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LEONIDAS POLK OF THE SOUTHWEST By NASH K. BURGER
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This pamphlet is one of a series of biographies of Pioneer Builders in the Chuch's work edited by THE REV. POWELL MILLS DAWLEY, PH.D. Each pamphlet presents a glimpse into the life and work of a Christian who has responded to the call of a missionary vocation in some pioneer area of the Church's task. The series covers a wide range of people, times and places, and each is written by an author whose interests, background or experience are peculiarly suited to the writing of the pamphlet. The general editior, Dr. Dawley, is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the General Theological Seminary, and author of two volumes in the Church's Teaching Series, Chapters in Church History andThe Episcopal Church and Its Work.
NASH K BURGER, a graduate of the University of the South and the University of Virgina, is Historiographer of the Diocese of Mississippi and a frequent writer on Southern history. He is a staff member of The New York Times Book Review.
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Price 25 Cents
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL 281 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK 10, N.Y. 1959
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Leonidas Polk of the Southwest
by NASH K. BURGER
ALTHOUGH TWO GRADUATES OF WEST Point have become President of the United States, only one has become a bishop. That one was Leonidas Polk, Missionary Bishop of the Southwest, Bishop of Louisiana, Confederate general. This well-born North Carolinian, whose father and grandfather were officers in the Continental Army and leaders in the formative years of the American nation, chose to devote his life not to seeking military glory, public office, or material rewards but to the extension of Christ's kingdom on the American frontier.
FIRST AND FOREMOST: A MISSIONARY
First and foremost, Leonidas Polk was a missionary to the vast reaches of the Old Southwest (the lower Mississippi Valley) and the new towns and villages springing up in the wilderness. The settlers here were largely of English and Scotch-Irish descent. Their for-
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