John C. Breckinridge

John Cabell Breckinridge was born at Thorn Hill, his family's estate near Lexington, Kentucky, on January 16, 1821, the fourth of six children and only son of Joseph "Cabell" Breckinridge from the Breckinridge family and Mary Clay (Smith) Breckinridge. His mother was a daughter of Samuel Stanhope Smith, who founded Hampden–Sydney College in 1775, and granddaughter of John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. 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. In February 1821, 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. 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. On his return, both his wife and he fell ill. Cabell Breckinridge died, but she survived. His assets were not enough to pay his debts, and his widow joined the children in Lexington, supported by her mother-in-law. While in Lexington, Breckinridge attended Pisgah Academy in Woodford County. His grandmother taught him the political philosophies of her late husband, John Breckinridge, who served in the U.S. Senate and as attorney general under President Thomas Jefferson. As a state legislator, Breckinridge had introduced the Kentucky Resolutions in 1798, which stressed states' rights and endorsed the doctrine of nullification in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts. 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. Breckinridge's uncle, William Breckinridge, was also on the faculty there, prompting him to enroll in November 1834. Among his schoolmates were Beriah Magoffin, William Birney, Theodore O'Hara, Thomas L. Crittenden, and Jeremiah Boyle. 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). Returning to Kentucky in mid-1839, he read law with Judge William Owsley. 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. On February 25, 1841, he received a Bachelor of Laws and was licensed to practice the next day. ==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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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." Breckinridge visited Kentucky in May 1843. His efforts to mediate between his mother and the Breckinridges extended his visit, and after he contracted influenza, he decided to remain for the summer rather than returning to Iowa's colder climate. He met Bullock's cousin, Mary Cyrene Burch, and by September, they were engaged. In October, Breckinridge went to Iowa to close out his business, then returned to Kentucky and formed a law partnership with Samuel Bullock, Thomas's cousin. He married on December 12, 1843, and settled in Georgetown, Kentucky. The couple had six children – Joseph Cabell (b. 1844), Clifton Rodes (b. 1846; later a Congressman from Arkansas), Frances (b. 1848), John Milton (b. 1849), John Witherspoon (b. 1850), and Mary Desha (b. 1854). Gaining confidence in his ability as a lawyer, Breckinridge moved his family back to Lexington in 1845 and formed a partnership with future U.S. Senator James B. Beck. ==Mexican–American War==

A supporter of the Mexican–American War, Breckinridge sought appointment to the staff of Major General William Orlando Butler, a prominent Kentucky Democrat, but Butler could only offer him an unpaid aide position and advised him to decline it. In July 1847, Breckinridge delivered an address at a mass military funeral in Frankfort to honor Kentuckians killed in the Battle of Buena Vista. The oration brought Whig Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky, whose son was among the dead, to tears, and inspired Theodore O'Hara to write "Bivouac of the Dead". Breckinridge again applied for a military commission after William Owsley, the governor of Kentucky, called for two additional regiments on August 31, 1847. Owsley's advisors encouraged the Whig governor to commission at least one Democrat, and Whig Senator John J. Crittenden supported Breckinridge's application. 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. The regiment left Kentucky on November 1 and reached Veracruz by November 21. After a serious epidemic of la Vomito, or yellow fever, broke out at Veracruz, 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. 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. 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. 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. His role in the proceedings was limited to questioning a few witnesses; records show that Pillow represented himself during the court's proceedings. Returning to Louisville on July 16, the Third Kentucky mustered out on July 21. During their time in Mexico, over 100 members of the 1,000-man regiment died of illness. Although he saw no combat, Breckinridge's military service proved an asset to his political prospects. ==Political career==

