John C. Breckinridge

John C. Breckinridge
14th Vice President of the United States From: March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861
President	James Buchanan
Predecessor	William R. King
Successor	Hannibal Hamlin
Former U.S. Senator from Kentucky From: March 4, 1861 – December 4, 1861
Predecessor	John J. Crittenden
Successor	Garret Davis
Former U.S. Representative from Kentucky's 8th Congressional District From: March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1855
Predecessor	Charles Morehead
Successor	Alexander Marshall
Information
Party	Democrat
Spouse(s)	Mary Cyrene Burch Breckinridge

John C. Breckinridge was James Buchanan's Vice President from 1857 to 1861. He then ran as the Southern Democratic candidate in the 1860 election and after losing to Abraham Lincoln was elected to the United States Senate from Kentucky.

After the Civil War began, Breckinridge was an outspoken advocate of the Confederacy. After being expelled from the Senate for his views in December 1861, he fled south and joined the Confederate Army as a general, commanding the so-called "Orphan Brigade", made up of Confederates from Kentucky. After commanding Confederate forces for most of the war, he was made Secretary of War under Jefferson Davis in 1865.

After the war ended, Breckinridge, fearing he would be charged with treason, fled, first to Cuba and then to England. In 1869, after being granted amnesty, he returned to Kentucky to practice law, and became Vice President of the Elizabethtown, Lexington, and Big Sandy Railroad Company.