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.

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.