John C. Breckinridge
John C. Breckinridge | |
---|---|
14th Vice President of the United States | |
In office March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861 | |
President | James Buchanan |
Preceded by | William R. King |
Succeeded by | Hannibal Hamlin |
5th Confederate States Secretary of War | |
In office February 6, 1865 – May 10, 1865 | |
President | Jefferson Davis |
Preceded by | James Seddon |
Succeeded by | Position abolished |
United States Senator from Kentucky | |
In office March 4, 1861 – December 4, 1861 | |
Preceded by | John J. Crittenden |
Succeeded by | Garrett Davis |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 8th district | |
In office March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1855 | |
Preceded by | Charles Morehead |
Succeeded by | Alexander Marshall |
Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from Fayette County | |
In office 1849–1850 | |
Personal details | |
Born | John Cabell Breckinridge January 16, 1821 U.S. |
Resting place | Lexington Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic |
Other political affiliations | Southern Democratic (1860) |
Spouse |
Major general (C.S.) |
Battles/wars | |
John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented
Breckinridge was born near Lexington, Kentucky, to a prominent local family. After serving as a noncombatant during the Mexican–American War, he was elected as a Democrat to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1849, where he took a states' rights position against interference with slavery. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1851, he allied with Stephen A. Douglas in support of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. After reapportionment in 1854 made his re-election unlikely, he declined to run for another term. He was nominated for vice president at the 1856 Democratic National Convention to balance a ticket headed by James Buchanan. The Democrats won the election, but Breckinridge had little influence with Buchanan, and as presiding officer of the Senate, could not express his opinions in debates. He joined Buchanan in supporting the proslavery Lecompton Constitution for Kansas, which led to a split in the Democratic Party. In 1859, he was elected to succeed Senator John J. Crittenden at the end of Crittenden's term in 1861.
After Southern Democrats walked out of the
Breckinridge fled behind Confederate lines. He was commissioned a
Early life
John Cabell Breckinridge was born at Thorn Hill, his family's estate near Lexington, Kentucky, on January 16, 1821,[1] the fourth of six children and only son of Joseph "Cabell" Breckinridge and Mary Clay (Smith) Breckinridge.[2] His mother was the daughter of Samuel Stanhope Smith, who founded Hampden–Sydney College in 1775, and granddaughter of John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.[1] Having previously served as speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, Breckinridge's father had been appointed Kentucky's secretary of state just prior to his son's birth.[3] In February, one month after Breckinridge's birth, the family moved with Governor John Adair to the Governor's Mansion in Frankfort, so his father could better attend to his duties as secretary of state.[4]
In August 1823, an illness referred to as "the prevailing fever" struck Frankfort, and Cabell Breckinridge took his children to stay with his mother in Lexington.
After an argument between Breckinridge's mother and grandmother in 1832, his mother, his sister Laetitia, and he moved to Danville, Kentucky, to live with his sister Frances and her husband, John C. Young, who was president of Centre College.[10][11] Breckinridge's uncle, William Breckinridge, was also on the faculty there, prompting him to enroll in November 1834.[8] Among his schoolmates were Beriah Magoffin, William Birney, Theodore O'Hara, Thomas L. Crittenden, and Jeremiah Boyle.[11][12] After earning a Bachelor of Arts in September 1838, he spent the following winter as a "resident graduate" at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).[13][14] Returning to Kentucky in mid-1839, he read law with Judge William Owsley.[14] In November 1840, he enrolled in the second year of the law course at Transylvania University in Lexington, where his instructors included George Robertson and Thomas A. Marshall of the Kentucky Court of Appeals.[15] On February 25, 1841, he received a Bachelor of Laws and was licensed to practice the next day.[16]
Early legal career
Breckinridge remained in Lexington while deciding where to begin practice, borrowing law books from the library of John J. Crittenden, Thomas Crittenden's father.[17] Deciding that Lexington was overcrowded with lawyers, he moved to Frankfort, but was unable to find an office. After being spurned by a love interest, former classmate Thomas W. Bullock and he departed for the Iowa Territory on October 10, 1841, seeking better opportunities.[18] They considered settling on land Breckinridge had inherited in Jacksonville, Illinois, but they found the bar stocked with able men such as Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln.[19] They continued on to Burlington, Iowa, and by the winter of 1842–1843, Breckinridge reported to family members that his firm handled more cases than almost any other in Burlington.[20] Influenced by Bullock and the citizens of Iowa, he identified with the Democratic Party, and by February 1843, he had been named to the Democratic committee of Des Moines County.[21] Most of the Kentucky Breckinridges were Whigs, and when he learned of his nephew's party affiliation, William Breckinridge declared, "I felt as I would have done if I had heard that my daughter had been dishonored."[22]
Breckinridge visited Kentucky in May 1843.
