Mississippi Department of Archives and History

LEAKE, Walter, a Senator from Mississippi; born in Albemarle County, Va., May 25, 1762; served in the Revolutionary War; studied law; admitted to the bar and practiced; appointed by President Thomas Jefferson one of the United States judges for Mississippi Territory in 1807; moved to Hinds County, Miss., and engaged in the practice of law; upon the admission of Mississippi as a State into the Union was elected as a Democratic Republican to the United States Senate and served from December 10, 1817, to May 15, 1820, when he resigned; chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs (Sixteenth Congress); appointed United States marshal for the district of Mississippi in 1820; Governor of Mississippi 1821-1825; died in Mount Salus, Hinds County, Miss., November 17, 1825.