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Gil R. -> RE: Bio for Breckinridge (12/30/2006 1:55:56 AM)
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This has a very good mixture of anecdote and military info. I'm thinking he should become a 25-percenter, based on his prominence.
Maj. Gen. John Cabell Breckinridge (b. 1821, d. 1875). A Kentucky native, Breckinridge attended and studied law at Transylvania University in Lexington, where his uncle had been a classmate of Jefferson Davis. Breckinridge used his limited political pull to have himself appointed a Major in the 3rd Kentucky during the Mexican War but saw no action. Resuming his legal practice, he soon turned to politics. In 1849 he was elected to the state legislature and two years later to Congress. During his time as a Congressman he worked closely with Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. It is thought that, along with Davis, he helped secure John B. Hood’s appointment to the crack Second Cavalry, which Hood could not obtain because of his dismal West Point record. In 1856, Breckinridge was elected Vice President of the United States on the Democratic ticket with James Buchanan. Early in life he considered slavery a necessary evil but during his government service in the turbulent 1850’s his views changed significantly towards a pro-slavery stance. As a result, when the Democratic Party split into northern and southern wing for the 1860 election, he became the presidential candidate for the rabid pro-slavery faction. Losing to Abraham Lincoln, he was elected to represent Kentucky in the U.S. Senate. Initially backing his state’s neutrality, he clearly intended to have the state secede. Eventually, his heated secessionist pronouncements led to orders for his arrest. Breckinridge made his way to the nearest Confederate outpost in Bowling Green and from there to Richmond. In the meantime he was officially expelled from the Senate. Upon arrival in Richmond, his old political ally Davis appointed him Brigadier General and he was sent back to his home state to command the Kentucky Brigade (later to be known as the Orphan Brigade) under Gen. Albert S. Johnston. He was promoted to Major Gen. just before Shiloh and commanded the Army of the Mississippi’s Reserve Corps there and through the Corinth Campaign. The promotion was purely political, for he had not shown any dazzling military ability. He was considered by some to be “the handsomest man in the Confederate Army,” but he was also known as a hard-drinking, tobacco-chewing, and rough-and-ready sort of general. Having directed the unsuccessful attack on Baton Rouge, his command was later incorporated into the newly named Army of Tennessee. His division made the disastrous attack on the final day at Murfreesboro, against his advice to Gen. Braxton Bragg. Breckinridge was sent to Mississippi to join Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in the unsuccessful attempts to relieve Vicksburg. Rejoining Bragg, he led a division at Chickamauga and a corps at Chattanooga. As his troops broke for the rear at Missionary Ridge, Breckinridge is quoted as saying “Boys, get away as best you can.” Considered by Bragg to have been drunk on Missionary Ridge, he was relieved of command and transferred to Virginia. He was in departmental command when he directed the victory at New Market. He joined Gen. Robert E. Lee in time for Cold Harbor and went with Gen. Jubal Early in the 1864 Valley Campaign. Breckinridge left active service to be appointed the Confederacy’s Secretary of War in February 1865, serving as an advisor to Johnston during the surrender negotiations in North Carolina. Breckinridge made another important contribution during his brief tenure in that position: he arranged for the Confederacy’s archives to be captured intact by the Union when Richmond fell, ensuring that they would be available to history. I found the preceding fact on Wikipedia, and figured I’d add it. After the war he fled to Cuba, then England and finally Canada. Returning in 1869, he practiced law until his death at age 54 from complications arising out of cirrhosis of the liver.
Teaches: Random (-1)
Start date: 23
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