"Kentucky Court of Appeals" Leslie Combs Hand Written Letter Dated 1824 COA

Description

Up for auction "Kentucky Court of Appeals" Leslie Combs Hand Written Letter Dated 1824.
This item is certified authentic by JG Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-2175
Leslie Combs
(November 28, 1793 – August 22, 1881) was a lawyer and politician from the
U.S. state
of
Kentucky
. He served under
William Henry Harrison
and
Green Clay
during the
War of 1812
and was captured in 1813. After his release, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1818. In 1827, he was elected as a
Whig
to the first of several non-consecutive terms in the
Kentucky House of Representatives
. He was re-elected in 1833, 1845, and 1857, and served as
Speaker of the House
in 1846. He lost a bid for a seat in the
U.S. House of Representatives
to
Democrat
John C. Breckinridge
in 1851. His last political office was clerk of the
Kentucky Court of Appeals
, which he held from 1860 to 1866, when he retired from public life. He died in 1881 and was buried in
Frankfort Cemetery
.
Leslie Combs was born November 28, 1793, in
Clark County, Kentucky
.
He was the youngest of twelve children born to Benjamin Combs, an officer in the
Revolutionary War
, and Sarah (Richardson) Combs, a
Quaker
from
Maryland
. His early education was obtained in a private school operated by Reverend John Lyle. Later, he became a deputy clerk in the office of S. H. Woodson, a lawyer from
Jessamine County
.
At the outbreak of the
War of 1812
, Combs enlisted in the 1st Regiment Kentucky Volunteers under
William Henry Harrison
, but was soon transferred to the command of
Green Clay
. By April 1813, he was promoted to
Captain
over a scouting unit. On the evening of May 1, 1813, Combs and a detachment of six men were dispatched by
Colonel
William Dudley
from
Fort Defiance
to the besieged
Fort Meigs
. As they canoed down the
Maumee River
, they were ambushed by
Potawatomi
, and two of Combs' men were killed. He quickly returned to General Green Clay at Fort Defiance to report that Fort Meigs was
under siege
and in need of aid. After two days, he arrived back at Fort Defiance to find Clay already preparing to march to Fort Meigs. Badly injured, he was ordered to bed by medical personnel, but upon finding two small companies of spies ready to operate under his command, he secured new clothes and joined Clay's march. He was wounded and captured by the enemy on May 5, 1813.
After his
parole
, Combs discontinued his military service and relocated to
Lexington, Kentucky
, where he
read law
with Samuel Q. Richardson. In 1818, he was
admitted to the bar
. He married Margaret Trotter on September 1, 1818, and the couple had eleven children. In 1827, Combs was elected as a
Whig
to the
Kentucky House of Representatives
, serving until 1829. In 1830, he was one of twenty incorporators of the
Lexington and Ohio Railroad
. He was once again elected to the state House of Representatives in 1833 and was appointed to the Committee on Internal Improvements.
v
Responding to
Stephen F. Austin
's call for assistance against
Mexico
in 1836, Combs raised a volunteer regiment, but it was disbanded by President
Andrew Jackson
before being deployed.
As a delegate to the Whig National Convention in 1840, Combs worked to nominate
Henry Clay
for the presidency, but when Clay failed to secure the nomination, he campaigned for the party's eventual nominee, William Henry Harrison.
He was elected for a third time to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1845 and served as
Speaker of the House
in 1846.
In 1846, Combs raised a regiment to participate in the
Mexican–American War
, but he resigned after not being selected to command it. His first wife having died, Combs married Mary Elizabeth (Brownell) Man, daughter of
Episcopal
Bishop
Thomas Church Brownell
, on April 11, 1849. They had three children.
After losing his campaign for an
open seat
in the
U.S. House of Representatives
to
Democrat
John C. Breckinridge
, Combs was again elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1855. That year, he also became president of the
Lexington and Danville Railroad
. His legislative term ended in 1859, and he was elected clerk of the
Kentucky Court of Appeals
in 1860. Combs was a strong
Unionist
during the
American Civil War
.