1825: |
Born September 17 in Putnam County, Georgia. |
| 1834: |
Lost his father who committed suicide July 4. |
| 1845: |
Graduated from Emory College in Oxford, Georgia. |
| 1847: |
Admitted to the Georgia bar; married Virginia Lafayette Longstreet. |
| 1849: |
Moved to Oxford, Mississippi at the suggestion of his father-in-law. |
| 1850: |
Practiced law and taught mathematics at the University of Mississippi. |
| 1851: |
Debated Senator Henry Stuart Foote on the Oxford Square. |
| 1852: |
Returned to Georgia and practiced law. |
| 1853: |
Elected to Georgia Legislature. |
| 1855: |
Returned to Mississippi, became a planter, and practiced law. |
| 1857-1860: |
Served in U.S. House of Representatives. |
| 1860: |
Resigned from U.S. Congress and left Washington December 12. |
| 1861: |
Drafted Mississippi’s Ordinance of Secession that passed on January 9 |
| 1861-1862: |
Served Confederacy as Lt. Col. of 19th Mississippi Regiment. |
| 1863: |
Appointed Special Commissioner to Russia by Jefferson Davis. |
| 1864-1865: |
Appointed Judge Advocate of military court in A.P. Hill’s Corps. |
| 1866: |
Taught as Professor of Ethics at the University of Mississippi. |
| 1867-1870: |
Taught as Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi. |
| 1868-1873: |
Practiced law in Oxford, Mississippi. |
| 1873-1877: |
Served in U.S. House of Representatives. |
| 1874: |
Delivered famous eulogy of Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner. |
| 1877-1885: |
Served in U.S. Senate. |
| 1884: |
Lost wife Virginia who died December 30. |
| 1885-1888: |
Served as Secretary of the Interior under Grover Cleveland. |
| 1887: |
Married Mrs. Henrietta J. Holt in Columbus, Georgia January 5. |
| 1888-1893: |
Served on the U.S. Supreme Court. |
| 1893: |
Died on January 23 near Macon, Georgia. Re-interred in St. Peter’s Cemetery in Oxford, Mississippi fall 1894. |
