible tasks that confronted him as secretary weighed upon him heavily. Criticism in Congress convinced both Walker and Davis that the former should resign, and he was offered a foreign mission which he declined. He planned to run for the Senate if Clement C. Clay retired, and in the meantime desired a military appointment.
On September 16, 1861, he resigned with his health seriously impaired, and the following day Davis appointed him brigadier-general. He served in the Department of Alabama and West Florida, and was in command, first at Mobile, and later at Montgomery. His efforts to secure an assignment to active duty failing, he resigned on March 31, 1862. He was appointed the following year judge of a military court and served in that capacity until 1865.
After the war, Walker resumed the practice of his profession in Huntsville. He served as president of the constitutional convention of 1875 and was a delegate at large to the Democratic national conventions of 1876 and 1884.
Achievements
Politics
LeRoy Pope Walker was a staunch supporter of states' rights and secession. He was an important figure in state offices, in Democratic politics, and in secession.
After the war, he was influential in bringing down the rule of the Republican Party in Alabama during Reconstruction.
Personality
Widely known and popular in the state, respected for his learning, wisdom, and character, an able lawyer with a large, important, and profitable practice, LeRoy Pope Walker exerted an influence in Alabama out of all proportion to his activity in public affairs
Quotes from others about the person
"Careful in the preparation of his causes, and clear, concise, logical and eloquent in presenting them before the court, he is said to be an eminently successful practitioner." - Harper's Weekly
Connections
LeRoy Pope Walker was twice married. First, to a Miss Hopkins of Mississippi and second, in July 1850, to Eliza Dickson Pickett. He had two children Eliza Pickett Walker and Leroy Pope Walker.