Leonidas Polk, an American clergyman, subsequently a general in the confederate army, born in Raleigh, N. C, in 1806, killed at the battle of Pine Mountain, near Marietta, Ga., June 14, 1864. He graduated at the military academy of "West Point in 1827, and was appointed brevet second lieutenant of artillery, with leave of absence. He resigned his commission Dec. 1, 1827, studied theology, and in 1830 was ordained as deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church, and in the following year as priest. In 1838 he was made missionary bishop of Arkansas, with the provisional charge of the dioceses of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, having also supervision of the missions in Texas. In 1841 he was chosen bishop of Louisiana. On the breaking out of the civil war he entered the confederate military service with the rank of major general, and was placed in command of the district on both sides of the Mississippi from the mouth of the Arkansas to Paducah on the Ohio. Several important works were here constructed under his direction, among which were Forts Donelson and Henry. In the spring of 1862 he was sent to join the army under Gen. A. S. Johnston, and he commanded a division at the battle of Shiloh. He afterward served under Gen. Bragg in Kentucky and Tennessee, being present at the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, and Ohickamauga. In the last engagement Br^gg charged him with disobedience of orders, and he was temporarily relieved from command and placed under arrest.

In the spring of 1864, having been made a lieutenant general, he was placed in temporary control of the confederate department of the Mississippi, which he conducted with great skill, and was soon placed in command of one of the three corps in the army of Gen. J. E. Johnston. He was prominent in the early operations of the Atlanta campaign. "While reconnoitring the position of a Union battery, he was killed by a cannon shot. He had never resigned his bishopric.