CDV of Confederate General William Preston with Lynchburg, Virginia Backmark

CDV of Confederate General William Preston with Lynchburg, Virginia Backmark
 
General William Preston (1816–1887) was an American politician, diplomat, and Confederate general during the Civil War. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Preston came from a prominent family and was educated at Yale and the University of Virginia. He served in the Mexican-American War as a lieutenant colonel and later entered politics, becoming a member of the Kentucky legislature and a U.S. Congressman (1852–1855). Prior to the Civil War, Preston also served as U.S. Minister to Spain under President James Buchanan, a role that influenced his views on secession and Southern identity.
 
When the Civil War broke out, Preston joined the Confederate cause despite Kentucky’s divided loyalties. He was commissioned as a brigadier general and served primarily in the Western Theater, including at Shiloh and in the campaigns in Tennessee and Mississippi. Later, he became an aide and envoy for Confederate President Jefferson Davis, working on diplomatic and recruitment missions abroad. After the war, he returned to Kentucky and resumed his law practice, remaining active in Democratic Party politics. Though not as widely known as other Confederate leaders, Preston’s contributions reflected the complex loyalties of border-state figures during the conflict.