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Robert Toombs, 1810-1885
A dominant figure in Georgia politics until after the Civil War, Robert Toombs began his career as a moderate who favored the Union's preservation. Elected to Congress and then the Senate, Toombs increasingly sided with southern nationalists as the 1850s progressed. In January 1861, he resigned his Senate seat and soon joined fellow secessionists convening in Montgomery, Alabama, to launch the Confederacy. Upon Jefferson Davis's election as the Confederate president, Toombs famously proclaimed, "The man and the hour have met." Following a brief tenure as the rebel nation's secretary of state, Toombs joined the Confederate army, serving as a general until 1863.
Jesse H. Whitehurst, c. 1850 |