Honorary Members
John C. Calhoun was one of the most prominent politicians of the Antebellum South. He was known not only for his oratory prowess, but also for his innovative political thought as he is often credited with the concept of minority rights. Calhoun restructured the War Department during his tenure as Secretary of War, and although he considered a run for the presidency he was instead satisfied with a landslide victory for the vice presidency where he served under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Calhoun was thoroughly impressed with the educational provisions of Erskine College and sent both his sons, James Edward Calhoun and William Lowndes Calhoun, there. J.E. Calhoun became a Philo during his attendance at Erskine.
Benjamin Franklin Perry was inducted into the Philomathean Literary Society in 1844, the same year he was elected to the South Carolina Senate, after delivering a speech at Erskine’s commencement ceremonies. Although he was eventually appointed as the 72nd Governor of South Carolina under Andrew Jackson, his early political career was unconventional. Perry was able to bring together conflicting perspectives, and in 1832 was elected as a delegate to both the Union Convention and the Nullification Convention. As editor of the “Greenville Mountaineer,” he obtained a great deal of influence in South Carolina, and although he was strongly opposed to the Ordinance of Nullification he managed to earn the respect of both sides of the conflict. Not everyone agreed with Perry’s politics, however, and he was challenged to a duel by the editor of the competing “Greenville Sentinel,” Turner Bynum who was fatally wounded by Perry. It should be noted that not only was Bynum a supporter of Calhoun, but Perry’s stance on the Ordinance of Nullification was antithetical to Calhoun, and thus the honor bestowed upon Perry by the 1844 Philos indicates their open-mindness, non-partisanship, and interest in promoting contesting ideals through oratory.
James L. Orr was made an honorary member in 1846 on the seventh anniversary commencement of Erskine College. Orr served in some of the highest positions in the government of the United States including Speaker of the House of Representatives and Governor of South Carolina, immediately after Benjamin Franklin Perry. Orr’s selection as Commencement Orator only two years after Perry again illustrates the Philomathean Literary Society’s dedication to debate, as Orr, a vehement advocate of state’s rights, was on the opposite end of the political spectrum from Perry. During the Civil War, he established Orr’s Rifles which drew a number of Philo alumni into its ranks. As well, descendants of Orr later attended Erskine where they became members of the Society.
Rev. Benjamin Morgan Palmer delivered one of his famously eloquent oratories to the Philomathean Society in 1854. At the time Palmer was serving as pastor to the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, but would later become the first moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America, and, following the Civil War, he was elected the first moderator of the Synod of Louisiana. His selection as a Commencement Orator so early in his career indicates the attention Philomatheans paid to the quality of speakers, and not just their social or political prominence.
James L. Petigru followed Palmer in 1856. Just as they had in the 1840s, the Philomatheans of the 1850s sought to include orators with diverse perspectives. Petigru was not only politically opposed to Palmer, as he was opposed to nullification and secession, but as a lawyer and jurist offered Philos a chance to hear a secular perspective. Petigru had already completed most of his professional achievements by 1856, having served in the South Carolina House of Representatives during the 1830s and as Attorney General of the state where he defended federal rights in one of the most prominent nullification trials.
Col. F.W. McMaster was a prominent veteran of the Civil War who served as second in command of the 17th infantry, and later became the first Chairman of Columbia’s school board. His unit saw action at the Second Battle of Manassas where nearly 75% of his regiment were wounded or killed including the commanding officer, J.H. Means, former Governor of SC, leaving McMaster in charge. Shortly after Manassas, McMaster came into conflict with Gen. Evans who had taken command of McMaster’s brigade. Evans called for a court martial against McMaster on charges of cowardice and mutiny. The charges, however, were bogus as McMaster, like his predecessor Means, was a man of moderation and had simply complained of Gen. Evans’ penchant for the bottle incurring the ire of his officer. McMaster was vindicated, and even went so far as to later publish the transcript of his trial. In 1873, McMaster spoke at Erskine, acknowledging the destruction left in the wake of the Civil War, he implored the Philos to abide by duty and virtue and adopt an optimistic attitude about the future of the South. McMaster School, built in 1911, and later acquired as McMaster College by the University of South Carolina, was named for him.
