Thomas C. Manning
Edenton, Chowan County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Thomas C. Manning 1825 1887. U.S. Minister to Mexico; chief justice, La. Supreme Court.; La. adjutant gen., 1863-65; taught at Edenton Academy. Lived here.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
Thomas C. Manning (1825–1887) began his career teaching at Edenton Academy before moving to Louisiana, where he served as that state's Confederate adjutant general from 1863 to 1865. After the war he became chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court and later U.S. Minister to Mexico. This marker notes the North Carolina home where his remarkable public life began.
Why it matters
Manning's path from Carolina schoolteacher to Confederate official, jurist, and diplomat illustrates the far-flung careers of the antebellum South's educated class through war and reunion.
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