Benjamin, Judah Philip (1811–1884)

US Confederate official. Holding office in the US Senate 1853–61, he was a proponent of secession of the South and resigned from office at the outbreak of the Civil War. As one of the leaders of the Confederacy, he served as attorney general, secretary of war, and secretary of state.

Benjamin was born in St Croix, British West Indies, raised in South Carolina, USA, and educated at Yale University. He joined the legal profession before serving in the state legislature. During the Civil War he was nicknamed ‘the Brain of the Confederacy’. After the defeat of the Confederacy 1865, he escaped to England, where he became a barrister 1866. He retired to Paris 1883.