Holt, Joseph

Life Span
to
    Full name
    Joseph Holt
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Slave State
    No. of Spouses
    2
    Family
    John Holt (father), Eleanor Stephens (mother), Mary Harrison (first wife), Margaret Wickliffe (second wife)
    Education
    Other
    Other Education
    St. Joseph's College, KY; Centre College, KY
    Occupation
    Politician
    Military
    Attorney or Judge
    Journalist
    Military
    Union Army
    US military (Post-Civil War)

    Joseph Holt (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    Holt's unionism, however, grew considerably more ardent in the wake of Abraham Lincoln's presidential victory. As secession became reality, Holt became, along with Jeremiah Black and Edwin Stanton, one of the stalwart Union men in the lame-duck administration, pressing Buchanan to be resolute, even as other cabinet members equivocated or cast their lot with the South. In December 1860 Secretary of War John Floyd decamped, and Holt was appointed in his stead. Determined to keep hold of what the federal government had retained of its property in the South while avoiding outright provocation, Holt made plain to Robert Anderson, Fort Sumter's commander, that reinforcements would be sent, but only upon Anderson's request. Holt even prepared a force to deliver the men and supplies, but Anderson made no such demand of him. Holt also removed P. G. T. Beauregard, whose secessionist leanings were unmistakable, from his position as superintendent of West Point and bolstered Washington's defenses. After briefing the incoming Lincoln administration, Holt once again took to the stump, denouncing secession in speeches around the nation, most notably in Kentucky, where in July he lambasted his home state's pretensions to neutrality. If something of a late bloomer in his enthusiasm for "coercion," he came to embrace not only a war for the Union but one for freedom. He later endorsed the Emancipation Proclamation and the enlistment of black troops.
    Patrick G. Williams. "Holt, Joseph," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00522.html.
    Date Event
    Joseph Holt confirmed as new Postmaster-General in the Buchanan Cabinet
    Postmaster-General Holt threatens action over South Carolina's seizure of U.S. Post Office accounts
    Secretary of War John B. Floyd of Virginia resigns and is replaced by Postmaster-General Joseph Holt
    Secretary of War Holt dismisses General Twiggs from the U.S. Army for treachery
    Secretary of War Edwin Stanton appoints a special commission to investigate fraud in Army contracts
    In Washington, President Johnson orders a military trial for John Wilkes Booth's accused fellow plotters
    In Washington, the officers of the military court for John Wilkes Booth's accused fellow plotters are named
    In Washington, membership of the military court for John Wilkes Booth's accused fellow plotters is adjusted
    In Washington, the accused Lincoln Assassination plotters all plead not guilty before their military court
    In Washington's Old Penitentiary, the taking of evidence in the Lincoln conspiracy trial begins
    - In Washington's Old Penitentiary, the taking of evidence in the Lincoln conspiracy trial continues
    In Washington's Old Penitentiary, the taking of evidence in the Lincoln conspiracy trial concludes
    - In Washington's Old Penitentiary, final arguments are being made in the Lincoln conspiracy trial
    In Washington's Old Penitentiary, the Commission in the Lincoln conspiracy trial begin their deliberations
    In Washington, President Andrew Johnson approves the sentences passed down to the Lincoln conspirators
    In Washington's Old Penitentiary, the Lincoln conspirators are told their fate in their cells
    How to Cite This Page: "Holt, Joseph," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/5924.