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John C. Breckinridge (1821-1875) was a politician who served as the 14th vice president of the United States and as a Confederate general during the Civil War (1861-65). A native of Kentucky,...

John C. Breckinridge Title Major General War & Affiliation Civil War / Confederate Date of Birth - Death January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875 Born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1821, John Cabell Breckinridge was a graduate of Centre College and later Transylvania Law School in 1845.

Breckinridge, with 18 percent of the national vote, garnered 72 electoral votes, winning most of the states in the South as well as Delaware and Maryland. Bell, who won 12.6 percent of the vote, secured 39 electoral votes by winning Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.

That John Cabell Breckinridge became a political force was not surprising. Born on January 16, 1821, in Lexington, Kentucky, he was named after his grandfather, who represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate and served as Thomas Jefferson’s attorney general.

John C. Breckinridge was from Kentucky (a northern state) and graduated from Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky, in 1839. He continued his education at Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky, and was admitted to the bar in 1840.

The John C. Breckinridge Memorial, originally on the courthouse lawn of Lexington, Kentucky, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 17, 1997, as part of the Civil War Monuments of Kentucky MPS. It commemorates John C. Breckinridge, who was born and died in Lexington. He was Vice President for James Buchanan and ran ...