Early political career Breckinridge campaigned for Democratic presidential nominee James K. Polk in the 1844 election. He decided against running for county clerk of Scott County after his law partner complained that he spent too much time in politics. 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. As a private citizen, he opposed the Wilmot Proviso that would have banned slavery in the territory acquired in the war with Mexico. In the 1848 presidential election, he backed the unsuccessful Democratic ticket of Lewis Cass and William Butler. He did not vote in the election. Defending his decision during a speech in Lexington on September 5, 1860, Breckinridge explained: Kentucky House of Representatives In August 1849, Kentuckians elected delegates to a state constitutional convention in addition to state representatives and senators. Breckinridge's abolitionist uncles, William and Robert, joined with Cassius Marcellus Clay to nominate slates of like-minded candidates for the constitutional convention and the legislature. In response, a bipartisan group of proslavery citizens organized its own slate of candidates, including Breckinridge for one of Fayette County's two seats in the House of Representatives. Breckinridge, who by this time enslaved five people, had publicly opposed "impairing in any form" the legal protection of slavery. Despite his endorsement of slavery protections, he was a member of the Freemasons and the First Presbyterian Church in Lexington, both of which officially opposed slavery. He had also previously represented free blacks in court, expressed support for voluntary emancipation, and supported the Kentucky Colonization Society, which was dedicated to the relocation of free blacks to Liberia. 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. 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. He also co-founded the Kentucky Statesman, a semiweekly Democratic newspaper, and visited his step-cousin, Mary Todd, where he met her husband, Abraham Lincoln, for the first time; despite their political differences, they became friends. When the House convened, Breckinridge received a plurality of votes for speaker, but fell at least eight votes short of a majority. Unable to break the deadlock, he withdrew, and the position went to Whig Thomas Reilly. 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". Breckinridge was assigned to the House's standing committees on federal relations and the judiciary. He supported bills allocating funding for internal improvements, a traditionally Whig stance. 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. 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. Keeping a busy schedule to cope with his grief, he urged adoption of the proposed constitution at a series of meetings around the state. His only concern with the document was its lack of an amendment process. 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." U.S. Representative First term (1851–1853) Breckinridge was a delegate to the January 8, 1851, state Democratic convention, which nominated Lazarus W. Powell for governor. A week later, he announced that he would seek election to Congress from Kentucky's Eighth District. Nicknamed the "Ashland district" because it contained Ashland, the estate of Whig Party founder Henry Clay, and much of the area Clay once represented, the district was a Whig stronghold. Breckinridge then led a procession to the new chamber. Soon after, Unionists in the state arrested former governor Charles S. Morehead for his suspected Confederate sympathies and shut down the Louisville Courier because of its pro-Confederate editorials. Word reached Breckinridge that Union General Thomas E. Bramlette intended to arrest him next. To avoid detainment, on September 19, 1861, he left Lexington. Joined in Prestonsburg by Confederate sympathizers George W. Johnson, George Baird Hodge, William Preston, and William E. Simms, he continued to Abingdon, Virginia, and from there by rail to Confederate-held Bowling Green, Kentucky. The state legislature immediately requested his resignation. 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." 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. Ten Southern Senators had been expelled earlier that year in July. ==American Civil War==