Mexican–American War
A supporter of the Mexican–American War, Breckinridge sought appointment to the staff of Major General
Breckinridge again applied for a military commission after William Owsley, the governor of Kentucky, called for two additional regiments on August 31, 1847.[29] Owsley's advisors encouraged the Whig governor to commission at least one Democrat, and Whig Senator John J. Crittenden supported Breckinridge's application.[30] On September 6, 1847, Owsley appointed Manlius V. Thomson as colonel, Thomas Crittenden as lieutenant colonel, and Breckinridge as major of the Third Kentucky Infantry Regiment.[29][30] The regiment left Kentucky on November 1 and reached Vera Cruz by November 21.[31] After a serious epidemic of la Vomito, or yellow fever, broke out at Vera Cruz,[32] the regiment hurried to Mexico City. Reports indicate that Breckinridge walked all but two days of the journey, allowing weary soldiers to use his horse.[31] When they reached Mexico City on December 18, the fighting was almost over; they participated in no combat and remained as an army of occupation until May 30, 1848.[31][33]
In demand more for his legal expertise than his military training, he was named as assistant counsel for Gideon Johnson Pillow during a court of inquiry initiated against him by Winfield Scott.[34][35] Seeking to derail Scott's presidential ambitions, Pillow and his supporters composed and published letters that lauded Pillow, not Scott, for the American victories at Contreras and Churubusco. To hide his involvement, Pillow convinced a subordinate to take credit for the letter he wrote. Breckinridge biographer William C. Davis writes that it was "most unlikely" that Breckinridge knew the details of Pillow's intrigue.[36] His role in the proceedings was limited to questioning a few witnesses; records show that Pillow represented himself during the court's proceedings.[35][36]
Returning to Louisville on July 16, the Third Kentucky mustered out on July 21.[37] During their time in Mexico, over 100 members of the 1,000-man regiment died of illness.[28] Although he saw no combat, Breckinridge's military service proved an asset to his political prospects.[28]
Political career
Early political career
Breckinridge campaigned for Democratic presidential nominee James K. Polk in the 1844 election.[37] He decided against running for county clerk of Scott County after his law partner complained that he spent too much time in politics.[38] In 1845, some local Democrats encouraged him to seek the Eighth District's congressional seat, but he declined, supporting Alexander Keith Marshall, the party's unsuccessful nominee.[27][38] As a private citizen, he opposed the Wilmot Proviso that would have banned slavery in the territory acquired in the war with Mexico.[39] In the 1848 presidential election, he backed the unsuccessful Democratic ticket of Lewis Cass and William Butler.[27] He did not vote in the election. Defending his decision during a speech in Lexington on September 5, 1860, Breckinridge explained:
But it so happened that there were six or eight gentlemen also accompanying me, all of them belonging to the Whig Party, and they proposed to me that if I would not return to my own town and vote, they would not. If they would, there would be six or seven votes cast for Taylor and but one cast for Cass. I accepted the proposition, and we went hunting; and had every man done as well as myself, we should have carried the State by 40,000 majority.[40]
Kentucky House of Representatives
In August 1849, Kentuckians elected delegates to a state
Breckinridge received 1,481 votes, over 400 more than his nearest competitor, making this the first time that Fayette County had elected a Democrat to the state House of Representatives.[45][46] Between the election and the legislative session, Breckinridge formed a new law partnership with Owsley's former secretary of state, George B. Kinkead, his previous partner having died in a cholera epidemic earlier in the year.[47] He also co-founded the Kentucky Statesman, a semiweekly Democratic newspaper, and visited his cousin, Mary Todd, where he met her husband, Abraham Lincoln, for the first time; despite their political differences, they became friends.[47][48]
When the House convened, Breckinridge received a plurality of votes for speaker, but fell at least eight votes short of a majority.[45] Unable to break the deadlock, he withdrew, and the position went to Whig Thomas Reilly.[49] Biographer Frank H. Heck wrote that Breckinridge was the leader of the House Democratic caucus during the session, during which time most of the measures considered were "local or personal and in any case, petty".[50] Breckinridge was assigned to the House's standing committees on federal relations and the judiciary.[45] He supported bills allocating funding for internal improvements, a traditionally Whig stance.[49] As Congress debated Henry Clay's proposed Compromise of 1850, the four Whigs on the Committee on Federal Relations drew up resolutions urging the Kentucky congressional delegation to support the compromise as a "fair, equitable, and just basis" for settlement of the slavery issue in the newly acquired U.S. territories. Breckinridge felt that the resolution was too vague and authored a minority report that explicitly denied federal authority to interfere with slavery in states and territories. Both sets of resolutions, and a set adopted by the Senate, were all laid on the table.[51]
On March 4, 1850, three days before the end of the session, Breckinridge took a leave of absence to care for his son, John Milton, who had become ill; he died on March 18.[52] Keeping a busy schedule to cope with his grief, he urged adoption of the proposed constitution at a series of meetings around the state.[53] His only concern with the document was its lack of an amendment process.[52] The constitution was overwhelmingly ratified in May. Democrats wanted to nominate him for re-election, but he declined, citing problems "of a private and imperative character". Davis wrote "his problem – besides continuing sadness over his son's death – was money."[54]
