Vice President of the United States
Ran for president in 1860 against Abraham Lincoln
Confederate Secretary of War
(1821-75) After attending Centre College and Transylvania University, he began practicing law in his home town of Lexington, Ky. in 1845. A member of the Kentucky legislature from 1849-51, he became Vice President of the United States in 1856 in the Buchanan administration. He was defeated by Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election. On November 2, 1861, he accepted a commission as brigadier general in the Confederate army, and was promoted to major general to rank from April 14, 1862. He served at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, Murfreesboro where he distinguished himself, Chickamauga, and the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign including the battle of New Market, Va. where the VMI cadets received their baptism in battle. In February 1865, President Jefferson Davis appointed him Confederate Secretary of War. After the fall of the Confederate capital at Richmond, he ensured the preservation of Confederate military and governmental records. He then fled to Cuba, Great Britain, and finally, to Canada. In exile, he toured Europe from August 1866 to June 1868. When President Andrew Johnson extended amnesty to all former Confederates in late 1868, he returned to Kentucky, but resisted all encouragement to resume his political career.
Signature With Place: 5 1/2 x 1 1/2, in ink, John C. Breckenridge, Lexington, Kentucky. Closely cut at the bottom edge. |