Presidential Cabinet Secretary. Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he became a prominent lawyer in Georgia during the 1850s. First opposed to secession when the Civil War loomed, he nevertheless joined the Confederacy after the war erupted in April 1861. After briefly serving as a Private in the 3rd Georgia (State Guard) Cavalry, he was commissioned into the Confederate Quartermaster Corps as a Colonel in 1864, a duty he served in until the end of the war. After the end of the conflict he joined the Republican Party, and became an advocate for the rights of newly-freed slaves. He served in the 1868 State Constitution Convention, and as United States District Attorney in 1869. In 1870 President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him the United States Attorney General, which made him the only ex-Confederate to rise to a Cabinet-level position during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. During his tenure he became the first Attorney General to also head the Justice Department, established an investigative agency which eventually became the Federal Bureau of Investigations, vigorously prosecuted members of the Ku Klux Klan, and dealt with the legal issues that arose from Westward expansion. However, he resigned his office on December 13, 1871 after holding it for a little more than a year to protest the rising corruption that plagued President Grant's administration. Re-establishing his law practice in Cartersville, Georgia, he passed away there in 1880.
Presidential Cabinet Secretary. Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he became a prominent lawyer in Georgia during the 1850s. First opposed to secession when the Civil War loomed, he nevertheless joined the Confederacy after the war erupted in April 1861. After briefly serving as a Private in the 3rd Georgia (State Guard) Cavalry, he was commissioned into the Confederate Quartermaster Corps as a Colonel in 1864, a duty he served in until the end of the war. After the end of the conflict he joined the Republican Party, and became an advocate for the rights of newly-freed slaves. He served in the 1868 State Constitution Convention, and as United States District Attorney in 1869. In 1870 President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him the United States Attorney General, which made him the only ex-Confederate to rise to a Cabinet-level position during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. During his tenure he became the first Attorney General to also head the Justice Department, established an investigative agency which eventually became the Federal Bureau of Investigations, vigorously prosecuted members of the Ku Klux Klan, and dealt with the legal issues that arose from Westward expansion. However, he resigned his office on December 13, 1871 after holding it for a little more than a year to protest the rising corruption that plagued President Grant's administration. Re-establishing his law practice in Cartersville, Georgia, he passed away there in 1880.
Bio by: RPD2
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