U.S. Representative
First term (1851–1853)
Breckinridge was a delegate to the January 8, 1851, state Democratic convention, which nominated
Supporters promoted Breckinridge for
Returning home from the legislative session, Breckinridge made daily visits with Henry Clay, who lay dying in Lexington, and was chosen to deliver Clay's eulogy in Congress when the next session commenced.[66] The eulogy enhanced his popularity and solidified his position as Clay's political heir apparent.[62] He also campaigned for the election of Democrat Franklin Pierce as president.[67] Although Pierce lost Kentucky by 3,200 votes, Breckinridge wielded more influence with him than he had with outgoing Whig President Millard Fillmore.[68] A week after his inauguration, Pierce offered Breckinridge an appointment as governor of Washington Territory. He had initially sought the appointment, securing letters of recommendation from Powell and Butler, but by the time it was offered, he had decided to stay in Kentucky and seek re-election to the House.[69]
Second term (1853–1855)
The Whigs, seeking to recapture Breckinridge's seat, nominated Kentucky
Of the 234 members of the House, Breckinridge was among the 80 who were returned to their seats for the Thirty-third Congress.[67] Due to his increased seniority, he was assigned to the more prestigious Ways and Means Committee, but he was not given a committee chairmanship as many had expected.[62] Although he supported Pierce's proslavery agenda on the principle of states' rights and believed that secession was legal, he opposed secession as a remedy to the country's immediate problems.[26] This, coupled with his earlier support of manumission and African colonization, balanced his support for slavery; most still considered him a moderate legislator.[48]
An ally of Illinois' Stephen A. Douglas, Breckinridge supported the doctrine of popular sovereignty as expressed in Douglas's Kansas–Nebraska Act. He believed passage of the act would remove the issue of slavery from national politics – although it ultimately had the opposite effect – and acted as a liaison between Douglas and Pierce to secure its passage.[48] During the debate on the House floor, New York's Francis B. Cutting, incensed by a statement that Breckinridge had made, demanded that he explain or retract it. Breckinridge interpreted Cutting's demand as a challenge to duel. Under code duello, the individual being challenged retained the right to name the weapons used and the distance between the combatants; Breckinridge chose rifles at 60 paces.[72] He also specified that the duel should be held at Silver Spring, Maryland, the home of his friend Francis Preston Blair.[48] Cutting, who had not intended his initial remark as a challenge, believed that Breckinridge's naming of terms constituted a challenge; he chose to use pistols at a distance of 10 paces. While the two men attempted to clarify who had issued the challenge and who reserved the right to choose the terms, mutual friends resolved the issue, preventing the duel.[72] The recently adopted Kentucky Constitution prevented anyone who participated in a duel from holding elected office, and the peaceful resolution of the issue may have saved Breckinridge's political career.[76]
Retirement from the House
In February 1854, the Whig majority in the Kentucky General Assembly passed – over Powell's veto – a
Desiring to care for his sick wife and rebuild his personal wealth, Breckinridge returned to his law practice in Lexington.[48] In addition to his legal practice, he engaged in land speculation in Minnesota territory and Wisconsin.[80] When Governor Willis A. Gorman of the Minnesota Territory thwarted an attempt by Breckinridge's fellow investors (not including Breckinridge) to secure approval of a railroad connecting Dubuque, Iowa, with their investments near Superior, Wisconsin, they petitioned Pierce to remove Gorman and appoint Breckinridge in his place. In 1855, Pierce authorized two successive investigations of Gorman, but failed to uncover any wrongdoing that would justify his removal.[81] During his time away from politics, Breckinridge also promoted the advancement of horse racing in his native state and was chosen president of the Kentucky Association for the Improvement of the Breed of Horses.[82]
Vice presidency (1857–1861)
As a delegate to the 1856 Democratic National Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, Breckinridge favored Pierce's renomination for president. When Pierce's hopes of securing the nomination faltered, Breckinridge joined other erstwhile Pierce backers by throwing his support behind his friend, Stephen Douglas. Even with this additional support, Douglas was still unable to garner two third's majority of the delegates' votes, and he withdrew, leaving James Buchanan as the Democratic presidential nominee.[82] William Alexander Richardson, a Kentucky-born Representative from Illinois, then suggested that nominating Breckinridge for vice president would balance Buchanan's ticket and placate disgruntled supporters of Douglas or Pierce.[83] A delegate from Louisiana placed his name before the convention, and although Breckinridge desired the vice presidential nomination, he declined, citing his deference to fellow Kentuckian and former House Speaker Linn Boyd, who was supported by the Kentucky delegation.[48]
Ten men received votes on the first vice-presidential ballot. Mississippi's John A. Quitman had the most support with 59 votes. Eight state delegations – with a total of 55 votes – voted for Breckinridge in spite of his refusal of the nomination, making him the second-highest vote getter. Kentucky cast its 12 votes for Boyd, bringing his third-place total to 33 votes. Seeing Breckinridge's strength on the first ballot, large numbers of delegates voted for him on the second ballot, and those who did not soon saw that his nomination was inevitable and changed their votes to make it unanimous.[84]
Unlike many political nominees of his time, Breckinridge actively campaigned for Buchanan and his election.
