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| Lt. Gen. John Cabell Breckenridge |
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| Born: January 15, 1821 Lexington, KY |
| Died: May 17, 1875 Lexington, KY |
| Buried: Lexington Cemetery Lexington, Fayette County, KY |
| Plot: Section G, Lot 1 |
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Prior to the war, Breckinridge served as the US Vice-President under Buchanan. During the war he served as a general in the Confederate Army and later as the Confederate Secretary of War.
John Breckinridge was one of the rare political generals who was good at both. He was born in Kentucky, graduated college at 18, studied a bit more at what is now Princeton (then the College of New Jersey), and then studied the law. He set up practice in Lexington, Kentucky and soon moved in influential circles. He ‘served’ in the Mexican War, as major of the Third Kentucky Volunteers, but the regiment never saw action. He went from there into Kentucky politics as a state representative, then into the U.S. Congress from 1851 to 1855. In 1856, to balance ticket with Pennsylvania-born James Buchanan, he was nominated to be Vice President. Buchanan was elected, and thus so was Breckinridge. He was the youngest Vice President, but like all Vice Presidents he didn’t do much. He did run for President in his own regard in 1860. There were four main candidates, and the vote was badly fractured. Breckinridge was the candidate of the Southern Democrats, and came in second in the Electoral College (winning the Deep South, but also Maryland and Delaware but not his home state, nor Virginia and Tennessee) but third in the popular vote. Kentucky then elected him to the Senate (Senators were elected by the state legislatures until 1913) and he served for ten month in 1861. He wanted Kentucky to remain neutral, but nobody could sit on the fence. He fled Washington, afraid of the military government that had been installed in Kentucky. The Senate expelled him in December. He joined the Confederacy as a Brigadier General (November 1861), leading the Kentuckians later called the Orphan Brigade. They operated in central Kentucky until the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson forced the Confederate forces to fall back into northern Mississippi. He commanded the reserve at Shiloh (he was now a major general and corps commander), then was detached to Vicksburg. He tried to recapture Baton Rouge, in co-operation with the CSS Arkansas, but the ship"s engines broke down and the U.S. troops had naval support which secured their flank. Rather than storm fixed defenses, Breckinridge broke off. He and his Kentuckians were then called on for Bragg’s invasion of Kentucky, but didn’t arrive in time thanks to the long movement and limited Confederate railroads. When Bragg fell back to Tennessee he linked up with Breckinridge, absorbing the smaller command. Breckinridge played a large role at Stones River, making the final attack that nearly broke a Union division, but his own forces were smashed as well. After Bragg withdrew from Tennessee, Breckinridge was again shuttled to Mississippi, serving under Joe Johnston in the campaign to relieve Vicksburg. That failed, and Johnston instead had to defend Jackson, but against Grant’s larger army, with secure supplies from the river, he was driven back. The railroads then moved Breckinridge back to Bragg’s forces, and he led his division at Chickamauga and was promoted to corps command (after the dissentions in the Army of Tennessee thanks to Bragg’s abrasiveness) in time for Chattanooga. In March 1864 he came over the Appalachians, into the Shenandoah Valley. He commanded the district, and beat the inept Franz Sigel at New Market (with the VMI cadets prominent in the battle) on May 15. It was only a short railway journey to join Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in time for Cold Harbor (June 1-3), and then a quick return to the Shenandoah for the battle of Lynchburg. Not only was David Hunter beaten, he had to retreat west instead of north up the Shenandoah, and this opened the Valley for another Confederate sortie. Jubal Early was not slow to take the opportunity, and he launched his Corps (containing Breckinridge’s division) north, threatening Washington. They defeated Lew Wallace at Monocacy, but Wallace bought time for the reinforcement of Washington with more veteran troops (VI Corps). Early turned back. Breckinridge resumed command of the Department of Western Virginia, and added East Tennessee to his responsibilities (both September 1864) but there was little he could mobilize to support Early against Sheridan’s Valley Campaign. In February 1865 Jefferson Davis tapped him to become the Confederacy’s last Secretary of War, a thankless job which soon turned into advising that surrender was the best option. He reckoned that he would be a political prisoner, and so fled to Cuba, working his way eventually to England until 1868 and then Canada until 1869. Politics was calmer by then, and he returned to Lexington, Kentucky and resumed his legal career, also diversifying into railroads. |
| My Source: E-History |