Judah P. Benjamin Louisiana Senator & Secretary of War Confederate States of America

Judah P. Benjamin is a controversial figure in the history of the Confederate States of America. Some historians credit him for his administrative prowess. Others scorn him as a prime reason for the failure of "The Lost Cause". He served successively as CSA attorney general, secretary of state and secretary of war. Originally from the Virgin Islands he was raised in Charleston, South Carolina. He was educated at Fayetteville Academy in NC, Yale College and Yale Law School. The first Jew elected to the United States Senate, the Louisiana Legislature chose him as a Senator in 1852. His resignation speech in 1861 was among the finest ever made on the U.S. Senate floor.