Service in the Western Theater On the recommendation of Simon Bolivar Buckner, the former commander of the Kentucky State Militia who had also joined the Confederate Army, Breckinridge was commissioned as a brigadier general on November 2, 1861. On November 16, he was given command of the 1st Kentucky Brigade. Nicknamed the Orphan Brigade because its men felt orphaned by Kentucky's Unionist state government, the brigade was in Buckner's 2nd Division of the Army of Mississippi, commanded by General Albert Sidney Johnston. For several weeks, he trained his troops in the city, and he also participated in the organization of a provisional Confederate government for the state. Although not sanctioned by the legislature in Frankfort, its existence prompted the Confederacy to admit Kentucky on December 10, 1861. Johnston's forces were forced to withdraw from Bowling Green in February 1862. During the retreat, Breckinridge was put in charge of Johnston's Reserve Corps. After his promotion, he joined Earl Van Dorn near Vicksburg, Mississippi. 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. 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. 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. Confederate leaders were skeptical of Bragg's claims against Breckinridge, and in February 1864, Confederate President Jefferson Davis assigned him to the Eastern Theater and put him in charge of the Trans-Allegheny Department (later known as the Department of East Tennessee and West Virginia). Shortly thereafter, Breckinridge's Division reinforced Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and played an important role in halting Grant's advance at the Battle of Cold Harbor. 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. Confederate Secretary of War James A. Seddon resigned his position as the Confederate Secretary of War on January 19, 1865. On February 6, Davis appointed Breckinridge to the vacant position, partially to quiet growing opposition to his administration. Initially opposed by several members of the Confederate Congress because he had waited to join the Confederacy, he eventually gained their support by administering his office more efficiently than his predecessors. With their support, he was able to expand the post's influence to include making officer assignments and promotion recommendations and advising field generals regarding strategy. His first act as secretary was to promote Robert E. Lee to general-in-chief of all Confederate forces. After Lee reported a critical shortage of food, clothing, and supplies among his troops, Breckinridge recommended the removal of Lucius B. Northrop, the Confederate commissary general. Northrop's successor, Isaac M. St. John, improved the flow of supplies to troops in the field. in downtown Lexington 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. 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." 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. 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. However, he did not destroy Confederate archives and records, which were preserved for history. 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. 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. 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. 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. At Bennett Place, he assisted Joseph E. Johnston in his surrender negotiations with Major General William Tecumseh Sherman. 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. 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." Breckinridge rode into Abbeville, South Carolina, on the morning of April 28. While there, Breckinridge and Brigadier General Basil W. Duke convinced Davis that continuing the war was hopeless. 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. 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. 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. ==Escape and exile==

On May 5, the same day that Jefferson Davis officially dissolved the Confederate Government, Breckinridge discharged most of the men escorting him, retaining only a small contingent of Kentuckians under the command of his cousin, William Campbell Preston Breckinridge. Feeling honor bound to protect Davis, he attempted to create a diversion that would allow him to escape. The next day, his party encountered a large Federal force; while his cousin negotiated with the force's commander, Breckinridge and a small detachment escaped. Riding southward across Georgia, they reached Milltown (now Lakeland) by May 11 and remained there for a few days. Learning of Davis's capture, he left Milltown with only a military aide, a personal servant, and his son Cabell. On May 15, 1865, in Madison, Florida, he was joined by fellow fugitive John Taylor Wood, who had been a captain in the Confederate Navy. Breckinridge and Wood decided to flee to the Bahamas, but because Cabell was allergic to mosquitoes, Breckinridge told him to surrender to the nearest federal officer. At Gainesville, Florida, the group found Confederate Colonel John Jackson Dickison, who gave them a lifeboat he had taken from a captured federal gunboat. Traveling down the St. Johns River, they reached Fort Butler on May 29. From there, they continued on the St. Johns to Lake Harney where the boat was loaded on a wagon and hauled about to Sand Point (today's Titusville) on the Indian River. They reached the river by May 31, but as they followed its course southward, they had to drag the boat across the river's mudflats and sandbars. They stopped at the John C. Houston place on Elbow Creek (Melbourne), where their boat was brought ashore and caulked. When the repairs were completed, Colonel John Taylor Wood, again led the party south. Transferring the boat to the Atlantic Ocean near Jupiter Inlet, they continued along the Florida coast and landed near present-day Palm Beach on June 4. Strong winds prevented them from navigating the small craft out to sea, so they continued southward down the coast. On June 5, the party was spotted by a federal steamer, but convinced the crew they were hunters scavenging the coast. Two days later, they encountered a larger boat with a mast and rigging; chasing it down, they disarmed the occupants and hijacked the craft. 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. 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. 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. The next morning, they traveled by rail to Havana, where Breckinridge was offered a house. 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. 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 Toronto on September 13, 1865. The family spent the winter there, living first in a hotel and then in a rented house. There were enough Confederate exiles in the city, according to Mrs. Breckinridge, "to form quite a pleasant society among ourselves." The family moved to Niagara in May. In August, doctors advised Breckinridge's wife that the climate of France might benefit her ailing health. Cabell Breckinridge returned to the U.S. to engage in business ventures with his brother Clifton, and Mary, just 12 years old, was sent to live with relatives in New York. The remainder of the family journeyed to Europe, where the children attended school in Paris, Versailles, and Vevey, Switzerland. From mid-1866 to early 1868, Breckinridge toured Europe and the Middle East– including visits to Germany, Austria, Turkey, Greece, Syria, Egypt, and the Holy Land; because of her poor health, his wife remained in France until February 1868, when she joined him in Naples. During their tour of Italy, Breckinridge met with Pope Pius IX in Rome, and also visited Pompeii. Desiring to return to the U.S. but still fearing capture, Breckinridge moved his family back to Niagara in June 1868. He steadfastly refused to seek a pardon, although 70 members of the Kentucky General Assembly had requested one on his behalf from President Andrew Johnson on February 10, 1866. On January 8, 1868, the Louisville City Council instructed the state's congressional delegation to seek assurance that Breckinridge would not be prosecuted on his return. James Beck, Breckinridge's old law partner, was then in Congress and wrote to him on December 11, 1868, that it appeared likely that Johnson would issue a general pardon for all former Confederates; he advised Breckinridge to return to the U.S. before the pardon was issued because he feared it might only apply to those in the country. ==Return to the U.S. and death==