Gen. Robert E. Lee was perhaps the greatest tactician of the Civil War, and afterwards became a symbol of the ‘Lost Cause.’ Lee was a career military man and the son of the Revolutionary War hero Henry Lee III. His career prior to the Civil War was bright. After he graduated top of his class from West Point, he served for 32 years before the Secession. Lee was ambivalent about the Southern cause, and was, in fact, offered command of the Union forces by Lincoln, but finally, because his home state was Virginia, signed on to the Confederate Army where he was placed in command of the Eastern forces combined in the Army of Northern Virginia. After the Civil War, Lee became a vocal proponent of Reconciliation and was instrumental in persuading radical Northern politicians to allow the re-entry of former Confederates into America’s new political landscape.
Professor John Barbee Minor led one of the most eminent academic careers in American history. He taught at the University of Virginia for nearly 50 years, and his students went on to obtain some of the highest positions in American public life. He published his “Institutes of Common and Statute Law” over the course of twenty years, and his “Exposition of the Law of Crimes and Punishments” remained in use longer than most legal texts.
Professor William Elisha Peters taught Latin at the University of Virginia for 36 years after he received his Doctorate of Law from Emory and Henry College and studied in Berlin from 1856 to 1858. His works on Latin were used in courses at UVA long after he retired, and he was well known for his enthusiastic teaching style and referred to affectionately as “Old Pete.” In fact, Peters was so well loved by the student body that he managed to talk the Washington Society out of a riot and saved them from mass arrest. But he was a bit of a rebel himself, and advocated the admission of women to the school long before such a concept was commonplace. During the Civil War he joined the Confederate forces as a private in the Smyth Dragoons, but received numerous promotions eventually obtaining the rank of Colonel. While participating in a raid into Pennsylvania under Gen. Early, Peters was ordered to burn the village of Chambersburg in retaliation for the burning of several Virginian houses by Federal troops. Peters refused the order on the grounds that the citizens of Chambersburg were non-combatants, and while he was promptly arrested, a court-martial was not pursued. He received multiple wounds during the war, and while recovering in 1863 won a seat in the Senate of Virginia, but returned to the front once he had recovered.
Hon. Charles Smith has become better known by his alias Bill Arp. Under his nom de plume, Smith sent letters to the Atlanta Constitution which satirically took on political topics that he couldn’t discuss openly. After all, Smith was something more than just a satirist and had risen through public life beginning as Mayor of Rome, Georgia and ending his political career in the Georgia Senate. Prior to both his political and humorist careers, Smith served in the Confederate army as a major to the staff of several generals including Francis Bartow. His weekly column was syndicated in hundreds of newspapers, and he soon became one of the most widely read authors in the US. Indeed, Bill Arp became so popular that three towns were named after him as well as dozens of parks and public schools.
General P.G.T. Beauregard was the first brigadier general elected by the newly formed Confederate army. He had served with distinction in the Mexico-American War and had just been appointed to a position at West Point when the Civil War broke. Beauregard again proved his military prowess during the course of the War, obtaining the South’s first victory at the Battle of Fort Sumter and led the charge at the First Battle of Bull Run earning another early victory for the Confederate forces. Beauregard’s talents received international attention and he was offered leadership positions in Brazil, Egypt, and Romania. Although he considered the offers seriously, being dissatisfied with the Republican dominated political landscape of America after the War, he eventually decided to stay in the South and pursue professional and public ambitions. Beauregard maintained a lifelong loyalty to the then conservative Democrats, but in the midst of Reconstruction he took an iconoclastic position and joined with fellow Democrat businessmen to form the Reform Party which advocated for civil rights and argued that freed slaves should be allowed to vote.
Brigadier General Ambrose Ransom Wright, Esq. Fought with distinction for Confederate forces appearing in nearly every major battle in the Army of North Virginia. Wright’s men passed through Union forces during the Battle of Gettysburg achieving a deeper position than any other Confederate contingent. After the war, Wright purchased the “Augusta Chronicle & Sentinel” and used his position in the press to launch a political career. Although he initially lost nominations among the Democratic conventions, he was eventually elected to the United States House of Representatives, but died before he could assume office.
Honorable Hendley Stone Bennett had a long and successful career among the courts of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. He served eight years as judge of Mississippi’s circuit court before he ran for office and became a U.S. House Member. He was unsuccessful in his bid for re-election and returned to the courts as a lawyer after he moved to Texas. During the Civil War, he fought with the Thirty-Second Texas Cavalry.
