Clifton R. Breckinridge

Clifton Rodes Breckinridge


Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's At-large & 2nd district
In office March 4, 1883 – August 14, 1894
Preceded by	(none) James K. Jones John M. Clayton
Succeeded by	(none) John M. Clayton John S. Little
Personal details
Born	November 22, 1846 Lexington, Kentucky
Died	December 3, 1932(1932-12-03) (aged 86) Wendover, Kentucky
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Katherine Carson Breckinridge
Children	James Carson Breckinridge, Mary Breckinridge
Parents	John Cabell Breckinridge & Mary Cyrene Burch
Profession	Politician, Banker, Cotton farmer
Military service
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Service/branch	Confederate States Army Confederate States Navy
Rank	Midshipman (navy)
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Clifton Rodes Breckinridge (November 22, 1846 – December 3, 1932) was a Democratic alderman, congressman, diplomat, businessman and veteran of the Confederate Army and Navy. He was a member of the prominent Breckinridge family, the son of Vice President of the United States and Confederate General John C. Breckinridge and the great-grandson of U.S. Senator and Attorney General of the United States John Breckinridge.

Born near Lexington, Kentucky, the son of John Cabell and Mary Cyrene Burch Breckinridge, Breckinridge attended rural schools in his hometown as a child. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he entered the Confederate Army with his father and was later a midshipman in the Confederate Navy. After the war, he attended Washington College in Lexington, Virginia for three years where the school's president, Confederate General Robert E. Lee, encouraged his desire for a career of public service. Afterwards, he joined his older brother in a cotton plantation near Pine Bluff, Arkansas and engaged in cotton planting and in the commission business for thirteen years. In 1876, Breckinridge married Katherine Carson, the daughter of a well-to-do Mississippi family, with whom he would have four children.