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At 14, Benjamin entered Yale College, but he left at 17 before
graduating and moved to New Orleans, where he studied law. He
was admitted to the bar there in 1834.
Benjamin was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1852 and 1858. He
resigned his seat in 1861 just before the states seceded from
the Union.
His good friend Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy,
then appointed him as attorney general of the new Confederate
States of America.
Benjamin, who once owned 140 slaves but sold them in 1850 when
he sold his plantation, Next to his plantation near New Orleans,
Louisiana lived two powerful rich black slave owners with many
slaves that were later taken over by the Union Army and used for
their purpose. In the famous Proclamation of Lincoln freeing
slaves these slaves were part of the union held slaves who were
excluded.
He was the first Jew to hold a cabinet-level office in an
American government. There were Jewish Confederate brigades in
the Confederate Army and Gen. Lee issued a proclamation they
were excused on Jewish Holidays. The last jew to die in the war
was Lt. Moses at Ft. Blakely, Mobile, Alabama who was gunned
down after he surrended by the USCT, colored troops.
When serving Benjamin was critized by some and it was said to
have weakened the Confederacy by transferring its money to
personal bank accounts in Europe.
Davis made Benjamin his secretary of war, but that post was
short-lived. Lacking men and materials to match the Union
troops, Davis decided in 1862 to let Roanoke Island fall without
mounting a defense so the North wouldn't know the weakness of
Southern forces. Showing his loyalty to Davis, Benjamin took the
blame and resigned.
Davis then appointed Benjamin as secretary of state. Near the
end of the war, Benjamin convinced Gen. Robert E. Lee and other
Confederate military leaders that the South's best chance for
winning was to free slaves who would volunteer to fight for the
Confederacy.
When Benjamin spoke of his idea to a crowd of 10,000 in Richmond
in 1864, the plan was rejected, but later Jefferson Davis issued
a proclamation doing just that. Some freed slaves formed units
in Richnmond, but were to late to enter the war.
Fleeing In Defeat
When President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, Davis
and Benjamin were suspected of plotting the killing. When the
South was defeated, Benjamin feared he would be charged with
Lincoln's murder, so he planned to flee.
With Davis and other high- ranking officials, Benjamin left the
Confederate capital of Richmond, Va and temporarily set up the
capital in Danville, Virginia. If the War was lost in virginia,
they planned to head toward Texas to re-establish the
Confederate government. In Texas there was a sizable Southern
command still willing to fight. In East Texas and Shreveport,
Louisiana Gen Taylor's command untouched by the Union Army
awaited his arrival, they were the last to surrender after
Davis's capture.
Seeking safe exile from the Unionists, they headed toward
Pensacola, where English ships waited to take them to Cuba.
But as they moved through the Carolinas into Georgia, they
realized Union troops were in close pursuit. The Confederate
leaders abandoned their wagons to finish the trip on horseback.
The heavyset Benjamin wasn't a horseman and realized he would
slow the others down. He volunteered to go alone, but a
Confederate major (who?) agreed to stay with him.
Benjamin made a harrowing trip through Florida to Safety.
Benjamin left Davis' side in early May 1865, three weeks after
Lee surrendered his army to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. A week later,
Davis' party was captured by Union troops 100 miles north of the
Florida- Georgia border.
The pursuit of Benjamin continued, Benjamin managed to elude
capture as he traveled by surrey through Florida. His trunks
were monogrammed with brass tacks with his initials, JPB. He
adopted the disguise of a French land buyer named Jean Pierre
Bonfals and said the Confederate major (who?) accompanying him
was his interpreter.
The disguise fooled Union troops for days. But as Benjamin moved
farther south in Florida, he was found out and abandoned the
ruse, along with his surrey.
Benjamin and the major traveled on foot until they reached
Brooksville. Hungry and tired, they took refuge at the farmhouse
of a Confederate sympathizer who offered food and clothing.