Buchanan resented that Breckinridge had supported both Pierce and Douglas before endorsing his nomination.[88] Relations between the two were further strained, when upon asking for a private interview with Buchanan, Breckinridge was told to come to the White House and ask for Harriet Lane, who acted as the mansion's host for the unmarried president. Feeling slighted by the response, Breckinridge refused to carry out these instructions; later, three of Buchanan's intimates informed Breckinridge that requesting to speak to Miss Lane was actually a secret instruction to White House staff to usher the requestor into a private audience with the president.[89] They also conveyed Buchanan's apologies for the misunderstanding.[90]
Buchanan rarely consulted Breckinridge when making patronage appointments, and meetings between the two were infrequent.
Functioning as the Senate's presiding officer, Breckinridge's participation in the chamber's debates was also restricted, but he won respect for presiding "gracefully and impartially."[48] On January 4, 1859, he was asked to deliver the final address in the Old Senate Chamber; in the speech, he expressed his desire that the Congress find a solution that would preserve the Union.[86] During its half century in the chamber, the Senate had grown from 32 to 64 members. During those years, he observed, the Constitution had "survived peace and war, prosperity and adversity" to protect "the larger personal freedom compatible with public order." Breckinridge expressed hope that eventually "another Senate, in another age, shall bear to a new and larger Chamber, this Constitution vigorous and inviolate, and that the last generation of posterity shall witness the deliberations of the Representatives of American States, still united, prosperous, and free."[48][93] Breckinridge then led a procession to the new chamber.[48] Breckinridge opposed the idea that the federal government could coerce action by a state, but maintained that secession, while legal, was not the solution to the country's problems.[26]
Although John Crittenden's Senate term did not expire until 1861, the Kentucky General Assembly met to choose his successor in 1859.[88] Until just days before the election, the contest was expected to be between Breckinridge and Boyd, who had been elected lieutenant governor in August; Boyd's worsening health prompted his withdrawal on November 28, 1859. On December 12, the Assembly chose Breckinridge over Joshua Fry Bell, the defeated candidate in the August gubernatorial election, by a vote of 81–53.[94] In his acceptance speech, delivered to the Kentucky House of Representatives on December 21, Breckinridge endorsed the Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which ruled that Congress could not restrict slavery in the territories, and insisted that John Brown's recent raid on Harpers Ferry was evidence of Republicans' insistence on either "negro equality" or violence.[88][95] Resistance in some form, he predicted, would eventually be necessary.[43] He still urged the assembly against secession – "God forbid that the step shall ever be taken!" – but his discussion of growing sectional conflict bothered some, including his uncle Robert.[96]
Presidential campaign of 1860
Early in 1859, Senator
Among Breckinridge's supporters at the
Pro-Southern delegates, who had walked out of the Charleston convention in protest of its failure to adopt a federal slave code plank in its platform, did not participate in the Baltimore convention.
