Walker, Leroy Pope (1817-1884), served as the first Confederate secretary of war, from February to September 1861, during the American Civil War. Walker raised 200,000 troops and purchased war equipment from abroad. He resigned after the Confederate Congress and Confederate President Jefferson Davis became dissatisfied with his management of the war department.
Walker was born in Huntsville, Alabama. He served in the Alabama House of Representatives several times between 1843 and 1853. He was speaker of the House from 1847 to 1850. In 1875, he was president of a convention that wrote a new constitution for Alabama.
