Danville Leadbetter (August 26, 1811 – September 26, 1866) was a career U.S. Army officer and later he served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

Leadbetter was promoted to first lieutenant on July 7, 1838,[1] then assigned to a joint commission of army and navy officers to identify defense sites along the Pacific Coast.

[2] Leadbetter was promoted to captain on October 16, 1852[1] and spent 1853–57 at Mobile, Alabama, working on the construction and/or repair of the city's harbor forts.

[7] As the Chief Engineer of the Army of Tennessee, Leadbetter was responsible for the layout of the Confederate defensive lines prior to the siege and Battle of Chattanooga.

[8] Leadbetter's last Confederate command was the District of the Gulf (Department of Alabama, Mississippi, & East Louisiana) from November 22 to December 12, 1864.

[10] Military historian Ezra J. Warner states he was usually highly thought of by several of his superiors;[11] however Edward Porter Alexander, whom Leadbetter served with during the Knoxville operations, was critical in post-war writings of his involvement and influence in the campaign.

[12] Most historians believe that the Knoxville campaign was a lost cause, and that any strategy would have failed, due to the overwhelming defensive position of the Union, as well as being unfavorably outnumbered.

Alexander believed that in the selection of the artillery site to attack Fort Sanders, "Leadbetter evidently had no appreciation of the ground" he himself had earlier assessed as unpracticable and very exposed.

[12] Alexander believed Longstreet knew better, "but was misled in some way I have never [been] able to understand"[12] and that accepting Leadbetter's recommendations "robbed him of most of his few remaining chances of victory.