Opponents knew Breckinridge believed in the right of secession and accused him of favoring the breakup of the Union; he denied the latter during a speech in Frankfort: "I am an American citizen, a Kentuckian who never did an act nor cherished a thought that was not full of devotion to the Constitution and the Union."[103] While he had very little support in the northern states, most, if not all, of the southern states were expected to go for Breckinridge.[104] This would give him only 120 of 303 electoral votes, but to gain support from any northern states, he had to minimize his connections with the southern states and risked losing their support to Bell.[105] Some Breckinridge supporters believed his best hope was for the election to be thrown to the House of Representatives; if he could add the support of some Douglas or Bell states to the 13 believed to support him, he could beat Lincoln, who was believed to carry the support of 15 states.[104] To Davis's wife, Varina, Breckinridge wrote, "I trust I have the courage to lead a forlorn hope."[106]
In the four-way contest, Breckinridge came in third in the popular vote, with 18.1%, but second in the
On February 24, Breckinridge visited Lincoln at
U.S. Senator
Seven states had already seceded when Breckinridge took his seat as a senator, leaving the remaining Southern senators more outnumbered in their defense of slavery.[107] Seeking to find a compromise that would reunite the states under constitutional principles, he urged Lincoln to withdraw federal forces from the Confederate states to avert war.[112][113] The congressional session ended on March 28, and in an April 2 address to the Kentucky General Assembly, he continued to advocate peaceful reconciliation of the states and proposed a conference of border states to seek a solution.[114] On April 12, Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter, ending plans for the conference.[115] Breckinridge recommended that Governor Beriah Magoffin call a sovereignty convention to determine whether Kentucky would side with the Union or the Confederacy.[116] On May 10, he was chosen by the legislature as one of six delegates to a conference to decide the state's next action.[26] The states' rights delegates were Breckinridge, Magoffin, and Richard Hawes; the Unionist delegates were Crittenden, Archibald Dixon, and S.S. Nicholas.[116] Unable to agree on substantial issues, the delegates recommended that Kentucky adopt a neutral stance in the Civil War and arm itself to prevent invasion by either federal or Confederate forces.[117] Breckinridge did not support this recommendation, but he agreed to abide by it once it was approved by the legislature.[26]
In special elections in June, pro-Union candidates captured 9 of 10 seats in Kentucky's House delegation.[116] Returning to the Senate for a special session in July, Breckinridge was regarded as a traitor by most of his fellow legislators because of his Confederate sympathies.[118] He condemned as unconstitutional Lincoln's enlistment and arming of men for a war Congress had not officially declared, his expending funds for the war that had not been allocated by Congress, and his suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.[112] He was the only senator to vote against a resolution authorizing Lincoln to use "the entire resources of the government" for the war.[119] Asked what he would do if he were president, he replied, "I would prefer to see these States all reunited upon true constitutional principles to any other object that could be offered me in life. But I infinitely prefer to see a peaceful separation of these States than to see endless, aimless, devastating war, at the end of which I see the grave of public liberty and of personal freedom." On August 1, he declared that, if Kentucky sided with the federal government against the Confederacy, "she will be represented by some other man on the floor of this Senate."[118]
Kentucky's neutrality was breached by both federal and Confederate forces in early September 1861 (the Federal forces maintained that there had been no breach, as Kentucky was an integral part of the Union).
In an open letter to his constituents dated October 8, 1861, Breckinridge maintained that the Union no longer existed and that Kentucky should be free to choose her own course; he defended his sympathy to the Southern cause and denounced the Unionist state legislature, declaring, "I exchange with proud satisfaction a term of six years in the Senate of the United States for the musket of a soldier."[118][122] He was indicted for treason in U.S. federal district court in Frankfort on November 6, 1861, having officially enlisted in the Confederate army days earlier.[26] On December 2, 1861, he was declared a traitor by the U.S. Senate.[123] A resolution stating "Whereas John C. Breckinridge, a member of this body from the State of Kentucky, has joined the enemies of his country, and is now in arms against the government he had sworn to support: Therefore—Resolved, That said John C. Breckinridge, the traitor, be, and he hereby is, expelled from the Senate," was adopted by a vote of 36–0 on December 4.[48][124][125] Ten Southern Senators had been expelled earlier that year in July.[126]
American Civil War
Service in the Western Theater
On the recommendation of
Johnston's forces were forced to withdraw from Bowling Green in February 1862.[127] During the retreat, Breckinridge was put in charge of Johnston's Reserve Corps.[26] Johnston decided to attack Ulysses S. Grant's forces at Shiloh, Tennessee on April 6, 1862, by advancing North from his base in Corinth, Mississippi. Breckinridge's reserves soon joined the Battle of Shiloh as Johnston tried to force Grant's troops into the river.[127] Despite Johnston being killed in the fighting, the Confederates made steady progress against Grant's troops until P. G. T. Beauregard – who assumed command after Johnston's death – ordered his generals to break off the fighting at about 6 o'clock in the afternoon.[131] The next day, the Union forces regrouped and repelled the Confederates.[127] Breckinridge's division formed the Confederate rearguard, stationing itself on the ground that the Confederates held the night before the first day of the battle while the rest of the army retreated. Union troops did not pursue them.[132] Of the 7,000 troops under Breckinridge's command at the battle, 386 were killed and 1,628 were wounded, Breckinridge among the latter.[123][133]
