dge graduated in 1838 at Centre College, Danville,
Kentucky, continued his studies at Princeton, and then studied law at
Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. He practised law in
Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1840-1841 and in Burlington, Iowa, from 1841 to
1843, and then returned to Kentucky and followed his profession at
Lexington. In 1847 he went to Mexico as major in a volunteer regiment,
but arrived too late for service in the field. In 1849 he was elected a
Democratic member of the Kentucky legislature, and in 1851-1855 he
served in the national House of Representatives. President Pierce
offered him the position of minister to Spain, but he declined it. In
1856 he was chosen vice-president of the United States on the Buchanan
ticket, and although a strong pro-slavery and states rights man, he
presided over the Senate with conspicuous fairness and impartiality
during the trying years before the Civil War. In 1860 he was nominated
for the presidency by the pro-slavery seceders from the Democratic
national convention, and received a total of 72 electoral votes,
including those of every Southern state except Virginia, Kentucky,
Tennessee and Missouri. As vice-president and presiding officer of the
Senate, it was his duty to make the official announcement of the
election of his opponent, Lincoln. He succeeded John J. Crittenden as
United States senator from Kentucky in March 1861, but having
subsequently entered the Confederate service he was expelled from the
Senate in December 1861. As brigadier-general he commanded the
Confederate reserve at Shiloh, and in August 1862 he became
major-general. On the 5th of this month he was repulsed in his attack on
Baton Rouge, but he won distinction at Stone River (December 31,
1862-January 2, 1863), where his division lost nearly a third of its
number. He took part in the battle of Chickamauga, defeated General
Franz Sigel at Newmarket, Virginia, on the 15th of May 1864, and then,
joined Lee and took part in the battles of Cold Harbor on the 1st and on
the 3rd of June. In the autumn he operated in the Shenandoah Valley, and
with Early was defeated by Sheridan at Winchester on the 19th of
September. Being transferred to the department of South-west Virginia,
he fought a number of minor engagements in eastern Tennessee, and in
January 1865 became secretary of war for the Confederate States. At the
close of the war he escaped to Cuba, and from there went to Europe. In
1868 he return