Johnson proclaimed amnesty for all former Confederates on December 25, 1868. 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. Departing Canada on February 10, 1869, he made several stops to visit family and friends, arriving in Lexington on March 9. 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. 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, but Breckinridge declined. He resumed his law practice, taking as a partner Robert A. Thornton, a 27-year-old Confederate veteran. He served as general counsel for the proposed Cincinnati Southern Railway, which would connect Cincinnati to Chattanooga via Lexington. Officials in Louisville tried to block the move, which would break the near-monopoly that the Louisville and Nashville Railroad had on southern trade. 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. Construction began in 1873. 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 Superior, Wisconsin. As president of the newly formed Elizabethtown, Lexington, and Big Sandy Railroad company, he secured financial backing from Collis Potter Huntington for a railroad connecting Elizabethtown and Lexington to the Big Sandy River as part of a route linking those cities with the Atlantic Ocean. When Huntington invested in June 1871, he became president of the company, and Breckinridge became vice president. A line from Lexington to Mount Sterling was all that could be completed before the Panic of 1873 dried up the needed investment capital. The proposed line was finally completed in 1881. 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." Under the terms of the Fourteenth Amendment, a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress would have been needed to allow him to hold office because he had sided with the Confederacy. He never expressed interest in seeking such approval. Speaking as a private citizen in March 1870, he publicly denounced the actions of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1872, he supported passage of a state statute which successfully legalized black testimony against whites in court. By 1873, Breckinridge began to experience health problems which he referred to as "pleuro-pneumonia". Repeated surgeries and visits to the New York coast and the Virginia mountains did not improve his condition. 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. 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. Basil Duke led the funeral procession to Lexington Cemetery where Breckinridge's body was buried. ==Legacy==

Historical reputation As a military commander, Breckinridge was highly respected by some. Fellow Confederate George M. Edgar, describing Breckinridge's performance, wrote: 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." He was viewed poorly in the North. The premature New York Times 1863 obituary labelled "him one of the basest and wickedest of traitors." Monuments and memorials Despite differences in spelling, the towns of Breckenridge, Minnesota, Breckenridge, Missouri, Breckenridge, Texas, and Breckenridge, Colorado were named in Breckinridge's honor. The Colorado town changed the spelling of its name when its namesake joined the Confederacy. Fort Breckinridge, Arizona Territory (1860 to 1865) was named in honor of the Vice President. During the Civil War, its name was changed to Fort Stanford in honor of California Governor Leland Stanford, before being changed back to Fort Breckinridge. After the Civil War, the name was changed once again to Camp Grant. Between 1855 and 1862, the county now known as Lyon County, Kansas, was known as Breckinridge County. Breckinridge was played by Jason Isaacs in the 2014 film Field of Lost Shoes, which depicted the Battle of New Market. A memorial to Breckinridge was placed on the Fayette County Courthouse lawn in Lexington in 1887. 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." 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. ==See also==