Leonidas Polk

Leonidas Polk (1806–1864) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. Prior to the war, Polk had been a planter in Maury County, Tennessee, also served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, which earned him the nickname The Fighting Bishop.

Polk was one of the more controversial political generals of the war, elevated to a high military position with no prior combat experience because of his friendship with Confederate President Jefferson Davis. He fought as a corps commander in many of the major battles of the Western Theater, but is remembered more for his bitter disagreements with his immediate superior, Gen. Braxton Bragg of the Army of Tennessee, than for his successes in combat. He was killed in action in 1864 during the Atlanta Campaign.

He was a second cousin of President James K. Polk.

Leonidas Polk in Fort Pillow
Nathan Bedford Forrest wrote a letter to Leonidas Polk promising that Forrest would take Fort Pillow in 1864. The following week, Forrest deemed it time to keep that promise.