Honorable John C. Breckinridge is the youngest man to date to serve as Vice President. Prior to his inauguration at the age of 36 under President John Buchanan, Breckinridge served the Kentucky House of Representatives before he was elected to two consecutive terms in Congress. He was selected by President Franklin Pierce as Minister to Spain but declined the position. Following his term as Vice President, he ran for the Presidency but lost to Abraham Lincoln as a result of the split between Northern and Southern Democrats that preceded the Civil War. After returning to Kentucky, he was named to the Senate where served until his expulsion alongside a number of Southern Senators for his support of the Confederate cause, although Kentucky remained with the Union. Unlike men like Robert E. Lee who volunteered themselves to their state in spite of their personal views, Breckinridge disagreed with the decision of the Kentucky legislature and joined the Confederate cause where he became a general and later the last Confederate Secretary of War. Breckinridge returned to Kentucky after spending several years abroad awaiting a grant of amnesty, but never entered politics again. He was, however, very vocal in his dislike of the Ku Klux Klan and retained a great deal of influence as a lawyer and later the Vice President of the Elizabethtown, Lexington, and Big Sandy Railroad Company.
Honorable Henry S. Foote was elected to the United States Senate where he was instrumental in the Compromise of 1850 which delayed the outset of the Civil War. In 1852, he resigned from the Senate after defeating Jefferson Davis running a pro-Union campaign and became Governor of Mississippi. When anti-Union sentiment in the state reached a boiling point, he opted to move to California rather than run for a second term. But when the Civil War broke, he returned to his home state and entered the Confederate House of Representatives as a vehement opponent of his old rival Jefferson Davis, who was elected as the President of the Confederate states. His debates turned Confederate politicians against him, and in 1865 he attempted to cross Union lines but was arrested and nearly expelled. Unwanted in the Confederacy and unable to obtain a meeting with Lincoln to acquire amnesty within the Union, Foote was forced to flee to Canada and later England. After the war, Foote moved to Washington and opened a law practice which he ran until President Hayes appointed him superintendent of the New Orleans Mint.
Honorable Jefferson Davis was a statesman who could see both sides of an issue. He served Mississippi as a Senator when he was selected as Secretary of War by President Franklin Pierce, but resigned in order to run against Henry S. Foote for the governorship of Mississippi. The two had divergent platforms with Foote, who was tied to the 1850 Compromise, running on a pro-Union campaign, while Davis, who opposed the Compromise, employed the rhetoric of states’ rights. While Davis lost, and even though he continued to attend conventions on states’ rights, he was opposed to secession. He again returned to the Senate where he used his position to encourage the preservation of the Union, and when Mississippi followed South Carolina in adopting an ordinance of secession he called the day “the saddest day of my life” but returned to his home state. Davis’ moderate position appealed to the diverse group of leaders who joined the Confederate cause, many of whom, such as Robert E. Lee, were opposed to secession but loyal to their own state, and his experience in the cabinet of Pierce made him the best choice to lead the Confederate government as President. Historians differ in their assessments of Davis. Some argue that he courted conflict with members of the South’s governing body and ineffectually micromanaged those below him, while others acknowledge the superior numbers and organization of the Union in reading the failure of the Confederacy. Davis would have rather served as a General, and was in fact appointed Major General of Mississippi’s forces at the outset of the conflict, revisiting his early days in the Mexico-American War. Regardless, Davis came to be a symbol of pride for the postbellum South. He spent two years in prison for treason before he was released on a bail of $100, 000, and immediately toured, attending ‘Lost Cause’ ceremonies, where he was greeted by droves of Southern supporters. He was not permitted to return to office during his lifetime, although the Senate rescinded the order in 1978. Just as he had skirted controversy in his antebellum political days by approaching issues moderately, he kept his opinions of reconstruction, which he viewed as a form of military occupation, to private company. Not until the 1880s did he present his views openly, then urging Reconciliation.
Judge Thomas Nuckolls Dawkins was a South Carolina legislator. He and his wife built a house in Union, South Carolina in the 1840s and named it the Shrubs after her home in England. Near the end of the Civil War, Dawkins lent his house to the leaders of the Confederate government who used it as their last capitol building.
