Leonard C. Powell was born around 1835 in Georgia to Chapman Powell. His father was a physician who owned $4,000 of real estate in 1850. He grew up and attended school in DeKalb County, Georgia, and by 1860, he was working as a farmer.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on May 29, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company E of the 7^th Georgia Infantry later that day. The regiment participated in the First Battle of Bull Run, the Seven Days’ Battles, the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Gettysburg, the siege of Chattanooga, the Battle of the Wilderness, and the Appomattox campaign. He was wounded on May 6, 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness, but he eventually recovered and rejoined his regiment. He surrendered on April 9, 1865, as part of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

 

Powell returned to DeKalb County after the war, and he married Jane S. Parden there on February 7, 1867. They had at least five children: Thomas, born around 1868; Anna, born around 1872; James, born around 1876; Alfred, born around 1878; and Mary, born around 1880. Powell worked as a farmer, and by 1870, he owned $1,100 of personal property. He died in DeKalb County on February 23, 1883.

SOURCES