LeRoy Pope Walker
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| LeRoy Pope Walker | |
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| In office February 25, 1861 – September 16, 1861 |
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| Under President | Jefferson Davis |
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| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | Judah P. Benjamin |
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| Born | February 7, 1817 Huntsville, Alabama, USA |
| Died | August 23, 1884 USA |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Eliza Dickson Pickett |
| Profession | Politician |
LeRoy Pope Walker (February 7, 1817 – August 23, 1884) was the first Confederate States Secretary of War and issued the orders for the firing on Fort Sumter, which virtually began the American Civil War. Resigning within the year, he served briefly as brigadier general in the Confederate States Army, but saw no combat.
A lawyer by profession, Walker was born in Huntsville, Alabama, the son of John Williams Walker and Matilda Pope, and a grandson of LeRoy Pope. He married Eliza Dickson Pickett on July 29, 1850.
In March 1861, the Southern states that had seceded from the Union appointed special commissioners to travel to those other slaveholding Southern states that had yet to secede. Walker was chosen as the Commissioner from Alabama to the Tennessee Secession Convention, where he publicly read Alabama's Articles of Secession and tried to persuade Tennessee politicians to vote to do likewise.
Walker was particularly ill-suited to be Secretary of War, as he stated that all of the blood shed in the Civil War could be wiped up with a pocket hankerchief.
Walker was buried in Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville.
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| Preceded by (none) |
Confederate States Secretary of War February 25, 1861 – September 16, 1861 |
Succeeded by Judah P. Benjamin |
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