Leonidas Polk

• 1. From West Point To The Altar

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  Leonidas Polk was born on the 10th of April 1806 in Raleigh, North Carolina. His father William served as a Revolutionary War veteran and later became a prosperous planter with Scottish and Anglo-Huguenot ancestry. Polk briefly attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point. During his senior year he left the Scottish Calvinist church to join the Episcopal Church. He was baptized in the Academy Chapel by Chaplain Charles P. McIlvaine who would later become the Episcopal Bishop of Ohio. Polk had an impressive academic record excelling in rhetoric and moral philosophy. He graduated eighth of 38 cadets on the 1st of July 1827 and was appointed a brevet second lieutenant in the artillery. Polk resigned his commission on the 1st of December 1827 to enter the Virginia Theological Seminary. He became an assistant to Bishop Richard Channing Moore at Monumental Church in Richmond Virginia. Moore agreed to ordain Polk as a deacon in April 1830 but it was discovered that he had never been confirmed as an Episcopalian. Before his ordination he was hastily confirmed at St. John's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville NC. He was then ordained a deacon as planned and a priest the following year. On the 6th of May 1830 Polk married Frances Ann Devereux daughter of John Devereux and Frances Pollock.

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• 2. The Bishop Of The South

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  In 1832 Polk moved his family to the vast Polk Rattle and Snap tract in Maury County Tennessee. There he constructed a massive Greek Revival home called Ashwood Hall. Polk was the largest slaveowner in the county in 1840 owning 111 slaves. By 1850 census records showed he owned 400 slaves though other estimates reach as high as 1000. He built a family chapel with his four brothers in Maury County named St. John's Church at Ashwood. He also served as priest of St. Peter's Church in Columbia Tennessee. He was appointed Missionary Bishop of the Southwest in September 1838 and elected first Bishop of Louisiana in October 1841. In 1848 he performed the marriage of his niece Mary Bayard Devereux to Major William John Clarke. Polk was the leading founder of the University of the South in Sewanee Tennessee. He envisioned it as a national university for the Southern United States and a New World equivalent to Oxford and Cambridge both in England. In his August 1856 letter to Bishop Elliott he expounded on the secessionist motives for his university. Polk laid and consecrated the cornerstone for the first building on the 9th of October 1860. His foundational legacy at Sewanee is remembered through his portrait Sword Over the Gown painted by Eliphalet F. Andrews in 1900.

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• 3. Resigning The Gown

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  At the outbreak of the Civil War Polk pulled the Louisiana Convention out of the Episcopal Church of the United States to form the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America. Although Polk hoped that secession would result in a peaceful separation of the slave states from the United States he did not hesitate to write to his friend and former classmate at West Point President Jefferson Davis. He offered his opinions regarding the defense of the Mississippi Valley feeling that Southern preparations were seriously deficient. He recommended the appointment of Albert Sidney Johnston as commander of the region declaring that a better man could not be found for that post. Davis concurred but Johnston was still in California at the time so he invited Polk to the Confederate Capitol in Richmond Virginia to discuss defenses. Polk dined with Davis on two separate occasions and had discussions with General Robert E. Lee and several cabinet members. Surprisingly Davis offered Polk the role of interim commander of Department No. 2 roughly the area between the Mississippi River and the Tennessee River which was also known as the Western Department. Polk was hesitant to accept but informed a close friend that while he should be glad to be excused from the responsibility he would not shrink from it if no one better could be found. Polk was commissioned a major general in the Confederate States Army on the 25th of June 1861 and made his way to Memphis Tennessee to assume command.

