Leonard A. Abercrombie

Leonard Anderson Abercrombie (1832–1891) was a lawyer, Confederate States Army officer, and a Texas state senator.

Early life

Leonard Anderson Abercrombie was born in Macon County, Alabama, on December 1, 1832. He was educated in Alexandria, Virginia, and read law in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Law career

He was admitted to the bar in 1854 but later that same year he moved to Madison County, Texas, and then to Huntsville, Texas in 1856 to practice law. In 1860, he was elected prosecuting attorney for Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Montgomery, and Walker counties.

American Civil War service

From January 28 until February 4, 1861, Abercrombie represented Walker County as a delegate to the state`s Secession Convention. During the American Civil War he served as lieutenant colonel of Col. Henry M. Elmore's 20th Texas Infantry Regiment. This Confederate States Army unit, organized in the spring of 1862, was composed mostly of middle-aged men. It was assigned to guard duty on the Texas Gulf coast from Galveston to the Sabine River and did not see action outside of the state. It did, however, play an important role in the recapture of Galveston in January 1863.

Postbellum

After the war, Abercrombie returned to his legal practice at Huntsville and was appointed Commissioner of the Texas Penitentiary in 1867. In November 1886, he was elected to represent the Ninth District as a state senator in the Twentieth Legislature. He was reelected to a seat in the Twenty-first Legislature in 1887 where he helped to establish and fund the Sam Houston Normal Institute.

Personal life

He was married to Lavinia Chilton on January 1, 1860, in Tuskegee, Alabama. They had seven children.

Death

He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 23, 1891, and his body was returned to Huntsville for burial.