Judah Philip Benjamin
was a Confederate cabinet officer, and a close advisor of President Jefferson Davis. He was born in the West Indies on Aug. 6, 1811, but his family moved to North and then South Carolina, and he attended Yale. After moving to New Orleans, he became a nationally recognized lawyer. After holding minor public offices, he was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Whig in 1852.
After defending the south in a number of Senate battles, he resigned and supported a secessionist policy. He was soon after appointed to be the Attorney General of the Confederate states. After this position, he became the Secretary of War, and eventually the Secretary of State.
In 1865 he fled to Britain, where he achieved recognition as a lawyer. He died in Paris on May 5, 1884.
Bibliography: Evans, Eli N., Judah P. Benjamin: The Jewish Confederate (1988); Meade, R. D., Judah P. Benjamin (1943; repr. 1975).