Robert Toombs

Robert Toombs
1st Confederate States Secretary of State
In office February 25, 1861 – July 25, 1861
President	Jefferson Davis
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Robert Hunter
United States Senator from Georgia
In office March 4, 1853 – February 4, 1861
Preceded by	Robert Charlton
Succeeded by	Homer Miller
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 8th district
In office March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1853
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Alexander Stephens
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives from Wilkes County
In office 1837–1843
Personal details
Born	Robert Augustus Toombs (1810-07-02)July 2, 1810 Washington, Georgia, US
Died	December 15, 1885(1885-12-15) (aged 75) Washington, Georgia, US
Political party	Whig (Before 1851) Constitutional Union (1851–1853) Democratic (1853–1885)
Alma mater	University of Georgia Union College University of Virginia
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Confederate States
Branch/service	Confederate States Army Georgia Militia
Years of service	1861-1863 (CS Army) 1863-1865 (Georgia Militia)
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands	Toomb' Brigade
Battles/wars	American Civil War Peninsula Campaign Seven Days Battles Northern Virginia Campaign Maryland Campaign Battle of Antietam (WIA)

Robert Augustus Toombs (July 2, 1810 – December 15, 1885) was an American politician from Georgia, who was an important figure in the formation of the Confederacy. From a privileged background as a wealthy planter and slaveholder, Toombs embarked on a political career marked by effective oratory, although he also acquired a reputation for hard living, disheveled appearance, and irascibility. He was identified with Alexander H. Stephens's libertarian wing of secessionist opinion, and in contradiction to the nationalist Jefferson Davis, Toombs believed a Civil War to be neither inevitable or winnable by the South.

Appointed as Secretary of State of the Confederacy (which lacked political parties) Toombs was against the decision to attack Fort Sumter, and resigned from Davis's cabinet. He was wounded at the Battle of Antietam, where he performed creditably. During the Battle of Columbus (1865), Toombs's reluctance to use canister shot on a mixture of Union and Confederate soldiers resulted in the loss of a key bridge in the war's final significant action. He avoided detention by traveling to Europe. On his return two years later, he declined to ask for a pardon, and successfully stood for election in Georgia when Congressional Reconstruction ended in 1877.