Joseph Holt
Birthplace: Breckinridge County, Kentucky
Father: Colonel John Washington Holt 1772 – 1838
(Buried: Holt Family Cemetery, Holt, Kentucky)
Mother: Eleanor K. Stephens 1782 – 1871
(Buried: Holt Family Cemetery, Holt, Kentucky)
1st Wife: Mary Harrison 1811 – 1846 – (Died of Tuberculosis)
(Buried: Hynes – Talbott Cemetery, Bardstown, Kentucky)
2nd Wife: Margaret Wickliffe 1821 – 1860
(Buried: Bardstown City Cemetery, Bardstown, Kentucky)
Education:
Attended St. Joseph’s College and Centre College
Occupation before War:
Assistant Editor of Louisville Public Advertiser Newspaper
1833 – 1835: Commonwealth Attorney in Kentucky
Attorney in Port Gibson, Natchez, and Vicksburg, Mississippi
1857 – 1859: United States Commissioner of Patents
1859 – 1860: United States Postmaster General
1861: United States Secretary of U.S. War Department
Civil War Career:
1862 – 1875: Judge Advocate General of United States Army
Wrote the argument in supreme court against Clement Vallandigham
1864 – 1875: Brigadier General, United States Army
1864: Prosecuting in the court martial of Major General Fitz John Porter
1864: Declined the office of United States Secretary of Interior
1864: Declined the office of United States Attorney General
1864: Considered a possible Vice-Presidential Candidate
1865: Chief Prosecutor in the trial of the Lincoln Assassinators
Occupation after War:
1862 – 1875: Judge Advocate General of United States Army
1864 – 1875: Brigadier General United States Army
1866: Issued a pamphlet Vindication of Judge Advocate General Holt From the Foul
Soldiers of Traitors, Confessed perjuries and suborners, Acting in the interest of
Jefferson Davis
Died: August 1, 1894
Place of Death: Washington, D.C.
Cause of Death: Fracture of neck of femur caused by fall, exhaustion
Age at time of Death: 87 years old
Burial Place: Holt Family Cemetery, Holt, Kentucky
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