Horace Maynard

Horace Maynard
28th United States Postmaster General
In office June 2, 1880 – March 4, 1881
President	Rutherford B. Hayes
Preceded by	David M. Key
Succeeded by	Thomas James
United States Minister to the Ottoman Empire
In office June 12, 1875 – July 15, 1880
President	Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes
Preceded by	George Boker
Succeeded by	James Longstreet
Chairman of the House Republican Conference
In office March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875
Speaker	James G. Blaine
Preceded by	Austin Blair
Succeeded by	George W. McCrary
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee
In office July 24, 1866 – March 3, 1875
Preceded by	Self (1863)
Succeeded by	Jacob M. Thornburgh (2nd)
Constituency	2nd district (1866–1873) At-large district (1873–1875)
In office March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1863
Preceded by	William H. Sneed (6th)
Succeeded by	Self (1866)
Constituency	2nd district
Personal details
Born	(1814-08-30)August 30, 1814 Westborough, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	May 3, 1882(1882-05-03) (aged 67) Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Resting place	Old Gray Cemetery
Political party	Whig (Until 1856) American (1856–1858) Opposition (1858–1860) Unionist (1861–1866) Unconditional Union (1866–1867) Republican (1867–1882)
Spouse	Laura Washburn
Relatives	Martha Tracy Owler (niece)
Education	Amherst College (BA)
Signature

Horace Maynard (August 30, 1814 – May 3, 1882) was an American educator, attorney, politician and diplomat active primarily in the second half of the 19th century. Initially elected to the House of Representatives from Tennessee's 2nd Congressional District for the term commencing on March 4, 1857, Maynard, an ardent Union supporter and abolitionist,^[1] became one of the few Southern congressmen to maintain his seat in the House during the Civil War. Toward the end of the war, Maynard served as Tennessee's attorney general under Governor Andrew Johnson, and later served as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire under President Ulysses S. Grant and Postmaster General under President Rutherford B. Hayes.^[2]

Maynard left his teaching position at East Tennessee College in the early 1840s to pursue a career in law, and quickly developed a reputation among his peers for his reasoning ability and biting sarcastic style.^[2] He spent much of his first two terms in Congress fighting to preserve the Union, and during the Civil War, he consistently urged President Abraham Lincoln to send Union forces to free East Tennessee from its Confederate occupiers.^[3] Maynard returned to Congress after the war, but being a Republican in a Democrat-controlled state, he struggled in statewide elections.^[2]