[7] His grandmother taught him the political philosophies of her late husband, John Breckinridge, who served in the U.S. Senate and as attorney general under President Thomas Jefferson.

[38] In 1845, some local Democrats encouraged him to seek the Eighth District's congressional seat, but he declined, supporting Alexander Keith Marshall, the party's unsuccessful nominee.

Defending his decision during a speech in Lexington on September 5, 1860, Breckinridge explained: But it so happened that there were six or eight gentlemen also accompanying me, all of them belonging to the Whig Party, and they proposed to me that if I would not return to my own town and vote, they would not.

[41] Breckinridge's abolitionist uncles, William and Robert, joined with Cassius Marcellus Clay to nominate slates of like-minded candidates for the constitutional convention and the legislature.

[45][46] Between the election and the legislative session, Breckinridge formed a new law partnership with Owsley's former secretary of state, George B. Kinkead, his previous partner having died in a cholera epidemic earlier in the year.

[47] He also co-founded the Kentucky Statesman, a semiweekly Democratic newspaper, and visited his step-cousin, Mary Todd, where he met her husband, Abraham Lincoln, for the first time; despite their political differences, they became friends.

[49] Biographer Frank H. Heck wrote that Breckinridge was the leader of the House Democratic caucus during the session, during which time most of the measures considered were "local or personal and in any case, petty".

[55] Breckinridge's opponent, Leslie Combs, was a former state legislator whose popularity was bolstered by his association with Clay and his participation in the War of 1812; he was expected to win the election easily.

[72] The recently adopted Kentucky Constitution prevented anyone who participated in a duel from holding elected office, and the peaceful resolution of the issue may have saved Breckinridge's political career.

[78] Following the December 1854 resignation of Pierre Soulé, the U.S. Minister to Spain, who failed to negotiate a U.S. annexation of Cuba following the controversial Ostend Manifesto, Pierce nominated Breckinridge to the position.

[82] William Alexander Richardson, a Kentucky-born Representative from Illinois, then suggested that nominating Breckinridge for vice president would balance Buchanan's ticket and placate disgruntled supporters of Douglas or Pierce.

[26][86] Buchanan and Breckinridge received 174 electoral votes to 114 for Republicans John C. Frémont and William L. Dayton and eight for Know Nothing candidates Millard Fillmore and Andrew Jackson Donelson.

[88] When Buchanan and Breckinridge endorsed the Lecompton Constitution, which would have admitted Kansas as a slave state instead of allowing the people to vote, they managed to alienate most Northern Democrats, including Douglas.

[48][91] This disagreement ended plans for Breckinridge, Douglas, and Minnesota's Henry Mower Rice to build a series of three elaborate, conjoined row houses in which to live during their time in Washington, DC.

[48] In November 1857, after Breckinridge found alternative lodging in Washington, he sold a slave woman and her young infant, which according to historian James C. Klotter, probably ended his days as a slaveholder.

Breckinridge expressed hope that eventually "another Senate, in another age, shall bear to a new and larger Chamber, this Constitution vigorous and inviolate, and that the last generation of posterity shall witness the deliberations of the Representatives of American States, still united, prosperous, and free.

[116] Unable to agree on substantial issues, the delegates recommended that Kentucky adopt a neutral stance in the Civil War and arm itself to prevent invasion by either federal or Confederate forces.

[126] On the recommendation of Simon Bolivar Buckner, the former commander of the Kentucky State Militia who had also joined the Confederate Army, Breckinridge was commissioned as a brigadier general on November 2, 1861.

The ironclad CSS Arkansas was intended to support Breckinridge's attack by moving down the Red River, but it was immobilized by a mechanical failure and its crew set it on fire before letting it loose downriver to threaten oncoming Union vessels and to prevent its capture.

Van Dorn was reluctant to lose command of Breckinridge and his men, and by the time he relented on October 15, Bragg was already retreating from the state after being defeated at the Battle of Perryville.

Artillery on the opposite side of the river then opened fire on Breckinridge's men, and a fresh Union division under Brigadier General James S. Negley arrived to reinforce the fleeing troops.

[130] Bragg ordered a significant number of Breckinridge's men to reinforce Hardee's corps, leaving him with insufficient forces to repel the combined attack of Joseph Hooker and George Henry Thomas on Missionary Ridge.

[158][159] Shortly thereafter, Breckinridge's Division reinforced Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and played an important role in halting Grant's advance at the Battle of Cold Harbor.

On October 2, 1864, at the First Battle of Saltville, his troops were able to protect critical Confederate salt works from United States forces under Stephen G. Burbridge, despite a lack of resources.

[168][169] In mid-November, Breckinridge led a raid into northeastern Tennessee, driving Alvan Cullem Gillem's forces back to Knoxville at the Battle of Bull's Gap.

[172] After Lee reported a critical shortage of food, clothing, and supplies among his troops, Breckinridge recommended the removal of Lucius B. Northrop, the Confederate commissary general.

[174] Ordering Campbell to organize the flight of the Confederate cabinet to Danville, Virginia, Breckinridge remained in the city to oversee the destruction of facilities and supplies to prevent their use by the invading federal forces.

From mid-1866 to early 1868, Breckinridge toured Europe and the Middle East– including visits to Germany, Austria, Turkey, Greece, Syria, Egypt, and the Holy Land; because of her poor health, his wife remained in France until February 1868, when she joined him in Naples.

Besides being a man of wonderful courage, he had a keen eye to discern the strong and weak points of the enemy's position, skill in using his forces to the best advantage, and a celerity of movement which reminded me of Jackson.

"[153] His strengths included a reputation for dignity and integrity, and especially his tall, graceful and handsome appearance, with cordial manner, pleasing voice and eloquent address that was highly appreciated by voters, soldiers, and women alike.