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• 4. Blunders In Kentucky

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  Polk arrived in Memphis on the 13th of July 1861 and established his headquarters. His first task was to incorporate the forces of the Provisional Army of Tennessee into the regular army of the Confederacy. As a consequence of this process the commander of the Tennessee troops Major General Gideon Johnson Pillow was demoted to second-in-command with a reduced rank of brigadier general. Pillow was infuriated by both his demotion and replacement by a bishop with no battlefield experience. In late July Polk ordered Pillow and 6,000 troops to board transports and steam up the Mississippi River to capture New Madrid Missouri. The town was situated on a sharp bend of the river and artillery batteries positioned there could obstruct the passage of ships. Having accomplished this Polk directed Pillow to occupy and fortify Island Number Ten Tennessee another strong defensive position but his subordinate disobeyed the order and diverted the soldiers to eastern Missouri instead. Pillow wanted to use them in a proposed invasion of Missouri. Polk sharply rebuked Pillow and the two generals argued with one observer noting that they were at loggerheads. On the 28th of August 1861 Union Major General John C. Frémont issued orders to his subordinate Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to proceed forthwith to Cape Girardeau and assume command of the forces at that place. The next day Waagner and his regiment entered the village of Belmont located across the Mississippi River from Columbus. His men began building fortifications at Belmont quickly drawing the attention of Confederate forces. Concerned that the Union now threatened Columbus directly Polk ordered Pillow and his troops to move into Kentucky and seize the towns of Hickman and Columbus.

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• 5. The Stones And Chickamauga

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  On the night of December 30 Bragg held a council of war planning to attack the next day up the Nashville Pike. Polk countered with a plan to turn the enemy's right where they outflanked him. Bragg agreed and the Confederate left would attack in a grand right wheel pushing the Federals northeast toward the Nashville Pike and railroad. The next day a massive assault by the corps of Hardee followed by that of Polk overran the Federal wing commanded by McCook. A stout defense by the division of Brig. Gen. Philip Sheridan in the right center of the line prevented a total collapse. Repeated Confederate attacks were repulsed from this concentrated line most notably in the cedar Round Forest salient. Despite his major contribution to the tactical planning of the Battle of Stones River Polk performed rather poorly when executing it. He made a spur-of-the-moment decision while his corps positioned for battle waited in line to advance. As things stood Withers' division occupied the front with Cheatham lined up behind. Just before they went in Polk decreed that Cheatham would command the two left brigades front and rear while Withers would control the corresponding brigades on the right. This order instantly placed half of his command under unfamiliar leadership without sufficient time to adjust. On the 19th of September 1863 the Battle of Chickamauga began in earnest after Bragg's men strongly assaulted but could not break the Union line.

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• 6. The Bishop Dies At Marietta

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  In May 1864 Polk was ordered to send reinforcements to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in Georgia to aid that general in his resistance to Sherman's advance in the Atlanta campaign. Polk brought more than 14,000 men with him from Mississippi to Georgia. When he reported for duty at Dalton Johnston grasped his extended hand and warmly shook it saying how can I thank you as I asked for a division but you have come yourself and brought me your army. Polk assumed command of the Third Corps of the Army of Tennessee on May 12 but his command remained commonly known as the Army of Mississippi. Because of his elevated rank Polk became the army's second in command under Johnston. On the 14th of June 1864 Polk was scouting enemy positions near Marietta Georgia with his staff when he was killed in action by a U.S. shell at Pine Mountain. The artillery fire was initiated when Sherman spotted a cluster of Confederate generals , Polk Hardee and Johnston with their staffs , in an exposed area. He pointed them out to Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard commander of the U.S. IV Corps and ordered him to fire upon them. Battery I of the 1st Ohio Light Artillery commanded by Capt. Hubert Dilger obeyed the order within minutes. The third shell struck Polk's left arm went through his chest and exited hitting his right arm then exploded against a tree nearly cutting Polk in two.

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• 7. A Contested Legacy

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  Although his record as a field commander was mixed Polk was immensely popular with his troops and the Army of Tennessee deeply mourned his death. His funeral service at Saint Paul's Church in Augusta Georgia was one of the most elaborate during the war. His friend Bishop Stephen Elliott of Georgia presided at the service delivering a stirring funeral oration. He was buried in a location under the present-day altar. In 1945 his remains and those of his wife were reinterred at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans. Military historian Steven E. Woodworth described the shell that killed Polk as one of the worst shots fired for the Union cause during the entire course of the war. Woodworth argued that Polk's incompetence made him far more valuable alive than dead since his willful disobedience had consistently hamstrung Confederate operations west of the Appalachians. Conversely historian Joseph H. Parks wrote that Polk was a competent corps commander yet his frequent disagreements with Bragg would seem to indicate he was at times hesitant in executing orders. Parks noted that all high ranking officers within the Army of Tennessee distrusted Bragg's competence as a field commander and supported Polk in his apparent disregard of orders. Left unanswered was the question of whether or not the orders of a superior should be executed regardless of conditions or circumstances.

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