Breckinridge's performance earned him a promotion to
Later that month, Breckinridge served as an independent commander in the lower
Bragg resented Breckinridge's close ties to Confederate commanders, particularly
At Murfreesboro, Breckinridge's Division was assigned to Lieutenant General William J. Hardee's Corps and was stationed on the east side of the Stones River. When the Union Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Major General William Rosecrans, attacked on December 31, 1862, beginning the Battle of Stones River, Bragg's main force initially repelled the attack.[135] Bragg ordered Breckinridge to reinforce him on the west side of the river, but Brigadier General John Pegram, who commanded a cavalry brigade, erroneously reported that a large Union force was advancing along the east bank, and Breckinridge was slow to comply with Bragg's order. When he finally crossed the river, his attacks were ineffective, and Bragg ordered him back across the river.[141] On January 2, a Union division under Brigadier General Horatio P. Van Cleve crossed the river and took a ridge. The position endangered Leonidas Polk's corps, which was positioned ahead of the rest of the Confederate lines in the center of the battlefield. Against Breckinridge's advice, Bragg ordered his division to launch a frontal attack on the federal position.[145][146] Prior to the attack, Breckinridge wrote to Preston, "if [the attack] should result in disaster and I be among the killed, I want you to do justice to my memory and tell the people that I believed this attack to be very unwise and tried to prevent it."[143]
Launching their attack at 4 P.M., Breckinridge's men initially broke the Union line and forced them across the river. Artillery on the opposite side of the river then opened fire on Breckinridge's men, and a fresh Union division under Brigadier General James S. Negley arrived to reinforce the fleeing troops. In just over an hour, nearly one-third of Breckinridge's troops were killed, wounded, or captured. One anecdote holds that, as he rode among the survivors, he cried out repeatedly, "My poor Orphans! My poor Orphans," bringing recognition to the Orphan Brigade.[143][147] Bragg's official report criticized the conduct of Breckinridge's division and assigned to Breckinridge most of the blame for the Confederate defeat.[142][145][148] Breckinridge asserted to his superiors that Bragg's report "fails to do justice to the behavior of my Division"; he requested a court of inquiry, but the request was denied.[142] Several Kentuckians under Breckinridge's command, who already blamed Bragg for the failed invasion of their native state, encouraged him to resign his commission and challenge Bragg to a duel.[144]
In May 1863, Breckinridge was reassigned to Joseph E. Johnston, participating in the Battle of Jackson in an unsuccessful attempt to break the siege of Vicksburg.[26] Vicksburg fell to Grant's forces on July 4, and Breckinridge was returned to Bragg's command on August 28, 1863. After seeing no action on the first day of the Battle of Chickamauga in Georgia on September 19, he led a division of D.H. Hill's corps in an attack on the Union forces the next morning.[144] The Confederate troops succeeded in breaking the Union line,[130] but the main army escaped back to Tennessee. Of Breckinridge's 3,769 men, 166 were killed in the battle; 909 were wounded and 165 were missing.[149]
In late November, Breckinridge commanded one of Bragg's two corps during the Confederate defeat at the
Service in the Eastern Theater
On December 15, 1863, Breckinridge took leave in Richmond.
On May 5, General
After Early and Breckinridge (who was now able to ride a horse) chased Hunter more than sixty miles away from the city, Lee ordered them to clear the Union forces from the
After the death of
In mid-November, Breckinridge led a raid into northeastern Tennessee, driving Alvan Cullem Gillem's forces back to Knoxville at the Battle of Bull's Gap. On December 17–18, he faced a two-pronged attack from Union cavalry under Major General George Stoneman at the Battle of Marion in Virginia. Badly outnumbered on either flank, Breckinridge resisted Stoneman's forces until he ran low on ammunition. Stoneman's forces were able to damage Confederate salt works, lead mines, and railroads in the area, and destroy supply depots at Bristol and Abingdon. Finally restocked with ammunition after three days, Breckinridge was able to drive Stoneman – whose men were now short of ammunition themselves – out of the area.[170]
Confederate Secretary of War
By late February, Breckinridge concluded that the Confederate cause was hopeless. Delegating the day-to-day operations of his office to his assistant, John Archibald Campbell, he began laying the groundwork for surrender.[171] Davis desired to continue the fight, but Breckinridge urged, "This has been a magnificent epic. In God's name let it not terminate in farce."[48] On April 2, Lee sent a telegram to Breckinridge informing him that he would have to withdraw from his position that night, and that this would necessitate the evacuation of Richmond.[174] Ordering Campbell to organize the flight of the Confederate cabinet to Danville, Virginia, Breckinridge remained in the city to oversee the destruction of facilities and supplies to prevent their use by the invading federal forces.[171] However, he did not destroy Confederate archives and records, which were preserved for history.[130] Upon his exit from the city, he ordered that the bridges over the James River be burned. His son Clifton, then serving in the Confederate Navy at Richmond, resigned his post and joined his father as he moved southward to meet Davis.[167]
