{{Short description|American lawyer, politician, and judge}} '''Robert E. Leachman''' (1806<ref name="biography">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Alfred John |title=History of Newton County, Mississippi: From 1834 to 1894 |date=1894 |publisher=Melvin Tingle |pages=376–377 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EDi1AAAAIAAJ&q=leachman+&pg=PA369 |access-date=18 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>Sources conflict on a date of birth, but the most authoritative biography indicates 1806.</ref> – June 13, 1892)<ref name="MA obit">"[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109758621/obituary-for-robert-leachman/ Death of Judge Robert Leachman]", ''The Montgomery Advertiser'' (June 14, 1892), p. 1.</ref><ref name="HC obit">"[https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn89053246/1892-06-17/ed-1/seq-1/ The South in Brief]", ''The Henry County Weekly'' (June 17, 1892), p. 1, column 7, paragraph 4.</ref> was an American lawyer, politician, and judge in Mississippi. He served several terms in the [[Mississippi State Senate]], and was appointed [[United States Attorney]] for the District of Mississippi.

== Early life, education, and career==

Born in 1806 in [[Virginia]], his family moved to [[Kentucky]] when he was still young, and there he was raised and educated.<ref name="biography"/> He graduated from [[Transylvania University|Transylvania University Law School]] with a law degree.<ref name="biography" />

He moved to [[Greene County, Alabama]] where he entered the practice of law. Just before the [[American Civil War]] he moved to [[Meridian, Mississippi|Meridian]] in [[Lauderdale County, Mississippi|Lauderdale County]].<ref name="biography" />

==Political and judicial service== Leachman was elected to the state senate without opposition, representing [[Lauderdale County, Mississippi|Lauderdale County]] and [[Newton County, Mississippi|Newton County]] in 1865, just after the war.<ref name="A History of Mississippi" /> At the time of his election it was noted that "Mr. Leachman has been a prominent member of the bar in this county for many years, but heretofore has never been a candidate for office. He is a gentleman of fine practical sense, good address, and will make a most useful member".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-clarion-our-representatives/181417521/|title=Our Representatives|date=October 11, 1865|pages=2|work=The Meridian Daily Clarion|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> He had been a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] until the end of the war when he became a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]].<ref name="biography" /> He also continued to practice law until he was appointed in 1866 to the position of [[United States Attorney]],<ref name="biography" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-weekly-natchez-courier-correspondenc/181416884/|title=Correspondence Daily Courier|date=July 2, 1866|pages=1|work=The Weekly Natchez Courier|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> remaining in that office until 1868, when he was appointed as circuit judge for Newton County by the Military Governor General [[Alvan Cullem Gillem]].<ref name="biography" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-american-citizen-mississippi-items/181418438/|title=Mississippi Items|date=November 14, 1868|pages=2|work=The Canton, Mississippi, American Citizen|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

He served in the state senate again from 1870 to 1871, representing the 10th district.<ref>{{cite news |title=Members Elect to the Legislature |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109754695/members-elect-to-the-legislature/ |access-date=18 September 2022 |work=The Clarion-Ledger |date=23 December 1869 |pages=2}}{{Open access}}</ref> including [[Lauderdale County, Mississippi|Lauderdale County]] and [[Kemper County, Mississippi|Kemper County]].<ref name="A History of Mississippi">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UPExAQAAMAAJ&q=Robert+Leachman&pg=PA518|title = A History of Mississippi: From the Discovery of the Great River by Hernando DeSoto, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French Under Iberville, to the Death of Jefferson Davis|isbn = 9780404046101|last1 = Lowry|first1 = Robert|last2 = McCardle|first2 = William H.|pages=510, 518, 548 | publisher=AMS Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pLC0kgvJJG4C&dq=robert.leachman+1892&pg=PA199 | title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi | year=1917 }}</ref>

During [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]] he was re-appointed as circuit judge for Newton County by Governor [[James L. Alcorn]] and served in that position until 1876 when he was replaced by [[James S. Hamm]].<ref name="biography" />

==Later life== After leaving the bench, Leachman continued to live in Meridian until the death of his wife in 1884, after which he moved to [[Anniston, Alabama]], with his daughter, Mrs. J. A. Douglass, and where he remained until his death.<ref name="biography" />

In 1877 he visited the victims of the [[Chisolm massacre]] in [[Kemper County, Mississippi]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wells |first1=James Monroe |title=The Chisolm Massacre: A Picture of "home Rule" in Mississippi |date=1878 |page=197 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ziQsDK9yl5UC&q=robert+leachman&pg=PA197 |access-date=18 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

==Personal life and death== Leachman was married twice, first to Sarah Emeline Rencher in 1839,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sites.rootsweb.com/~alpicken/greene/l.html|title=Greene County Marriages 1823-1860|website=sites.rootsweb.com}}</ref> and then to Mary Brooke from Greene County, Alabama, in 1851.<ref name="biography" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-weekly-advertiser-married/181508457/|title=Married|date=March 26, 1851|pages=3|work=The Montgomery Weekly Advertiser|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Leachman's wife Mary died in June 1884.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/copiah-signal-mrs-mary-leachman/181435977/|title=Mrs. Mary Leachman|date=June 12, 1884|pages=3|work=Copiah Signal|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

Leachman had two sons and a daughter with his first wife. One son was also named Robert E. Leachman (c. 1842 – Oct. 1879), which was the cause of some confusion; an April 1875 correction in ''The Weekly Mississippi Pilot'' notes that another paper had errantly reported that "Judge R.E. Leachman" was visiting the editor of a Republican newspaper, when in fact it "was from R. E. Leachman, Esq., Postmaster at Meridian, and not from Judge R. E. Leachman", further noting that the confusion "arose from the gentlemen bearing similar initials and being, also, father and son".<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-weekly-mississippi-pilot-the-clarion/181249741/|title=The Clarion committed an error|date=April 24, 1875|pages=2|work=The Weekly Mississippi Pilot|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

Leachman's age at the time of his death was reported differently in different sources. One obituary also claimed that he "had the distinction of being the originator of the [[Nicaragua Canal]] scheme, having advocated the enterprise in a speech at a Memphis Convention thirty-six years ago",<ref name="MA obit"/> although no other biographical sources mention this.

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leachman, Robert E.}} [[Category:1806 births]] [[Category:1892 deaths]] [[Category:People from Virginia]] [[Category:People from Kentucky]] [[Category:People from Lauderdale County, Mississippi]] [[Category:People from Anniston, Alabama]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature]] [[Category:United States attorneys for the District of Mississippi]] [[Category:Mississippi state court judges]] [[Category:Mississippi Whigs]] [[Category:Republican Party Mississippi state senators]]