Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/419

 LEE

LE FEVRE

cavalry he served in western Virginia under Oen. W. W. Loring. When the Virginia troops ■were transferred to the Confederate States army l)V prochunation of Governor Letclier, June 8, It'Ol, lie was j)ronioted lieutenant-colonel and ordered to Fredericksburg. He was promoted colonel early in 1863 and was assigned to the cavalry brigade of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart and with Oen. T. J. Jackson's army was ordered to the relief of the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, confronted by the army of Gen. George B. Mc- Clellan before Richmond. On June 1. 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee was placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia and Col. W. H. F. Lee took part in the daring ride of Stuart around McClellan's army, June 12, 1862. He was pro- moted brigadier-general, Oct. 3, 1862, and com- manded a brigade in Stuart's cavalry division, iind at the head of 2000 cavalrymen he took part in opposing Stoneman's cavalry raid. He opposed the foi'ce of General Averill at Culpeper, April 50, 18615, and was forced to retreat tlirough the place, being thus cut off from communication with General Lee's army. At Brandj' Station. Va., ■June 9, 1863, he was severely wounded and Gen- eral Chanibliss succeeded to the command of his brigade. Lee was subsequently captured by a raiding party of Federal cavalry and imprisoned in Fort Monroe and in Fort Lafajette, New York harbor. He was exchanged in 1864 and on April 23 he was promoted major-general of cavalry and commanded a division in the army of North- ern Virginia, taking part in oi)posing the Treva- lian raid of Slieridan in June, 1864, from Malvern Hill. He failed to check Gen. J. H. Wilson's raiding party which he encountered on the South- side railroad near Petersburg, June 22, 1864, but delayed Gen. J. B. Mcintosh, who commanded Wilson's own division, and caused the loss of .seventy-five of his men. In August, 1864, lie was defending the Weldon railroad and on the 19th at Vaughn road junction met Gen. G. K. Warren wiien he operated on the flank of the Federal ^rmy. He had nearly succeeded in turning it when General Spear supported Ijy General Griftin forced his division back to within a mile of Reams's Station. On Aug. 21 he joined Gen. A. P. Hill's corps and re-enforced by a part of Hoke's •division of Ewell's corps undertook to dislodge Warren, then intrenched at Reams's Station. He took part in the battle of Five Forks, April 1, 1865, where he commanded two brigades of ca%-alry under his cousin, Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, and on the Amelia Springs road, April 8, hSeO, his -cavalrj' checked the advance of the Federal army in the last struggle previous to the surrender. He was paroled with the Armj' of Northern Vir- ginia and he returned to White House, where he rebuilt the residence and farm buildings destroyed

by the Federal army and engaged in cultivating the plantation, iy65-74. He then removed to Burke Station, Va. He was president of the Virginia Agricultural society ; a state senator in 1875, and served as a representative from the eighth district of Virginia in the 5Uth and 51st congresses, 1887-91, and was elected to the 52d congress in 1890. He died at Ravensworth, Va., Oct. 15. 1891.

LEEDY, John Whitnah, governor of Kansas, was born in Richland county, Ohio. ^March 8, 1849 ; .son of Sanmel K. and Margaret (Whitnah) Leedy, grandson of John Leedy, a pioneer of Richland, Ohio, and a descendant of Abram Leed}-, a native of Berne, Switzerland, who settled in Fredericksburg, Md., about 1720. In 1863 he tried to enlist in the Union army and was rejected on account of his youth, but re- mained with the company until the close of the war. He was a clerk at Pierceton, Ind., 1865- 68 ; and worked on a farm at Carlinsville. 111., 1868-75. In 1875 he was married to Sarah I. Boyd of Frederickton, Ohio, where he lived until 1881, and then purchased a farm near Leroy, Kan. He was originally a Republican, but from 1872 voted the Democratic ticket until the Pop- ulist party was organized in which he became a leader. He was state senator in the Kansas leg- islature, 1892-96; and governor of Kansas, 1897- • 99. He was defeated for re-election in 1898 by W. E. Stanley, Republican. In the spring of 1901 he settled in Valdes, Alaska.

LEFEVER, Jacob, rei)resentative. was born at New Paltz, N.Y., April 20, 1830; .son of Garrett and Catharine (Dubois) Lefever, grandson of Jonathan and Catharine (Freer) Lefever and a descendant of Simon Lefever " The Patentee.'' He was educated at New Paltz academy, and Amenia seminary ; and became a prominent banker. He was supervisor of the town of New Paltz, 1861-62; a member of the state assembly, 1863-67 ; a delegate to successive Repul>lican state conventions and to the Republican national convention of 1888 ; and a Republican represent- ative from the eighteenth district of New York in the 53d and 54th congresses, 1893-97.

LE FEVRE, Benjamin P., representative, was born in Maplewood, Shelby county, Ohio, Oct. 8, 1838. He attended Miami university, 1858-59 ; and .studied law at Sidney, Ohio, but subsequently engagetl in farming. He served in the Union army as a private, 1861-65; was nominated for secretary of state by the Democratic party in 1805 ; represented Shelby county in the Ohio legislature, 1866-68, was U.S. consul at Nurem- berg, Germany, by appointment of President Johnson, 1868-69, and was a Democratic repre- sentative from the fifth Ohio district, in the 46th, 47th, 48th and 49th congresses, 1879-87.