Luke Lea

Luke Lea (November 19, 1810 – May 9, 1898) was an attorney, politician, and public official from southern Mississippi in the United States. Lea was a native of Grainger County, Tennessee. He served in the Mississippi legislature in 1844 where he voted against the annexation of Texas.

Lea was the Whig Party candidate in the 1849 Mississippi gubernatorial election, running against John A. Quitman. As commissioner, "Lea believed Native Americans were just as capable as non-Indians and that they could take their place in the nation as productive citizens. In the interim, he had to deal with Indian wars in Texas and New Mexico, threats of extermination of the border tribes, and the near-annihilation of the California Indians at the hands of gold seekers. Consequently, Lea was under pressure to open the central Plains for American expansion west. While he favored assimilation, dealing with national expansion across the Great Plains became Lea's top priority." Albert M. Lea, also a U.S. Attorney for the same district, was his son. Lea died at Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1898.