People
Name: Blair, Montgomery
Description: Montgomery Blair was a member of the politically powerful Blair family that played a prominent role in St. Louis, Missouri and U.S. government in the mid-1850s. The son of Francis P. Blair, who was a leading member of President Andrew Jackson’s Kitchen Cabinet, Montgomery Blair was an ally of Missouri’s Senator Thomas Hart Benton. His connections helped get him appointed as postmaster general in President Lincoln’s cabinet during the early years of the Civil War. In that position, he held a great deal of influence with the president on issues such as how to deal with the border states, emancipation, and reparations for slaveholders who were loyal to the Union. Blair’s brother, Francis Blair served as a U.S. Congressman from St. Louis. Blair House, the government’s official guest house in Washington, D.C. is named for Montgomery Blair. (Magnan, 32; Gerteis, 29)
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