Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar

Lucius Q. C. Lamar
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office
January 18, 1888 – January 23, 1893
Nominated byGrover Cleveland
Preceded byWilliam Burnham Woods
Succeeded byHowell Edmunds Jackson
16th United States Secretary of the Interior
In office
March 6, 1885 – January 10, 1888
PresidentGrover Cleveland
Preceded byHenry Teller
Succeeded byWilliam Vilas
United States Senator
from Mississippi
In office
March 4, 1877 – March 6, 1885
Preceded byJames Alcorn
Succeeded byEdward Walthall
Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus
In office
March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877
SpeakerMichael C. Kerr (1875–1876)
Samuel J. Randall (1876–1877)
Preceded byWilliam E. Niblack
Succeeded byHiester Clymer
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Mississippi's 1st district
In office
March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1877
Preceded byGeorge Harris
Succeeded byHenry Muldrow
In office
March 4, 1857 – January 12, 1861
Preceded byDaniel Wright
Succeeded byGeorge Harris (1870)
Member of the
Georgia House of Representatives
from Newton County
In office
November 7, 1853 – February 17, 1854
Serving with P. Reynolds
Personal details
Born(1825-09-17)September 17, 1825
Eatonton, Georgia, U.S.
DiedJanuary 23, 1893(1893-01-23) (aged 67)
Vineville, Georgia, U.S.
(now Macon)
Resting placeSt. Peter's Cemetery,
Oxford, Mississippi
Political partyDemocratic
Parents
EducationEmory University (BA)
Signature
Military service
AllegianceConfederate States
BranchArmy
RankColonel
WarsAmerican Civil War

Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II (September 17, 1825 – January 23, 1893) was a Confederate soldier, American politician, diplomat, and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Mississippi in both houses of Congress, served as the United States Secretary of the Interior, and was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He also served as an official in the Confederate States of America.

Born and educated in Georgia, he moved to Oxford, Mississippi, to establish a legal practice. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1856 and served until January 1861, when he helped draft Mississippi's Ordinance of Secession. He helped raise the 19th Mississippi Infantry Regiment and worked on the staff of his wife's cousin, General James Longstreet. In 1862, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed Lamar to the position of Special Confederate Commissioner to Russia. Following the Civil War, Lamar taught at the University of Mississippi and was a delegate to several state constitutional conventions.

Lamar returned to the United States House of Representatives in 1873, becoming the first Mississippi Democrat elected to the House since the end of the Civil War. He remained in the House until 1877, and represented Mississippi in the Senate from 1877 to 1885. He opposed Reconstruction and voting rights for African Americans.[1][2] In 1885, he accepted appointment as Grover Cleveland's Secretary of the Interior. In 1888, the Senate confirmed Lamar's nomination to the Supreme Court, making Lamar the first Southerner appointed to the court since the Civil War. He remained on the court until his death in 1893.

  1. ^ Mitchell, Dennis (2014). A New History of Mississippi. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-61703-977-5. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2020. Lamar told his audiences hat blacks were unfit to vote
  2. ^ Teed, Paul (2015). Reconstruction: A Reference Guide. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-61069-533-6. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2020.