The New Student's Reference Work/Breckenridge, John Cabell

John C. Breckenridge

Breck′enridge, John Cabell, an American politician and soldier, was born in Kentucky in 1821.  He took part in the Mexican War, and afterward became a member of Congress.  In 1856 he was elected vice-president, with Buchanan as president, and four years later was one of the Democratic candidates for president, receiving the electoral votes of most of the southern states.  He was elected senator, but entered the Confederate army, where he rose to the rank of major-general.  In 1865 he was appointed Confederate secretary of war.  Later, he practiced law in Kentucky. He died in 1875.