Leslie Combs was an American soldier and politician. He was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives and Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives.
Background
Leslie Combs was born on November 29, 1793 in Clark County, Kentucky, United States. He was the son of Captain Benjamin Combs of Stafford County, Virginia, and of Sarah Richardson of Annapolis, Maryland. His father first went to Kentucky in 1775, returned to Virginia to fight in the Revolution, and going again to Kentucky in 1782 settled in Clarke County across the Kentucky River from Boonesborough.
Education
Leslie was educated by Reverend John Lyle, a well-known Presbyterian minister and teacher.
Career
Combs was serving as deputy county clerk of Jessamine County when the War of 1812 began. He joined the Kentucky troops and was a scout in the River Raisin campaign. On the expedition to relieve Fort Meigs in May 1813 he was captain of a company of scouts, was severely wounded, and taken prisoner.
After the war he read law in a private office in Lexington and was admitted to the bar in 1818. After practising law for a short period, he was elected to the lower house of the Kentucky legislature in 1827 and remained a member through 1829. He was later a member of the House in 1833, 1845-1847, and 1857-1859. In 1846 he was speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives. He was a candidate for congressman in 1851 but was defeated by John C. Breckinridge.
In 1836 he was appointed colonel of the ten companies of Kentucky militia raised to protect the Sabine frontier, but the troops were ordered discharged before they began their march. In August 1860 he was a candidate, on the Bell-Everett ticket, for clerk of the court of appeals and was elected by an overwhelming majority. This position he held for six years.
He was a pronounced Unionist at the beginning of the Civil War and exerted himself to prevent the secession of Kentucky. He was not an extremist, however, and as the war went on he became very bitter in his protests against military rule in Kentucky. After the war he lived in retirement at Lexington until his death.
Achievements
Politics
Combs was a Whig in politics as long as that party existed in Kentucky.
Connections
In 1819 Combs was married to Margaret Trotter of Fayette County and after her death married (1849) Mary Elizabeth Brownell of Connecticut. There were eleven children of the first marriage and three of the second