Jacob M. Dickinson

Jacob McGavock Dickinson (January 30, 1851 – December 13, 1928) was United States Secretary of War under President William Howard Taft from 1909 to 1911. He was succeeded by Henry L. Stimson. He was an attorney, politician, and businessman in Nashville, Tennessee, where he also taught at Nashville University. He came to have a national role after moving to Chicago, Illinois, in 1899. Early life Jacob McGavock Dickinson was born on January 30, 1851, in Columbus, Mississippi. His father, Henry Dickinson, served as a chancery judge in Mississippi from 1843 to 1854. His mother was Anne McGavock. His maternal great-grandfather was Felix Grundy. During the American Civil War of 1861–1865, Dickinson enlisted at fourteen as a private in the Confederate States Army. Dickinson moved with his family to Nashville, Tennessee, where he graduated from the University of Nashville in 1871, and received his master's degree in 1872. While in college, he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He studied law briefly at Columbia Law School and continued his studies abroad in Leipzig and Paris. He spoke German. He was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1874. Career Dickinson built his law practice. From 1889 to 1893, Dickinson served as president of the Tennessee Bar Association. He served on the Tennessee Supreme Court from 1891 to 1893. He served as Assistant Attorney General of the United States from 1895 to 1897. From 1897 to 1899, he was a Professor of Law at the Vanderbilt University Law School and an attorney for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.