US Congressman, Civil War Confederate Congressman, Civil War Confederate Brigadier General. A native of Frankfort, Kentucky, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1832, 42nd in his class. He was commissioned as a Brevet 2nd Lieutenant and served with the mounted rangers and dragoons until his resignation in 1833. He returned to Kentucky to study law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced as an attorney in Frankfort and Louisville. He also served in the Kentucky Militia and became a Colonel of Volunteers with the 1st Kentucky Cavalry during the Mexican-American War. Elected as a Whig to represent Kentucky's 7th District in the United States House of Representatives, he served from 1849 until his resignation in 1852 to accept an appointment as a diplomatic commissioner as the United States Minister to China. He became a member of the American Party and was elected to the United States Congress again in 1854, serving from 1855 to 1859. He was renominated for reelection in 1858 but declined to run for another term. When the Civil War began, he supported Kentucky's neutrality, but felt that Kentucky was coerced into the Union and so he pledged his allegiance to the Confederacy. He was indicted for treason, fled to Western Virginia, and accepted a commission in the Confederate Army as a Brigadier General. He led troops at the Battle of Middle Creek in Eastern Kentucky where he was forced to withdraw by Colonel James A. Garfield. Frustrated by the Confederate War Department, he resigned his commission for three days and was reassigned to a command under General Braxton Bragg. Unable to earn a key command, he resigned again on June 17, 1863, moved to Richmond, Virginia, and resumed his law profession. He was elected to the Confederate Congress on May 2, 1864and became a member of the Committee on Military Affairs. He fled to Texas after the collapse of the Confederacy and eventually moved to New Orleans. After his citizenship was restored by President Andrew Johnson on December 18, 1867, he returned to Kentucky, and resumed his law profession in Louisville. He died at his residence in 1872 when he was 60 years old. He was the grandson of Kentucky Senator Humphrey Marshall, a nephew of well known abolitionist James G. Birney, and had two cousins who were generals in the Union Army.