After overseeing the transfer of Richmond, Breckinridge joined Lee's forces at Farmville, Virginia, on the night of April 5 and remained there until April 7.[174] He continued on to Danville, arriving on April 11 to discover that Lee had surrendered on April 9 and the Confederate cabinet had already fled to Greensboro, North Carolina.[175] Arriving in Greensboro on April 13, he advised the cabinet that the remaining Confederate armies should be surrendered; only Davis and Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin disagreed.[175] At Bennett Place, he assisted Joseph E. Johnston in his surrender negotiations with Major General William Tecumseh Sherman.[129] Sherman later praised Breckinridge's negotiating skills, and the surrender terms agreed to were later rejected by Washington as too generous, forcing Sherman to offer the same terms as Grant had at Appomattox, which were accepted.[176]
On April 18, Breckinridge heard from Sherman and Johnston of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln four days earlier; the President had died in the Petersen House, where Breckinridge briefly resided in late 1852 as a U.S. representative. The Kentuckian was visibly devastated. Eyewitness accounts recall him to have said, "Gentlemen, the South has lost its best friend."[177]
Breckinridge rode into Abbeville, South Carolina, on the morning of April 28.[151] While there, Breckinridge and Brigadier General Basil W. Duke convinced Davis that continuing the war was hopeless.[178] Breckinridge was put in charge of the $150,000 in gold specie remaining in the Confederate treasury; traveling southward by rail toward Washington, Georgia, a group of soldiers in his military escort – unpaid for months – threatened to divide the gold among themselves before it could be captured by federal troops.[178][179] Breckinridge convinced them to abandon their scheme after paying them their wages from the treasury, but some of them refused to escort Breckinridge and the bullion any further.[178] Breckinridge's party arrived in Washington on May 4 and, after paying out several requisitions from the treasury, deposited the rest in banks there. He also composed a letter to his remaining deputies in which he disbanded the War Department.[180]
Escape and exile
On May 5, the same day that Jefferson Davis officially dissolved the Confederate Government,
At
On June 5, the party was spotted by a federal steamer, but convinced the crew they were hunters scavenging the coast.[186] Two days later, they encountered a larger boat with a mast and rigging; chasing it down, they disarmed the occupants and hijacked the craft.[186] As compensation, they gave their old boat and twenty dollars in gold to the owners of the larger craft, and returned some of their weapons after the exchange was complete.[186] With this more seaworthy craft, they decided to flee to Cuba. Departing from Fort Dallas, they survived an encounter with pirates, two significant storms, and a dangerous lack of provisions before arriving in Cárdenas on June 11, 1865.[183] A Kentuckian living in the city recognized Breckinridge, introduced him to the locals, and served as his interpreter. The refugees were given food and stayed the night in a local hotel.[187] The next morning, they traveled by rail to Havana, where Breckinridge was offered a house.[188] He declined the offer, choosing to travel with Charles J. Helm, a fellow Kentuckian who had been operating as a Confederate agent in the Caribbean, to Great Britain.[183]
Arriving in Britain in late July, he consulted with former Confederate agents there and arranged communication with his wife, then in Canada. Re-crossing the Atlantic, he was reunited with his wife and all of his children except Clifton in
Desiring to return to the U.S. but still fearing capture, Breckinridge moved his family back to Niagara in June 1868.
Return to the U.S. and death
Johnson proclaimed amnesty for all former Confederates on December 25, 1868.[130] Still in Canada, Breckinridge lingered for a few weeks to receive assurance that it still applied to him even though he had not been in the U.S. when it was issued.[195] Departing Canada on February 10, 1869, he made several stops to visit family and friends, arriving in Lexington on March 9.[194][195] Although he resided in Kentucky for the rest of his life, he never bought a home there after the war, living first in hotels and then renting a home on West Second Street.[196]
Many insurance companies in the south asked Breckinridge to join them. In August 1868, he became manager of the Kentucky branch of Virginia's Piedmont Life Insurance Company (which soon became the Piedmont and Arlington Insurance Company). Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) offered him a professorship. He was urged to accept by former Confederate Colonel William Preston Johnston, who was already a faculty member,[197] but Breckinridge declined.[198] He resumed his law practice, taking as a partner Robert A. Thornton, a 27-year-old Confederate veteran.[196] He served as general counsel for the proposed Cincinnati Southern Railway, which would connect Cincinnati to Chattanooga via Lexington.[26][199] Officials in Louisville tried to block the move, which would break the near-monopoly that the Louisville and Nashville Railroad had on southern trade.[199] On January 25, 1870, he presented his case to the House and Senate railroad committees; although they rejected it at that time, they approved it two years later.[199] Construction began in 1873.[200]
Breckinridge's other railroad ventures were less successful. During his lifetime, he was unable to secure the construction of railroads to his real estate investments in and around
Breckinridge refused all requests – including one by President Ulysses S. Grant – to return to politics, insisting, "I no more feel the political excitements that marked the scenes of my former years than if I were an extinct volcano."
