
Leigh Gray (1852-1899) was a member of the prominent Gray family of Caliga Hall, Louisiana and the Sheriff of Rhodes, Allen Parish during the late 19th century. He was killed by the outlaw Arthur Morgan at the Battle of Rhodes in 1899 and was succeeded as sheriff by Harmon Thomas.
Biography[]
Leigh Gray was born at Caliga Hall in Assumption Parish, Louisiana in 1852, the son of Murdo Gray, the much younger brother of Tavish Gray, and the uncle of Beau Gray. Born to a wealthy family of Scottish descent, he enjoyed a meteoric rise in local politics due to his family's support for the Republican administration during Reconstruction, becoming Sheriff of Rhodes. The Grays effectively owned the town, as Leigh was Sheriff and the family owned the Rhodes Parlour House. Leigh Gray and his deputy Archibald MacGregor waged war on gangs such as the Louisiana Raiders, the Anderson Boys, and the powerful Braithwaite family, and, in 1899, they befriended Dutch van der Linde and his gang (all of whom were using aliases to avoid trouble) after they helped Gray recapture the fugitive Anders Anderson. Gray deputized Van der Linde, Arthur Morgan, and Bill Williamson and had them help MacGregor with taking down a Braithwaite still in Bayou Nwa, and Dutch had his men respect their new offices by not carrying weapons into Rhodes or causing trouble in town. However, Dutch and his gang secretly played both sides of the Gray-Braithwaite feud against each other, and the Grays' intelligence network discovered that Dutch and his gang were behind the burning of Caliga Hall's tobacco fields.
Death[]

Gray (left) and MacGregor (right) being shot dead
Leigh and Archibald proceeded to set up an ambush for Arthur Morgan, Sean MacGuire, Bill Williamson, and Micah Bell on Rhodes' Main Street, hoping to avenge their betrayal. MacGuire was killed by a sniper, and Gray succeeded in capturing Williamson before holing up in the sheriff's building with MacGregor and two other deputies. Morgan and Bell killed the other lawmen in the town and then challenged Gray and MacGregor to come out of his office, and, when Gray did, he did so with Williamson held at gunpoint as a hostage; MacGregor and the two other deputies aimed their rifles at the two outlaws and tried to convince them to surrender. However, Morgan quickly drew his pistol and shot Gray, MacGregor, and the two deputies in the head in rapid succession, freeing Williamson and avenging MacGuire's death.