Honorable Jeremiah Clemens was elected to the United States Senate in 1849 replacing the deceased Dixon Hall Lewis. Clemens was something of a polymath and in addition to his political career, which he came to through his legal practice, served in the Mexican-American war and wrote one of the first Western novels, “Tobias Wilson” as well as three other works of fiction that made him famous during his lifetime. As a politician, Clemens was something of an iconoclast. While he was a staunch Democrat, he was a vehement opponent of secession. During the Civil War he was immediately commissioned as Major General of the Army of Alabama, which Davis soon elevated to generalship. But his disagreement with the political views of his Southern fellows led him to resign in 1862. Yet, he remained in the South, refusing to defect, and instead wrote letters to Northern politicians asking them to come to peaceful terms with the Confederacy.
Judge J.W. Clapp was a member of the 1st Confederate Congress and a noted speaker in the South. He was placed in charge of Confederate cotton during the Civil War. He was politically involved prior to the war as a presidential elector for the Breckinridge and Lane ticket, and campaigned for Tilden and Hendricks.
Hononrable Zebulon Vance served two terms as the Governor of North Carolina before he became a United States Senator. During the Civil War, Vance rose to the rank of Colonel but he was more successful in his battles off the field with President Davis. Vance took the ideals of states’ rights that had prompted secession seriously, and applied them under the Confederacy when others were more focused on the war than political theory. As the leader of North Carolina, he ensured that any supplies smuggled through his state would be shared out there, ensuring that his statesmen received their fair portion. While his views on local authority brought complaints from Davis, he maintained the Rule of Law and habeas corpus continuing his state’s judicial system where nearly all other Southern states were left without courts. He was easily re-elected in 1864 due to his opposition to the Confederate government’s strict conscription policies. The War Governor of the South, as his constituents came to call him, continued his political career after the war, focusing on education. He was a popular orator and delivered a speech called “The Scattered Nation” hundreds of times. In his speech, Vance proclaimed the virtues of the Jewish people, and called for religious tolerance.
Honorable John S. Preston was the son of General Frances Preston. He was trained in law at Hampden-Sydney College and then the University of Virginia, and finally Harvard. When he returned from school, he set up a successful practice in Columbia, South Carolina before he was elected to the state Senate. Preston was an outspoken supporter of secession and was sent to the Virginia Secession Convention to persuade the state to join South Carolina. During the Civil War he rose to the rank of Brigadier General, serving for a time under Beauregard. He took the South’s loss hard, and left the United States for England until 1868 and upon his return remained a supporter of the Confederacy.
Honorable Whitemarsh Benjamin Seabrook became the 63rd Governor of South Carolina after spending five years in the State Senate and 14 as the State’s Lieutenant Governor. When Seabrook began his political career, he was only 21. As Governor of South Carolina, Seabrook was a proponent of education, and sought to extend schooling to the middle and lower classes where it had traditionally only been available to the rich. Seabrook even encouraged local governments to levy new taxes for school’s and formed the Teachers’ Association.
Honorable William Dunlap Simpson ended his political career as Governor of South Carolina, succeeding Wade Hampton III. In his early days, Simpson was a member of the South Carolina Legislature and Confederate States House of Representatives. He retired from political life as a Chief Justice of South Carolina’s Supreme Court.
General Maxcy Gregg served in the Mexican-American War as a Major. In the events leading up to secession, Gregg became a central voice of South Carolina’s political discontent with the Union. He published “An Appeal to the State Rights Party of South Carolina,” a manifesto which presented the position of South Carolina’s thinkers who rejected the Democratic Party. During the Civil War, he organized South Carolina’s 1st volunteer infantry division, and was later promoted to Brigadier General taking command of the Light Division. His success as a commander was faultless, especially at the Second Battle of Bull Run when his division repulsed six Union assaults. He was shot in the thigh at Antietam by the same bullet that killed Brigadier General Branch, but was not so fortunate at Fredricksburg where he was shot in the spine. Prior to the Civil War, Gregg engaged a number of interests including astronomy, botany, ornithology, and languages. He even owned his own private observatory.
