{{short description|American diplomat}} {{Use American English|date=May 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox person | image = John Forsyth Jr., newspaperman and politician (cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1812|10|31}} | birth_place = [[Augusta, Georgia]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1877|05|02|1812|10|31}} | death_place = [[Mobile, Alabama]], U.S. | resting_place = [[Magnolia Cemetery (Mobile, Alabama)|Magnolia Cemetery]] | other_names = | occupation = Editor, diplomat, politician | father = [[John Forsyth (politician)|John Forsyth]] | spouse = {{Marriage|Margaret Hull|1834}} | children = | awards = | education = [[Princeton University]] | political_party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | signature = }}
'''John Forsyth Jr.''' (October 31, 1812 – May 2, 1877) was an American newspaper editor of the ''[[Mobile Register]]'' and the son of politician [[John Forsyth (politician)|John Forsyth]].
==Biography== Born in [[Augusta, Georgia]], he attended the [[University of Georgia]] at [[Athens, Georgia|Athens]] where he was a member of the [[Phi Kappa Literary Society]]. Forsyth graduated from Princeton in 1832.<ref name=Cyclopaedia>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXBGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA471 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=VIII |publisher=James T. White & Company |page=471 |year=1924 |access-date=2021-01-29 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1834, Forsyth married Margaret Hull, the daughter of Latham Hull of Augusta, GA. Their son Charles, born in Mobile, Alabama, would go on to serve as a colonel in the Confederate Army.
Forsyth was for many years one of the foremost [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] editors of the south. He was Adjutant of the First Georgia Regiment in the [[Mexican–American War|Mexican War]]. In 1856 he was appointed Minister to [[Mexico]], but in 1858 demanded his passports and withdrew from the legation. He went on to become the Mayor of Mobile, Alabama in 1860. By 1863, he served as Chief of Staff in the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
On July 17, 1857, he attempted to negotiate a US purchase of Mexican territory including the whole of [[Baja California (peninsula)|Baja California]], as well as parts of Northern [[Sonora]] and [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]] up to the [[Yaqui River]] at the [[Gulf of California]] coast and then to the 30th parallel north.<ref>https://dsl.richmond.edu/historicalatlas/94/b/</ref>
In 1861, with [[Martin J. Crawford]] of Georgia, he represented the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]] as commissioner to the National government, but his request for an unofficial interview with [[William Henry Seward]] was declined. He left for [[Mobile, Alabama]] after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] and engaged in journalistic work until health problems compelled him to retire. He died in Mobile on May 2, 1877.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68807491/death-of-hon-john-forsyth/ |title=Death of Hon. John Forsyth |newspaper=The Daily Gazette |page=1 |date=1877-05-03 |access-date=2021-01-29 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The ''Mobile Register'' of May 5, 1877 (its columns draped in black) printed a lengthy obituary: "a large congregation of Mobile citizens were assembled to testify by their presence, their love and respect for the honored dead." A funeral cortege traveled to [[Magnolia Cemetery (Mobile, Alabama)|Magnolia Cemetery]] where the final interment took place.
==References== {{Reflist}} *Burnett, Lonnie. ''[http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=279733&site=eds-live&scope=site&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_Front_Cover The pen makes a good sword : John Forsyth of the Mobile register]'' (University of Alabama Press, 2006) *Shadburn, Don L. ''Pioneer History of Forsyth County Georgia: 1832-1860, Vol. I''. (Pioneer-Cherokee Heritage Series, 1981) *{{Appletons'}}
{{s-start}} {{s-dip}} {{succession box | title=[[List of United States Ambassadors to Mexico|U.S. Minister to Mexico]] | before=[[Richard S. Spofford]] | after=[[William M. Churchwell]] | years=1856-1858 }} {{s-end}} {{US Ambassadors to Mexico}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Forsyth, John Jr.}} [[Category:1812 births]] [[Category:19th-century American newspaper editors]] [[Category:1877 deaths]] [[Category:People of Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Mexico]] [[Category:19th-century American diplomats]] [[Category:American male journalists]] [[Category:19th-century American male writers]] [[Category:Meigs family]] [[Category:Burials at Magnolia Cemetery (Mobile, Alabama)]] [[Category:Mayors of Mobile, Alabama]]