Civil War Portraits—Leaders, Influencers, and the Incidentally Important #007
Robert Augustus Toombs (July 2, 1810 – December 15, 1885) was an American lawyer, planter, and national politician from Georgia who became one of the organizers of the Confederacy and served as its first Secretary of State under President Jefferson Davis. He also served in the Confederate States Army, but later became one of Davis’ critics. After the Confederate defeat, Toombs fled the United States. He did not return until 1867, after his daughter’s death. He regained political power in Georgia as Congressional Reconstruction ended in 1877.
A lawyer by training, Toombs gained renown in the antebellum years as an orator in the U.S. House of Representatives, and later in the U.S. Senate. A slaveholder, he found common ground with fellow-Georgian Alexander H. Stephens and advocated states’ rights and the extension of slavery to western territories. Toombs supported the Compromise of 1850, but later advocated secession. Toombs had emotive oratory and a strong physical presence, but his intemperate habits and volatile personality limited his career. In the newly formed Confederate Government, Toombs was appointed Secretary of State. He criticized the attack on Fort Sumter, which put him at odds with President Jefferson Davis (whose position he had coveted), and he quit the administration to join the Confederate States Army. He became a Brigadier-General, and was wounded at the Battle of Antietam. In 1863, Toombs resigned his commission in the Confederate Army to join the Georgia militia. He was subsequently denied higher promotion and resigned as he continued to feud with Davis. When the war ended, he fled to Cuba. He returned to Georgia in 1867, but refused to request a presidential pardon and was prohibited from holding political office until after the Reconstruction era ended. (Read more on Wikipedia)
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs
Title: [Robert Tombs (sic), Senator from Georgia, Thirty-fifth Congress, half-length portrait]
Creator(s): Vannerson, Julian, 1827-, photographer
Date Created/Published: [1859]
Medium: 1 photographic print : salted paper ; 19.7 x 14.3 cm.
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-26697 (digital file from original item)
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
Call Number: Illus. in JK1012.M35 1859 (Case X) [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Notes:
- Illus. in: McClees’ gallery of photographic portraits of the senators, representatives & delegates of the thirty-fifth Congress… Washington: McClees & Beck, [1859], page 158.
- Each item includes subject’s original signature in ink.
- Title devised by Library staff based on name provided in book’s index.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010649197/