Born on January 16, 1821, John Cabell Breckinridge was a major figure in state and national politics in the late-antebellum period. In 1849, after serving in the Mexican War, Breckinridge entered state politics, serving in the Kentucky House of Representatives. After one term, Kentucky sent him to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he earned a reputation as a supporter of the South. Five years later, he was elected as James Buchanan’s vice president. During the election of 1860, Breckinridge was chosen as the candidate of the southern wing of the Democratic Party, which had split along sectional lines. In the four-way race for the presidency, Breckinridge won most of the slave states but lost to Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate. However, in 1859, he had been elected to the U.S. Senate, and in March 1861, he began his term as senator from Kentucky. For nine months, Breckinridge was criticized for his pro-southern stance, and in December, he resigned to join the Confederate army. First as a field general and later as Secretary of War, Breckinridge was a capable military leader for the Confederacy. With the end of the war in April 1865, Breckinridge fled the U.S. and lived in exile until 1868, when he received a presidential pardon. He then returned to Kentucky and engaged in business and legal pursuits until his death on May 17, 1875.

William C. Davis, Breckinridge: Soldier, Statesman, Symbol (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1974); James C. Klotter, The Breckinridges of Kentucky, 1760-1981 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1986)