John Elliott Ward was born in
Sunbury, Georgia on October 2, 1814. He served as
United States Attorney for Georgia,
mayor of
Savannah, Georgia, speaker of the
Georgia House of Representatives, president of the
Georgia State Senate, president of the
1856 Democratic National Convention, and
United States Minister to China under
James Buchanan. He resigned from his diplomatic post shortly after the outbreak of the
American Civil War, returned to Savannah, and after the war, moved to New York City, where he practiced law for several years. He was an anti-secessionist and spoke against the South leaving the Union. Ironically, he appears on the T-23 Confederate 10-dollar note. He died in Dorchester (now
Midway), Georgia on November 30, 1902. ==See also==