Benjamin Watkins Leigh was born at "Gravel Hill", theglebe of Dale Parish inChesterfield County on June 18, 1781, the son of the Reverend William Leigh (d. 1787) and Elizabeth (née Watkins) Leigh (d. 1799).[1] He attended theCollege of William and Mary, studied law, and began practicing in Petersburg in 1802, as well as helped raise his younger brotherWilliam.
After representingDinwiddie County in theVirginia House of Delegates 1811-13, Leigh moved to Richmond, where he rose rapidly in his chosen profession. He prepared the revised Code of Virginia in 1819, was a delegate to theVirginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830, a reporter of the Virginia Court of Appeals 1829-41, and was again elected to the Virginia legislature, representingHenrico County in the session of 1830-31. Leigh was appointed by the state legislature as a Whig to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation ofWilliam Cabell Rives; he was reelected in 1835.
During Leigh's time in the Senate, the controversy over slavery reached new levels of intensity. The House of Representatives passed a "gag rule" tabling all anti-slavery petitions, and a similar measure died in the Senate, though that body approved an alternate method of ignoring such petitions. President Jackson called on the Congress to censor anti-slavery publications from the federal mails, a bill the Senate defeated 25-19. Leigh proposed a statewide boycott of pro-emancipation newspapers, writing that Virginians had the right "to suppress to the utmost of our power what we deem inflammatory, dangerous, mischievous."[2]
Every State had expressed the disapproval of South Carolina's nullification and it was Leigh who was sent to urge South Carolina to desist from carrying matters to extremities.[3] Leigh served until his resignation on July 4, 1836. Thereafter he resumed the practice of law in Richmond.
Benjamin Watkins Leigh was a founding member (1831) of theVirginia Historical Society and first chairman of its standing committee.
After Mary's death in 1813, he married Susanna "Susan" Colston (b. 1792), a daughter of merchant Rawleigh Thomas Colston and Elizabeth (née Marshall) Colston (sister of Chief JusticeJohn Marshall), on November 30, 1813. Before her death, they were the parents of two children:[5]
William B. Leigh (1814–1888), who married Gabriella "Ella" Wickham, a daughter ofJohn Wickham, in 1850. After her death in 1851, he married Mary White Colston, a daughter ofU.S. RepresentativeEdward Colston and, his second wife, Sara Jane (née Brockenbrough) Colston, in 1854.[5][6]
After his Susan's death, he married Julia Wickham (1801–1883), a daughter ofJohn Wickham and Elizabeth Selden (née McClurg) Wickham, on November 24, 1821.[8] Together, they were the parents of:
John Wickham Leigh (1824–1904), who married Camille Bowie, a daughter of Thomas Hamilton Bowie Jr., in 1841.[10]
Chapman Johnson Leigh (1828–1911), who married Annie C. Carter, a daughter of Hill Carter and Mary Braxton (néeRandolph) Carter, in 1860.[11]
Julia Wickham Leigh (1828–1916), who married Dr. Thomas Randolph Harrison in 1849.[12]
Maj. Benjamin Watkins Leigh Jr. (18 January 1831 Richmond, Virginia – 3 July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg), who married Helen Leckie Jones, a daughter of James Y. Jones, on 18 April 1855.[13] Their very handsome sons were: William Leigh (b. 1856), Benjamin Watkins Leigh III (known as Watkins, b. 1859), and Robert Leckie Leigh (b. June 1863). Their daughter Mary Leigh became the wife of T.C. Bailey Jr of Raleigh, but died early in the marriage leaving a daughter, Helen Bailey.[13][14][15]
Anne Carter Leigh (1832–1917), who married Charles Old Jr., a son of William Old.[16]
Virginia Leigh (1835–1866), who married Dr. Francis Peyre Porcher in 1855.[17][18]
^Alderman, Edwin A.; Harris, Joel C., eds. (1907).Library of Southern Literature: Volume VII. Atlanta, Ga.: The Martin and Hoyt Company. p. 3205. Retrieved27 September 2022.
^Dunn, Susan.Dominion of Memories: Jefferson, Madison, & the Decline of Virginia, 195.
^Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Johnson's Division. Author: Jonathan Tracey, Gettysburg College. Date: 2018. The Final Footsteps of Gettysburg’s Fallen. Killed at Gettysburg website. Accessed 12 May 2025.
Dunn, Susan.Dominion of Memories: Jefferson, Madison, & the Decline of Virginia. Cambridge: Basic Books, 2007
Hall, Cline Edwin. “The Political Life of Benjamin Watkins Leigh.” Master’s thesis, University of Richmond, 1959
Macfarland, William H. An Address on the Life, Character, and Public Services of the Late Hon. Benjamin Watkins Leigh. Richmond: Macfarlane and Fergusson, 1851.