Honorable John Hughes Means was elected governor of South Carolina in 1850 after a political career rooted in his vehement support of states’ rights. During Means’ governorship, he presided over the state convention that proclaimed South Carolina’s right to succeed and prepared the state for war as hostilities between the North and South became inevitable.
Waddy Thompson Jr. is one of the few honorary members of the society who was outside of the political and social events that led up to the Civil War. Rather, Thompson’s political career began in 1826 when he was elected to the Congress of South Carolina, and from there he soon became a member of the United States Congress as a representative of the Whigs. After his career as an elected politician, he was appointed as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico before he retired to Florida. Thompson, during his life in politics, worked as a lawyer in his Greenville-based practice.
Honorable William Lowndes Yancey is often called the “Orator of Secession.” Although he was initially opposed to Calhoun and other proponents of nullification, he was won over by the 1840s and became one of the strongest voices in the Southern Democratic party. Indeed, Yancey is considered one of the greatest influences on the split between the Northern and Southern Democrats. His political career during the antebellum period saw him become a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and during the Civil War he became a Confederate Senator. Davis was so impressed with his oratorical abilities, which could enthrall an audience for hours, that he named Yancey the Head of the Confederate Mission to Europe, although Yancey had no luck securing support. When he returned, his allegiance shifted against Davis, and he soon became a political opponent of the Confederacy’s President.
Marcus Mills Pomeroy was a journalist who ran a number of newspapers throughout his life out of Wisconsin, New York City, and Chicago. He acquired the nickname “Brick” early on his career. As a Democrat, it would be expected that Pomeroy was opposed to Lincoln, but he was more so than most other members of his party. Pomeroy joined the Copperhead movement which believed that the Republican party sought to replace American democracy with despotism. And, it was Pomeroy’s editorials that earned the movement nationwide attention. The group supported an immediate peace settlement with the South, and opposed the draft.
William Taylor Sullivan Barry was a representative in the State Legislature of Mississippi and served as Speaker in 1855. He attended the Democratic national convention in 1860, and withdrew with other members from the South. He presided over the state’s secession convention and served in the Confederate government and as a Colonel during the battle of Vicksburg.
Rev. James Boyce, D.D., was one of the founding members of the Synod of the South and served as Moderator of the ARP in 1860. Boyce was the son of a rich banker who never professed his own faith. A well educated man, Boyce taught at Furman and published the work ‘Systematic Theology’ which was well received in its day.
Rev. Ebenezer Erskine Boyce was selected as Moderator of the ARP in 1870.
Rev. James Irwin Bonner, D.D., was one of the 15 who contributed to the cost of building Philomathean Hall. He became Moderator of the ARP in 1865.
Robert Benthem Boylston was a lawyer well-known for his work ethic and proficiency. He entered politics as a State representative and in 1864 was elected as the Speaker of the House. During the war he served under General Bonham in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and as a judge of the military court.
Preston Smith Brooks was a Congressman from South Carolina. Brooks was one of the first American politicians to realize that the difficulties between the Northern and Southern States would manifest during the settlement of the Kansas issue. Indeed, the Kansas issue played out in a most violent manner with both pro-Slavery and Abolitionist elements committing murder against their neighbors as though the settlers were intent on showing the rest of the US what would happen during the Civil War. In Lawrence the Free State Hotel is burned, in Pottawatomie Creek pro-slavery supporters are hacked to death with broadswords. Brooks, although a famed orator, succumbed to the temperament of the times after Senator Sumner referred to his relative, Senator Andrew Butler, as a pimp in an invective and expletive filled speech. At first, Brooks was uncertain how to respond to the tirade and turned to his fellow representative from South Carolina Laurence M. Keitt and asked what the proper etiquette was for challenging a Senator to a duel. Keitt informed Brooks that it was only necessary to challenge equals, and Sumner’s speech marked him as having the same social standing as an animal. Brooks, with Keitt and Edmundson of Virginia, approached Sumner as the chamber emptied, and told Sumner that they considered his speech libel before Brooks beat him with a cane into unconsciousness. Although the South regarded the beating as due punishment for Sumner’s vitriol, Northern politicians relayed the incident as indicative of Southern fanaticism. Brooks resigned after the Senate voted against his expulsion, but was returned to office by his constituents. The incident shifted the sensitivities of the House and members soon began carrying weapons with them at all times. The event, like many dramatic instances throughout history, was not merely a catalyst but rather a symptom of the era. The wild, insulting rhetoric employed by Sumner represented a common theme among Republicans, while Brooks’ desire for revenge against a slight to his family’s honor was distinctly Democratic. What today has become Brooks’ moment in the spotlight was just an example of the extent to which discussion between the North and South were no longer possible. Sumner’s speech was delivered the day after the first violent acts of what we call “Bloody Kansas.”
