biography
| name: |
Toombs, Robert (Augustus)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1810–85)
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| biography:
| US representative, senator, Confederate cabinet member, and soldier, born in Washington, Georgia, USA. A lawyer and wealthy plantation owner, he served Georgia in the US House of Representatives (Whig, 1845–53) and in the US Senate (Democrat, 1853–61), and was one of the more active and outspoken proponents of preserving slavery and states' rights. He led Georgia to secession, then became the Confederate secretary of state, but he soon became impatient for action and resigned (Jul 1861) to take on a brigadier-general's commission. Seriously wounded at Antietam (1862), he resigned from the army for many of the same reasons he resigned his cabinet post, and attacked Davis's administration. Ambitious and argumentative, above all he was impatient with the caution of other Confederate leaders. He volunteered with the Georgia militia when Sherman was advancing on Atlanta (1864), and fled to Cuba and then England when the Confederacy collapsed. He returned to Georgia and prospered as a lawyer, but his life ended sadly when his wife died insane, and he became blind and turned to drink. |
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