Toombs, Robert Augustus (1810-1885), was a leading Georgia politician during the American Civil War era. From February to July 1861, he served as secretary of state of the Confederacy. He then became a general in the Confederate Army.
Toombs was born on July 2, 1810, in Wilkes County, Georgia. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1845 to 1853, when he began serving in the U.S. Senate. In February 1861, as Southern states began to secede (withdraw) from the Union, he resigned from the Senate. After the war, he refused to swear allegiance to the U.S. government. As a result, Toombs never regained U.S. citizenship and was barred from elective office. Nevertheless, he continued to play an important role in Georgia politics. In 1877, he was a major force at the state’s constitutional convention. He died on Dec. 15, 1885.
