Bartholomew Leahy Lynch[1] (born 1830 in County Limerick, Ireland)[2][3] was an educator, lawyer, and the first Republican Attorney General of Louisiana, serving from 1865 to 1867 during the Reconstruction Era.
[4] Lynch emigrated from Ireland in 1851 and settled near Alexandria, Louisiana.
[5] He served as a lieutenant in the Louisiana State Militia after Louisiana seceded from the Union, though he claimed he was forced into service.
Although he later voluntarily accepted a commission from the governor of Confederate Louisiana, he claimed to have never believed in the cause of the Confederacy.
[1] In February 1864, Lynch was elected as Attorney General of Union-controlled "Free Louisiana" on the Moderate Republican ticket.