Honorable John Laurence Manning was the 65th Governor of South Carolina. He was the president of the first Alumni Association of the University of South Carolina. He obtained his position as South Carolina’s governor after serving a single term in both the state’s House of Representatives and Senate. President James Buchanan offered him a position as the Minister to Russia but he declined. When the Civil War broke he enlisted as a Colonel. Following the Civil War he returned to politics again serving in both the House of Representatives and the Senate of South Carolina, and won a seat in the U.S. Senate which he was denied along with all other Southerners. The town of Manning, South Carolina is named for him.
Rev. J.P. Pressly studied at Erskine and later taught at the school. He was pastor of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church for forty-seven years.
Rev. E.E. Pressly was moderator of the ARP in 1841.
Honorable John Peter Richardson III began his political career as a member of South Carolina’s House of Representatives. During the Civil War he served on the staff of Brigadier General James Cantey. Richardson remained active in politics while the Republicans dominated the period of Reconstruction. When he finally decided to throw his hat in the ring, he aimed for a shot at the seat of Governor. After he beat out fellow Democrat and former Lieutenant Governor John Calhoun Sheppard for the party’s nomination, he won the gubernatorial election to become the state’s 83rd Governor. When he ran for his second term he won the nomination with a backing of 60% and was unopposed during the election. During his time as Governor, he helped in the founding of Clemson College.
Judge J.P. Reed enjoyed a successful legal career in Anderson county. When he was elected to Congress on a Democratic ticket immediately after the Civil War, he was prevented from taking his seat along with all other Southerners.
Honorable Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart was Secretary of the Interior between 1850 and 1853. Stuart was the chairman of the Committee of Nine which was instrumental in drafting Virginia’s constitution after the Civil War and engineering the admission of the state back into the Union.
Col. John P. Thomas was a prominent figure in the establishment of South Carolina’s military training schools. He was the first honor student to graduated from The Citadel and soon after taught as a Professor of English and History at The Arsenal. He became Superintendent of The Arsenal just prior to the Civil War. After the war, he spent a short time practicing law but returned to education when he founded the Carolina Military Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was named Superintendent of The Citadel upon its re-opening in 1882. In 1886 he became a member of the South Carolina Legislature where he was named State Historian.
Honorable Joseph A. Woodward won four consecutive terms in the South Carolina House of Representatives.
General Daniel Harvey Hill led his men with distinction at the Battle of Seven Pines and the Seven Days Battle but by the end of the Civil War his numerous disagreements with Robert E. Lee caused Davis to view him unfavorably. As a consequence, he was underutilized near the end of the war in spite of his military ability. After the war, he edited the magazine ‘The Land We Love’ until he became the first president of the University of Arkansas.
Alexander Hamilton Stephens was the Vice President of the Confederate States of America, although he opposed secession and implored his Southern colleagues to work out their issues with the North diplomatically during the antebellum period. Prior to the Civil War, Stephens demonstrated his preference for peace in his vehement opposition to the Mexico-American War. But he was by no means lacking in bravery. Stephens entered into a debate with Judge Francis Cone over the Wilmot Proviso that turned violent when Cone stabbed Stephens who maintained his opposition to the Proviso even while the Judge continued to repeatedly stab him. As Vice President, Stephens rejected Davis’ harsher policies including conscription and the suspension of habeas corpus and, ever the pacifist, put forth a number of propositions which aimed at securing a peace between the North and South. His speech on March 16, 1864 before the Georgian Legislature, which largely denounced Davis, drew the attention of both the North and South. By 1865, he was so frustrated with Davis that he met with Lincoln at the Hampton Roads Conference in a failed effort to negotiate a peace independent of the Confederate President. After the Civil War, Davis continued his political career as a Senator and Congressman until he was elected as the Governor of Georgia, but died only four months after winning the post.