On October 8, 1826, Matt Whitaker Ransom, Confederate general, U.S. senator and minister to Mexico, was born in Warren County.
After graduating from the UNC, Ransom studied law. He married and moved to Northampton County in 1853, where he practiced. Serving in the legislature at the outbreak of the Civil War, Ransom enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army, joining the 35th North Carolina Regiment which he eventually would command. He was wounded three times during the war and was eventually promoted to brigadier general.
After the war, Ransom became a strong supporter of reconciliation between the regions. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1872 and represented North Carolina there until 1895. A strong supporter of President Grover Cleveland, he was posted to Mexico as the “Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary” serving in that role until 1897, when he returned to Northampton County and retired from public service.
He died in October 1904. A bust of Ransom, commissioned by the North Carolina Historical Commission, was placed in the rotunda of the State Capitol in 1911.
Other related resources:
- Images of the Civil War from the State Archives
- The Civil War on NCpedia
- The North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee
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