Ambrose Dudley Mann (April 26, 1801November 15, 1889) was the first
United States Assistant Secretary of State Assistant Secretary of State (A/S) is a title used for many executive positions in the United States Department of State, ranking below the under secretaries. A set of six assistant secretaries reporting to the under secretary for political affairs ...
and a commissioner for the
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
.
Early life
Mann was born on April 26, 1801, in
Hanover Courthouse, Virginia
Hanover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hanover County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat and is located at the junction of U.S. Route 301 and State Route 54 south of the Pamunkey River. While his ...
. He studied at the
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...
but left before he graduated.
US government service
He later became US
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...
to
Bremen in 1842 and was appointed to negotiate commercial treaties with
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
,
Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to:
Places
*Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica
*Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany
**Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony
*Olde ...
, and
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...
in 1845 as well as all the German states except
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
in 1847. In 1849, he became commissioner to
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
and in 1850, he became
US Consul to Switzerland, where he negotiated a
reciprocity treaty. He then returned to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, where he was appointed as the first Assistant Secretary of State in 1853; he served until 1855.
Civil War
During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, he sided with the Confederacy and devoted himself especially to the development of the material interests of its states. On March 16, 1861,
Confederate President Jefferson Davis and
Secretary of State Robert Toombs
Robert Augustus Toombs (July 2, 1810 – December 15, 1885) was an American politician from Georgia, who was an important figure in the formation of the Confederacy. From a privileged background as a wealthy planter and slaveholder, Toomb ...
appointed Mann,
William Lowndes Yancey
William Lowndes Yancey (August 10, 1814July 27, 1863) was an American journalist, politician, orator, diplomat and an American leader of the Southern secession movement. A member of the group known as the Fire-Eaters, Yancey was one of the m ...
and
Pierre Adolphe Rost the first
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
commissioners to Europe. The three sailed on March 31, 1861. Mann eventually received the title ''Commissioner of the Confederate States of America for Belgium and the Vatican''. Yancey and Rost were later replaced by
John Slidell
John Slidell (1793July 9, 1871) was an American politician, lawyer, and businessman. A native of New York, Slidell moved to Louisiana as a young man and became a Representative and Senator. He was one of two Confederate diplomats captured by the ...
and
James Murray Mason
James Murray Mason (November 3, 1798April 28, 1871) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as senator from Virginia, having previously represented Frederick County, Virginia, in the Virginia House of Delegates.
A grandson of George Ma ...
, the two subjects of the
''Trent'' Affair.
Later life
Mann spent the latter part of his life living in France where he had an apartment in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
and a country house in
Chantilly
Chantilly may refer to:
Places
France
*Chantilly, Oise, a city located in the Oise department
**US Chantilly, a football club
*Château de Chantilly, a historic château located in the town of Chantilly
United States
* Chantilly, Missou ...
. He wrote his memoirs, which were available to read by 1888. Mann died in France in 1889, the exact date of his death (Nov. 15, 1889) being announced in the Nov. 16, 1889 issue of the French newspaper ''Journal des Debats''. After a delay of about 6 weeks, Mann was finally interred on January 2, 1890, in the
Montparnasse Cemetery, in Paris.
Further reading
*
External links
A. Dudley Mann's correspondents from 1849-1850*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Ambrose Dudley
1801 births
1889 deaths
United States Assistant Secretaries of State
Confederate States of America diplomats
19th-century American diplomats
Confederate expatriates
People from Hanover, Virginia
Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery