b. November 9, 1809, in Frankfort, Kentucky; d. December 8, 1877, in Alexandria, Virginia. Leaving behind a four-year career as an Episcopalian minister, Bledsoe was admitted to the bar and came to Springfield, Illinois, to practice law in 1839. He was the law partner of Jesse B. Thomas. A year later he became the law partner of Edward D. Baker. He was active in Whig politics and was for a while the chief editorial writer for the Whig newspaper, Illinois State Journal. Bledsoe resided in Springfield at the Globe Tavern where Lincoln, after his marriage to Mary Todd in 1842, also lived. Until his departure from Springfield in 1847, Bledsoe was a friend and associate of Abraham Lincoln. Later on, however, Bledsoe became critical of Lincoln and served during the Civil War as the Confederacy's Assistant Secretary of War. Research that Bledsoe conducted in England led to his publication in 1866 of Is Davis a Traitor? Or was Secession a Constitutional Right Previous to the War of 1861?, a classic defense of the Confederacy. In 1877, Bledsoe founded The Southern Review, which he edited for a short time until his death later that same year.