Henry Skillman Breckinridge

U.S. Army Officer

Henry Skillman Breckinridge was born on 25 May 1886 in Chicago, IL.

Skillman, a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, was appointed as President Woodrow Wilson's Assistant Secretary of War, in 1913 at age 27.

A member of the 1912 and 1928 Olympic fencing teams, and was Captain of the latter.

During World War I, he served as commander of a battalion.

After the war he practiced law in New York where his most famous client and friend was Colonel Charles Lindbergh. He was involved in the futile ransom negotiations with the kidnapper of Colonel Lindbergh's son and, later, was one of the witnesses at the trial of Bruno Hauptmann.

Death and Burial

Henry Skillman Breckinridge died on 2 May 1960 in New York, NY. He is buried at Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, KY.