By 1873, Breckinridge began to experience health problems which he referred to as "pleuro-pneumonia".[205] Repeated surgeries and visits to the New York coast and the Virginia mountains did not improve his condition.[206] In May 1875, he consulted surgeons Lewis Sayre and Samuel D. Gross, who concluded that his ill health was caused by cirrhosis brought on by injuries to his liver suffered during the war. Of more immediate concern was the fluid that filled two-thirds of one of his lungs. On May 11, Sayre attempted to create an artificial opening through which the fluid could drain; although he had to stop before completing the operation, some of the fluid was drained, bringing a measure of relief. Assisted by Beck and Frank K. Hunt, Breckinridge completed his will.[207] Sayre further alleviated Breckinridge's pain via another surgery on the morning of May 17, but by the afternoon, his condition rapidly worsened, and he died at approximately 5:45 p.m. at the age of 54.[208] Basil Duke led the funeral procession to Lexington Cemetery where Breckinridge's body was buried.[209]
Legacy
Historical reputation
As a military commander, Breckinridge was highly respected by some. Fellow Confederate George M. Edgar, describing Breckinridge's performance, wrote:
General Breckinridge had few if any superiors on the field of battle. Besides being a man of wonderful courage, he had a keen eye to discern the strong and weak points of the enemy's position, skill in using his forces to the best advantage, and a celerity of movement which reminded me of Jackson.[210]
On May 20, 1875, the Louisville Courier Journal declared that it was Breckinridge who was "truly representative of the rebellion as an actual force and its underlying causes."[211] He was viewed poorly in the North. The premature New York Times 1863 obituary labelled "him one of the basest and wickedest of traitors."[153]
His strengths included a reputation for dignity and integrity, and especially his tall, graceful and handsome appearance, with cordial manner, pleasing voice and eloquent address that was highly appreciated by voters, soldiers, and women alike. He was hailed as the personification of Kentucky chivalry. Observers said he was a "most noble looking man – a ladies man – such piercing blue eyes I never saw before. His very looks show his superiority over most men."[212]
Monuments and memorials
Despite differences in spelling, the towns of
Breckinridge was played by Jason Isaacs in the 2014 film Field of Lost Shoes, which depicted the Battle of New Market.[219]
A memorial to Breckinridge was placed on the Fayette County Courthouse lawn in Lexington in 1887.[220] In November 2015, the Urban County Arts Review Board voted to recommend removal of both the Breckinridge statue and one of John Hunt Morgan. Amy Murrell Taylor, the T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of History at the University of Kentucky, claimed that the "statues are not and have never been neutral representations of the Civil War past but instead they are embodiments of a racially charged postwar interpretation of it."[221] The relocation of the memorial to the Lexington Cemetery was completed in July 2018, funded by private donations. Breckinridge's memorial was placed in his family's burial area in Section G.[222]
See also
- Breckinridge family in the American Civil War
- Kentucky in the American Civil War
- List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)
- List of United States senators expelled or censured
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Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-8071-0068-4.
- Eaton, David Wolfe (1916). How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named. Columbia, Missouri: The State Historical Society of Missouri. ISBN 1-120-29618-8.
- Eicher, John H.; ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- Harrison, Lowell H. (1973). "John C. Breckinridge: Nationalist, Confederate, Kentuckian". Filson Club History Quarterly. 47 (2).
- Heck, Frank H. (1976). Proud Kentuckian: John C. Breckinridge, 1821–1875. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-0217-0.
- ISBN 0-8131-9165-3.
- ISBN 0-8131-1772-0. Archived from the originalon July 17, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
- McKnight, Brian D. (2006). Contested Borderland: Civil War in Appalachian Kentucky and Virginia. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-2389-5.
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- Sifakis, Stewart (1988). Who was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8131-1772-0.
- Upham, Warren (1920). Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance. Saint Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society. ISBN 1-115-33741-6.
Further reading
- ISBN 0-8071-0823-5.
- ISBN 0-7006-0461-8.
External links
- Mary Breckinridge, Wife Of General John C. Breckinridge