Blair, Francis Preston, Jr.

Life Span
to
Full name
Francis Preston Blair
Place of Birth
Birth Date Certainty
Exact
Gender
Male
Race
White
Sectional choice
North
Origins
Slave State
Family
Francis Preston Blair (father), Eliza Violet Gist Blair (mother), Montgomery Blair (brother) , Elizabeth Blair Lee (sister)
Education
Princeton (College of New Jersey)
Transylvania
University of North Carolina
Occupation
Politician
Attorney or Judge
Political Parties
Democratic
Republican
Government
US Senate
US House of Representatives
State legislature
Other state government
Military
US military (Pre-Civil War)
Union Army

Francis Preston Blair, Jr. (Congressional Biographical Directory)

Reference
BLAIR, Francis Preston, Jr., a Representative and a Senator from Missouri; born in Lexington, Ky., on February 19, 1821; as a child moved with his father to Washington, D.C.; attended private schools and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; graduated from Princeton College in 1841; studied law at Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky.; admitted to the bar in 1842 and commenced practice in St. Louis in 1843; enlisted as a private during the Mexican War; served as attorney general of the Territory of New Mexico; resumed the practice of law in St. Louis; member, State house of representatives 1852-1856; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1859); successfully contested the election of John R. Barret to the Thirty-sixth Congress and served from June 8 to June 25, 1860, when he resigned; unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Thirty-sixth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by his own resignation; elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress and served from March 4, 1861, until his resignation in July 1862 to become a colonel in the Union Army; chairman, Committee on Military Affairs (Thirty-seventh Congress); presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Thirty-eighth Congress and served from March 4, 1863, to June 10, 1864, when he was succeeded by Samuel Knox, who contested the election; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Vice President of the United States in 1868; member, State house of representatives 1870; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Charles D. Drake and served from January 20, 1871, to March 3, 1873; was not a candidate for reelection; State insurance commissioner in 1874; died in St. Louis, Mo., July 8, 1875; interment in Bellefontaine Cemetery.
“Blair, Francis Preston, Jr.,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000523.
Chicago Style Entry Link
Phillips, Christopher. “The Radical Crusade: Blair, Lyon, and the Advent of the Civil War in Missouri.” Gateway Heritage 10 (Spring 1990): 22-43. view record
Wurthman, Leonard B., Jr. “Frank Blair: Lincoln’s Congressional Spokesman.” Missouri Historical Review 64 (April 1970): 263-288. view record
How to Cite This Page: "Blair, Francis Preston, Jr.," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/5114.