S. L. Leaphart

Sherod Luther "S. L." Leaphart (December 23, 1830 – June 27, 1886) was an American politician who served as the 2nd and 5th South Carolina Treasurer and the 16th South Carolina Comptroller General.

During the American Civil War, Leaphart served as a Confederate States Army officer, where he was severely wounded during the Battle of Gettysburg and held as a prisoner of war.

Early life and education

Leaphart was born on December 23, 1830, in Lexington County, South Carolina, one of the children of Michael Leaphart and Susan Leaphart. His siblings included Godfrey Leaphart, served as a major and a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. He was educated at Cokesbury, South Carolina, remaining there until 1854, after which he worked in mercantile trade until the outbreak of the Civil War.

Military service

When South Carolina seceded from the Union and the Civil War began in 1861, Leaphart enlisted in Company A of the 2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment in May 1861 (also known as the 2nd Palmetto Regiment), a unit recruited largely from the Columbia area and nicknamed the "Governor's Guards." He entered service as a sergeant and was subsequently promoted to lieutenant and then to captain, eventually commanding Company A.

Leapheart's company was attached to Kershaw's Brigade and fought in numerous major engagements of the Army of Northern Virginia, including First Manassas, the Seven Days Battles, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville.

Battle of Gettysburg

At the Battle of Gettysburg, Leaphart led Company A into action on July 2, 1863, during the fighting near the Wheatfield and Stony Hill. He was severely wounded in the right arm and captured by Union forces during the engagement. His arm was later amputated, and he was sent to the Union prisoner-of-war camp at Johnson's Island, Ohio, where Confederate officers captured at Gettysburg and elsewhere were held for the remainder of the war or until exchanged. He was released in early 1865, shortly before the Confederate surrender, and rejoined the army in Kennedy's brigade, part of Major General Joseph B. Kershaw's division within Lieutenant General James Longstreet's corps.

Political career

Comptroller

After the war, during Benjamin Perry's tenure as provisional governor of South Carolina, Leaphart was elected by the South Carolina General Assembly to serve as Comptroller General by 77 votes, an office he held through two governorships.

South Carolina Treasurer

In 1866, Leaphart became the second State Treasurer of South Carolina. Leaphart left elective office as the Republican-controlled state government of the Reconstruction era consolidated power under governors Robert Kingston Scott, Franklin J. Moses Jr., and Daniel H. Chamberlain, during which the treasurership was held successively by Niles G. Parker (1868–1872) and Francis Lewis Cardozo (1872–1877).

During the period between his terms as treasurer, Leaphart served as president of the board of underwriters in Columbia.

With the end of Reconstruction and the disputed election of 1876, Democratic governor Wade Hampton III took office in 1877 and moved to replace Republican officeholders across state government, including Cardozo, who left the treasurer's office on May 1, 1877. Leaphart, by then aligned with the Democratic Party, ran on the statewide Democratic ticket headed by Hampton in the 1878 general election, appearing alongside candidates such as Johnson Hagood for comptroller general and Hugh S. Thompson for superintendent of education. He was elected State Treasurer and served in that capacity until 1881, when he was succeeded by John Peter "J.P." Richardson III.

After his time in public office, Leaphart served as a director of the Central National Bank of Columbia and as an agent for the Piedmont and Arlington Life Insurance Company.

Death

Leaphart died in Columbia, South Carolina, on June 27, 1886, at the age of 55. He was buried at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church Cemetery.