John Breckinridge

John Breckenridge in "Lee at the Alamo"
In the face of Benjamin McCulloch's appeals to Robert E. Lee's Southern identity to support the right of Texas to secede from the Union before the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President, Lee privately reflected that he would have preferred for any of Lincoln's three opponents (Stephen Douglas, John Breckenridge, or John Bell) to have won the election. Nevertheless, he was determined to perform his duty to the government no matter who headed it.