Upon the occasion of the official announcement of the death of John C. Breckinridge, the General Assembly approved a resolution "in relation to the death of General John C. Breckinridge" on January 25, 1876. The resolution stated that "the nation has lost a distinguished citizen; the State a wise counselor and trusted servant; society a shining and a brilliant member." His loss "cannot be measured in words." The resolution expressed a willingness to leave it to "the impartial judgment of history to place him among the actors of his time as his talents and his services may entitle him; feeling no apprehension that posterity will depreciate him or under-estimate the exalted virtues we knew him to possess."
John Cabell Breckinridge, salt print, ca. 1850s, Kentucky Historical Society Collections.
