Editing Jacob Thompson (section)

{{Short description|American politician}}
{{similar names|Jacob Thompson (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Jacob Thompson
| image               = Jacob Thompson - Brady-Handy.jpg
| office              = 5th [[United States Secretary of the Interior]]
| president           = [[James Buchanan]]
| term_start          = March 10, 1857
| term_end            = January 8, 1861
| predecessor         = [[Robert McClelland (American politician)|Robert McClelland]]
| successor           = [[Caleb Blood Smith|Caleb Smith]]
| state1              = [[Mississippi]]
| district1           = {{ushr|MS|1|1st}}
| term_start1         = March 4, 1847
| term_end1           = March 3, 1851
| predecessor1        = Constituency established
| successor1          = [[Benjamin D. Nabers]]
| state2              = [[Mississippi]]
| district2           = {{ushr|MS|AL|at-large}}
| term_start2         = March 4, 1839
| term_end2           = March 3, 1847<br/>{{small|Seat A}}
| predecessor2        = [[Thomas J. Word]]
| successor2          = Constituency abolished
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1810|5|15}}
| birth_place         = [[Leasburg, North Carolina]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1885|3|24|1810|5|15}}
| death_place         = [[Memphis, Tennessee]], U.S.
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse              = Catherine Jones
| education           = [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])}}
| signature           = Signature of Jacob Thompson (1810–1885).png
| caption             = Thompson between 1855 and 1865, by [[Mathew Brady]]
| resting_place       = [[Elmwood Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)|Elmwood Cemetery]]
}}

'''Jacob Thompson''' (May 15, 1810 – March 24, 1885) was the [[United States Secretary of the Interior]], who resigned on the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]] and became the Inspector General of the [[Confederate States Army]].

In 1864, [[Jefferson Davis]] asked Thompson to lead a delegation to Canada, where he appears to have been leader of the [[Confederate Secret Service]]. From here, he is known to have organised many anti-Union plots and was suspected of many more, including a possible meeting with Lincoln's assassin, [[John Wilkes Booth]].

Union troops burned down his mansion in [[Oxford, Mississippi]], the hometown of [[William Faulkner]], who based some of his fictional characters on Thompson.