Leib, Charles

Born: 1826-XX-XX Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

Died: 1865-01-21 Prescott, Arizona Territory

Flourished: Chicago, Illinois

Charles Leib was a doctor, newspaper editor, federal government official, and miner. The early details of Leib's life are obscure, but he may have attended the United States Military Academy. and left due to disability. He graduated from a medical college in Philadelphia and moved to Iowa. Leib moved to the Kansas Territory as part of Governor Andrew Reeder's entourage and set up a medical practice in Leavenworth. He also managed the territory's first census. Leib served under James H. Lane in the free-state Kansas militia. He moved to Illinois sometime before 1856 and began publishing the Democrat newspaper, the Democratic Bugle, to support James Buchanan's presidential campaign. Leib won appointment as clerk of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1857 but only served for two months before leaving the Democratic Party. Nevertheless, he supported the Lecompton Constitution and opposed Stephen A. Douglas. After assisting in suppressing a pro-Douglas Peoria newspaper, Leib was appointed as a special agent for the Post Office Department to determine the loyalty of postmasters. This made him a valuable ally for Abraham Lincoln supporters in the 1858 election, during which he apparently proved highly effective at fostering support for Illinois Republicans.

In 1859, Leib resurfaced in Illinois as a supporter of Simon Cameron's bid for the Republican presidential nomination, although he favored Lincoln as Cameron's running-mate. Once Lincoln won the nomination, Leib became a steadfast supporter and political advisor. He also began editing the Rail Splitter--a pro-Lincoln newspaper in Chicago. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, Lincoln appointed him as an assistant quartermaster at Clarksburg, West Virginia. The Senate later denied the appointment because of possible grafting of a million dollars on Leib's part. He was relieved in April and wrote a book titled, Nine Months in the Quartermaster's Department, or The Chances for Making a Million. By 1863, Leib was living in New Mexico, where he served as territorial superintendent of schools and began publishing the Santa Fe New Mexican. He sold the paper that summer and moved to Fort Whipple, Arizona Territory, to mine for gold and work as a doctor. He ran for Arizona's first congressional delegate seat but lost badly. He died in poverty.

Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, 3 March 1865, 1:3; Rodney O. Davis, "Dr. Charles Leib: Lincoln's Mole?" in Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 24 (Summer 2003): 20-35; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 5, Chicago, Cook County, IL, 112; Arizona, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1803-1995 (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2015); Gravestone, Masonic Cemetery, Prescott, AZ.