Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar

Lucius Q. C. Lamar (1825–1893) was a Mississippi lawyer and university professor. He served in Congress prior to the Civil War, saw military service as a lieutenant colonel in the Confederate Army, and then returned to Congress first as a representative and then as a senator during the Reconstruction Era. As secretary of the Interior, Lamar was among the first southerners to receive a Cabinet appointment after the Civil War, thus contributing to national reconciliation. He favored the allotment of Indian lands, which ultimately removed millions of acres of Indian land from Indian ownership and control; the passage of the Dawes Act in 1887 would have serious and long-lasting ramifications on Indian relations. As a fiscal conservative, he eliminated the Department's fleet of horse-drawn carriages. Lamar resigned his post in 1888 to fill a vacancy as an associate justice of the Supreme Court—the first former Confederate so nominated. He is one of only two people in U.S. history to serve in the House and Senate, as a Cabinet member, and on the Supreme Court.