Joseph Bloomfield Leake

Joseph Bloomfield Leake (April 1, 1828 – June 1, 1918) was an attorney and an Iowa State Senator who entered the Union Army during the American Civil War. He became a Brevet Brigadier General before the war was over. After the war he became the U.S. District Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago.

Biography

Early life & Career

Leake was born in Deerfield, New Jersey, and later moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from Miami University in 1846 and then studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1850 and set up a practice in Davenport, Iowa. Leake was elected to the Iowa Senate and served during the war session of 1861.

Military Service

Leake resigned his seat in the state senate and became a captain of Company G of the 20th Iowa Infantry. He was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel when the regiment was organized at Camp Kirkwood in Clinton, Iowa. He led the regiment at Prairie Grove, Vicksburg, Yazoo City, and Port Hudson. In September 1863 in an engagement called Stirlings Farm near Morganza, Louisiana Leake was injured and captured by the Confederates. He was held prisoner at Camp Ford near Tyler, Texas. He was the highest ranking Union officer in the camp and he looked after the needs of the other Union POW’s.

Joseph Bloomfield

Joseph Bloomfield (October 18, 1753 – October 3, 1823) was the fourth Governor of New Jersey. The township of Bloomfield, New Jersey is named for him.

Birth

Joseph Bloomfield was born in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey to Moses Bloomfield, a physician, and Sarah Ogden. Moses Bloomfield was a surgeon and an abolitionist.

Education and military service

Joseph was educated at Reverend Enoch Green’s school in Deerfield Township, New Jersey, where Enoch was the pastor of the local Presbyterian Church. Bloomfield studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1775 and began his law practice in Bridgeton, New Jersey. He entered the Continental Army as captain of the 3rd New Jersey Regiment on February 9, 1776. He attained the rank of major on November 28, 1776, and was appointed judge advocate of the northern army. He was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777. He resigned from the Continental Army on October 28, 1778, after he was elected clerk of the New Jersey General Assembly.