The pair stayed in Brooksville for a day or two while the farmer
made arrangements for them to ship out of the Aripeka area. That
plan was abandoned when they found Union troops waiting offshore
to search all vessels.
The two walked through what is now east Pasco County, Florida
staying a day or so in the area of today's Blanton before
continuing south...
Most likely, they would have taken Toadchudka Road, which joined
Brooksville and Tampa. It followed part of today's Happy Hill,
Prospect and Handcart roads and was less traveled than the Fort
King Military Road.
Benjamin and the major traveled to Gamble Mansion at Ellenton,
near Bradenton. There they separated, but Benjamin stayed
several weeks at the mansion, now a historic site. He then left
by schooner from near Sarasota, where he was picked up by Capt.
Tony Tresca, a Confederate supporter from St. Petersburg.
Benjamin went to Havana and was on his way to Nassau in the
Bahamas when the ship wrecked. He arrived there with just the
shirt on his back, in a rowboat with two Bahamians.
From there he went to London, where he practiced law and was
named to the queen's council. It was from this position that
Benjamin was able to assist the Southern People during
reconstruction. A lifelong friend of the Southern people , his
passing was mourned.. He died in Paris in 1884.
Benjamin is buried in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His
headstone originally was engraved with the name ``Philippe
Benjamin.'' In 1938, the Daughters of the Confederacy replaced
the marker with a stone with his American name. An honor he
justly deserved.
"In March 1865, Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary Of
State, promised freedom for blacks who served from the State of
Virginia. Authority for this was finally received from the State
of Virginia and on April 1st 1865, $100 bounties were offered to
black soldiers. Benjamin exclaimed, “Let us say to every Negro
who wants to go into the ranks, go and fight, and you are
free…Fight for your masters and you shall have your freedom.”
Confederate Officers were ordered to treat them humanely and
protect them from "injustice and oppression"."
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_John BUCKNER II_______________+ | (1667 - 1727) _John BUCKNER III____| | (1705 - 1782) | | |_Ann BALLARD __________________ | (1686 - 1727) _William BUCKNER _____| | (1720 - 1783) m 1744 | | | _______________________________ | | | | |_Elizabeth___________| | (1700 - ....) | | |_______________________________ | | |--Mary BUCKNER | (1745 - ....) | _Francis THORNTON I____________+ | | (1651 - 1727) m 1673 | _Francis THORNTON II_| | | (1682 - 1737) m 1703| | | |_Alice Stafford SAVAGE ________+ | | (1653 - 1695) m 1673 |_Lucy Eliza THORNTON _| (1731 - ....) m 1744 | | _John "The Ranger" TALIAFERRO _+ | | (1656 - 1720) m 1682 |_Mary TALIAFERRO ____| (1686 - 1780) m 1703| |_Sarah SMITH __________________+ (1660 - 1720) m 1682
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_David MERIWETHER ___+ | (1690 - 1744) m 1711 _Thomas MERIWETHER of "Locust Hills"_| | (1714 - 1757) m 1735 | | |_Anne HOLMES ________+ | (1695 - 1736) m 1711 _Francis MERIWETHER ____| | (1737 - 1803) m 1760 | | | _Francis THORNTON II_+ | | | (1682 - 1737) m 1703 | |_Elizabeth Mary THORNTON ____________| | (1713 - 1774) m 1735 | | |_Mary TALIAFERRO ____+ | (1686 - 1780) m 1703 | |--Lucy MERIWETHER | (1775 - 1850) | _James H. JAMESON ___ | | (1691 - 1736) m 1716 | _James JAMESON ______________________| | | (1720 - 1776) m 1742 | | | |_Margaret JENNINGS __ | | (1693 - 1732) m 1716 |_Martha Gaines JAMESON _| (1743 - 1818) m 1760 | | _Daniel GAINES ______+ | | (1696 - 1782) m 1721 |_Mary Muse GAINES ___________________| (1722 - 1806) m 1742 | |_Elizabeth GAINES ___+ (1700 - ....) m 1721
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