J.B. Leake, a lieutenant colonel in the 20th Iowa, was captured at the Battle of Stirling Plantation near Morganza, Louisiana, on September 29, 1863, and arrived at Camp Ford with the first large group of prisoners on October 23, 1863. As the highest-ranking officer there, he received a cabin in a prime location closest to the spring. Completed on December 4, 1863, the cabin stood in the southwest corner of the stockade, and the site of the original cabin is 50 yards to the southeast. Sketches from Leake's diary showed the cabin and were important in verifying the accuracy of other Camp Ford drawings. A sketch by Col. A.H.H. Duganne of the 176th New York also showed Leake's cabin with the same porch roof in its position in the stockade.
