Polk, Leonidas (1806–1864), a United States Episcopal bishop and Confederate army general. Polk was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He graduated from West Point in 1827 but left the army to study for the ministry. He graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1830, became a priest in 1831, and was made bishop of Louisiana in 1841. He was the principal founder of the University of the South, at Sewanee, Tennessee.
At the start of the Civil War, Polk accepted a commission as a major general in the Confederate army. He saw action in Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee before being promoted to lieutenant general in 1862. He later commanded troops at Murfreesboro and Chickamauga. He was killed at Pine Mountain, Georgia.
