Benjamin Cudworth Yancey Jr.

Benjamin Cudworth Yancey Jr. (April 27, 1817 – October 24, 1891) was an American politician, lawyer, officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and diplomat.

Benjamin Cudworth Yancey Jr
BornApril 27, 1817 (1817-04-27)
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
DiedOctober 24, 1891 (1891-10-25) (aged 74)
Resting placeMyrtle Hill Cemetery[1]
Rome, Georgia
EducationFranklin College
Harvard Law School
OccupationDiplomat, Politician, Soldier
Military career
Allegiance Confederate States
Service/branch Confederate States Army
Rank Colonel
Unit Georgia State Troops[2]
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Biography

Yancey, the brother of a leading Fire-Eater William Lowndes Yancey, was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He attended Franklin College (now known as the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences), the founding school of the University of Georgia in Athens, was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree in 1836. He also attended Harvard Law School.

Yancey married Sarah Paris Hamilton. In 1849, he was elected to the South Carolina General Assembly and served one term. He also practiced law in Hamburg, South Carolina at that time. He moved to Cherokee County, Alabama, and was elected to the Alabama Senate in 1855, serving as the president of that body. He was Minister to Argentina in 1858.[3] During the Civil War, he was a major in Cobb's Legion. He participated in the Virginia campaign, but was subsequently transferred, as colonel, to Georgia in command of state troops.

For twenty years he owned a slave who eventually went by the name of Robert Webster, the son of Daniel Webster. He allowed Robert Webster to work in Atlanta during the Civil War, where Webster did quite well financially. After the war, Yancey lost his property and borrowed money from his former slave.[4]

In 1867 he was president of the Alabama State Agricultural society, and he served as a trustee of the University of Georgia from 1860 to 1889. In 1875, Yancey was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives as a representative of Clarke County. He died in 1891.

gollark: *cough*airport "security"*cough*
gollark: The government *loves* security theater too!
gollark: It's very triangular. Our government is mildly authoritarian.
gollark: I don't know, they might already have done it.
gollark: I wonder if the UK has made you require ID for buying SIM cards for some triangular reason yet.

References
  1. "Benjamin Cudworth Yancey". Find A Grave. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  2. Owen, Thomas (1921). History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. Chicago: S J Clarke publishing Company. p. 1820.
  3. A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians, Volume 5, by Lucian Lamar Knight
  4. Smithsonian Magazine, October 2014
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
James A. Peden		 United States Minister Resident, Argentina
December 1, 1858–September 30, 1859		 Succeeded by
John F. Cushman
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