Lincoln's Forgotten Ally: Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt of Kentucky

Abstract

Joseph Holt is a fairly obscure figure even for Civil War scholars. Holt was involved in President James Buchanan's administration, served as judge advocate general for President Abraham Lincoln, and played a part in the trial of Lincoln's assassins, but the details of his participation in all three roles have been hazy. Elizabeth D. Leonard brings Holt's participation into much sharper focus by contending that no member of Abraham Lincoln's administration or the postwar federal government—indeed, no Civil War–era political figure—has been more unjustly neglected by historians, more misrepresented by Americans' collective historical ‘memory,’ and, in the end, more completely forgotten than Joseph Holt. (pp. 1–2) Holt's obscurity may be explained partially by his choice never to run for a single local, state, or federal office. In that regard, his career may reveal a much larger pool of significant politicians who never held judicial, elective, or military positions. Perhaps his success in government came about because contemporaries felt reassured by his lack of desire to gain elective office.