John Cabel Breckinridge Plaque
Location: Old Presbyterian Church of Larne and Kilwaughter, Meetinghouse Street, Larne
The Breckinridge family were Covenanter Presbyterian from Ayrshire in Scotland, and came to settle at the townland of Ballyrickardbeg near Raloo outside Larne. In 1728 one of their number, Alexander Breckinridge, his wife and six children, emigrated to America, arriving in Philadelphia, and settling in Augusta County, Virginia.
Alexander was the great-great grandfather of Kentucky statesman John Cabell Breckinridge, who was born in January 1821. He would rise to fill the office of Vice President, but in the troubled years of the 1860s would eventually throw in his lot with the Confederate Cause. He was a Confederate general and held the office of Confederate Secretary of War in 1865, having to flee into exile when the Confederate states were defeated. He spent his remaining years until his death in 1875 endeavouring to reconcile his fellow Americans.
The Breckinridge family was associated with the Old Presbyterian congregation of Larne and Kilwaughter.
