Difference between revisions of "Leonidas Houk"
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==Background== | ==Background== | ||
Houk was born in Boyds Creek, Sevier County, Tennessee. His father John died when he was young, leaving the family under impoverished circumstances.<ref name=tennesseeencyclopedia/> He managed to survive and make a living as a [[Methodist]] preacher and cabinetmaker, studying [[law]] at night. | Houk was born in Boyds Creek, Sevier County, Tennessee. His father John died when he was young, leaving the family under impoverished circumstances.<ref name=tennesseeencyclopedia/> He managed to survive and make a living as a [[Methodist]] preacher and cabinetmaker, studying [[law]] at night. | ||
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| + | In 1859, Houk was admitted to the bar and proceeded to open an office in Clinton, Tennessee (located in Anderson County).<ref name=tennesseeencyclopedia/> | ||
==Civil War, Eastern Tennessee resists secession and Confederacy== | ==Civil War, Eastern Tennessee resists secession and Confederacy== | ||
Revision as of 00:12, August 26, 2021
Leonidas Campbell Houk (June 8, 1836 – May 25, 1891) was an Eastern Tennessee Unionist and Republican nationalist[1] who fought against Southern Confederates during the American Civil War and later represented the state's 2nd congressional district from 1879 until his death in 1891.
Background
Houk was born in Boyds Creek, Sevier County, Tennessee. His father John died when he was young, leaving the family under impoverished circumstances.[1] He managed to survive and make a living as a Methodist preacher and cabinetmaker, studying law at night.
In 1859, Houk was admitted to the bar and proceeded to open an office in Clinton, Tennessee (located in Anderson County).[1]
Civil War, Eastern Tennessee resists secession and Confederacy
The Eastern portion of Tennessee, located within the Appalachian Mountains, were unsuitable for plantation farming and were a stronghold for anti-slavery forces in the South. Residents in the area maintained a strong sense of Unionism when the Civil War broke out, and Houk participated in the 1891 Union Convention.[1]
Organizing the First Tennessee Infantry, Houk served under several different ranks on the side of the Union.[1] He later left the military in 1863 due to poor health, and wrote articles for the press expressing pro-Union statements.
Political career
U.S. House of Representatives
After running as a Democrat in the 1868 elections for the House of Representatives against incumbent Radical Republican Horace Maynard and losing by a landslide,[2] Houk was victorious when running for the same seat a decade later in the 1878 midterms as a Republican,[3] and re-elected six times.[4]
In late May 1891, Houk visited a drug store and mistook a bottle of toxic arsenic for a glass of ice water, which he drank.[5] He died in pain the next day, which came as a shock to the district's constituents.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Schlup, Leonard (October 8, 2017). Leonidas Campbell Houk. Tennessee Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
- ↑ TN - District 02 Race - Nov 03, 1868. Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
- ↑ TN - District 02 Race - Nov 05, 1878. Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
- ↑ Candidate - Leonidas C. Houk. Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
- ↑ Hill, Ray (October 6, 2013). Congressman Leonidas Campbell Houk. The Knoxville Focus. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
- ↑ May 26, 1891. DEATH OF CONGRESSMAN HOUK.; TOOK ARSENIC BY MISTAKE FOR A GLASS OF ICE WATER.. The New York Times. Archived version available here. Retrieved August 25, 2021.