Wikipedia

Leigh Read

Leigh Read(1809-1841) was aDemocratic Partypolitician in Florida and general in theSecond Seminole War.Born in 1809 inSumner County, Tennessee,Read migrated to Florida and settled inCenterville, Floridain 1831. Read studied inRichard K. Call'slaw library before being admitted to the bar in April 1833. He married twice; first to a daughter ofJohn Bellamy,an affluent planter and road builder fromJefferson County.After her death he married Eliza Branch, daughter of former North Carolina governorJohn Branch.

Second Seminole War and career

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During the Second Seminole War, Read signed on with Governor Call's volunteers to fight against the Seminole. Read was wounded at theBattle of Withlacoochee.After recovering, he was elected as commander of a militia battalion that participated in the 1836 campaign. During the spring of that campaign, Read led his unit in a rescue of fifty-eight Jefferson County volunteers who were stranded at an outpost on the Withlacoochee River.[1]Around this time, PresidentAndrew Jacksonappointed Read as the brigadier general of the Florida militia.[2]

Read was critical ofGeneral Winfield Scott'sstrategy in the Second Seminole War and said that he was employing "obsolete...European tactics where they could not possibly work".[3]

In 1837 Read ran to become Florida's delegate to Congress but lost toCharles Downing.The following year Read was elected to represent Leon County at theFlorida Constitutional Convention of 1838.[4]

Dueling

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Public Notice of call for duel between Leigh Read and William Tradewell
Photograph of the Tallahassee City Hotel, where Read was first attacked by Willis Alston.

While Read was practicing law in Florida in the 1830s, he became involved in a number of duels, both as a primary combatant as well as a second. His propensity for dueling gave him a "reputation as a worthy adversary on the field of honor".[5]

As Read's fame and notoriety as an outspoken Democrat and frequent duelist rose, he increasingly became the target of physical and verbal attacks from members of the opposing Whig Party. During this period, anti-bank Democrats and pro-bank Whigs fought each other, both verbally and physically, over the future of Florida's banking system.[6]

Augustus Alston,a leading Whig politician and director of theUnion Bank of Florida,was one of the most outspoken critics of Read. After the two had several verbal exchanges, in late November 1839 Read formally challenged Alston to a duel. Rifles were chosen as the weapon at fifteen paces.

On the morning of December 12, 1839, Read and Alston met at Mannington, near the Florida-Georgia border. The small isolated community had become a popular dueling site since an ongoing border dispute between Florida and Georgia over the land made prosecuting duelists more difficult. After taking their fifteen paces, the men turned and were to shoot on the count of four. Alston slipped and fired before the full count. The bullet missed Read, who then returned fire and hit Alston in the chest, killing him instantly.[7]

In early January, Augustus's brother, Willis Alston, attacked Read at Tallahassee's City Hotel. During the attack, Read was stabbed and shot. Alston was able to escape and avoided capture for the next several weeks. Though severely wounded, Read survived the attack.[8]

While still recovering from his wounds, Read was made commander of 1,500 volunteers who were ordered to protect settlers west of theSuwannee Riverfrom the Seminole. On May 22, 1840, he was also appointed United States Marshal for the Middle District of Florida by the Democrat PresidentMartin Van Buren.However, this appointment was short-lived. After the1840 United States presidential election,the new Whig president,William Henry Harrison,replaced Read.[9]

On April 26, 1841, Willis Alston ambushed and killed Read as he was headed to the court house in Tallahassee.[10][11]

Legacy

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In 1842 the Florida Territorial Council wrote a bill that proposed to change the name ofMosquito CountytoLeigh Read Countyto honor Read. Although the bill eventually failed, several maps were published that depict Leigh Read County in existence.[12][13][14]

References

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  1. ^Mahon, John K. (2001).History of the Second Seminole War: 1835 - 1842(Rev. ed.). Gainesville: University of Florida Press. p. 160.ISBN9780813010977.
  2. ^Denham, James M. (1989)."The Read-Alston Duel and Politics in Territorial Florida".Florida Historical Quarterly.68(4): 428–430.Retrieved8 August2023.
  3. ^Mahon 2001,p. 161.
  4. ^Denham 1989,pp. 430.
  5. ^Denham 1989,pp. 428–429.
  6. ^Bair, Cinnamon (January 8, 2006)."Leigh Read Had a Shot At History".The Ledger.Retrieved9 August2023.
  7. ^Denham 1989,pp. 427–434.
  8. ^Denham 1989,pp. 434–437.
  9. ^Denham 1989,p. 442.
  10. ^Denham 1989,pp. 442–443.
  11. ^Cabbage, Henry (1999).Tales of Historic Tallahassee.Tallahassee, Fla.: Artemis Associates. pp. 17–18.ISBN0-9667485-5-7.
  12. ^Bair 2006.
  13. ^Breese, Samuel; Morese, Sidney E. (1842)."Florida".Images of Central Florida.University of Central Florida.Retrieved10 August2023.
  14. ^Greenleaf, Jeremiah (1848)."Map of the State of Florida".archive.org.Retrieved10 August2023.
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