Waist-up view of Benjamin. Image is clear with good contrast. Some chipping to image along bottom edge. Photographer's backmark, E. & H.T. Anthony, New York.

Judah Philip Benjamin, (August 6, 1811 – May 6, 1884) was a lawyer and politician who was a United States Senator from Louisiana, a Cabinet officer of the Confederate States and, after his escape to the United Kingdom at the end of the American Civil War, an English barrister. Benjamin was the first Jew to hold a Cabinet position in North America and the first to be elected to the United States Senate who had not renounced his faith.

Benjamin was born to Sephardic Jewish parents from London, who had moved to St. Croix in the Danish West Indies when it was occupied by Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. Seeking greater opportunities, his family immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Charleston, South Carolina. Judah Benjamin attended Yale College but left without graduating. He moved to New Orleans, where he read law and passed the bar.

Benjamin became a wealthy planter and slaveowner and was elected to both houses of the Louisiana legislature prior to his election by the legislature to the US Senate in 1852. He was a supporter of slavery. After Louisiana seceded in 1861, Benjamin resigned as senator and returned to New Orleans. He soon moved to Richmond after Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him as Attorney General. Benjamin had little to do in that position, but Davis was impressed by his competence and appointed him as Secretary of War. Benjamin firmly supported Davis, and the President reciprocated the loyalty by promoting him to Secretary of State in March 1862.

As Secretary of State, Benjamin attempted to gain official recognition for the Confederacy by France and the United Kingdom. When Davis fled Richmond in early 1865, Benjamin went with him. He left the presidential party and was successful in escaping from the mainland United States, while Davis was captured. Benjamin sailed to Great Britain, became a barrister, again rising to the top of his profession before retiring in 1883. He died in Paris.

From the late William A. Turner collection.    [jet] [PH:L]

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