George Graham Vest (December 6, 1830 â€" August 9, 1904) was a U.S.
politician. Born in Frankfort, Kentucky, he was known for his skills
in oration and debate. Vest, a lawyer as well as a politician, served
as a Missouri Congressman, a Confederate Congressman during the Civil
War, and finally a US Senator.Vest was best known during his lifetime
for his "a man's best friend" closing arguments from the trial in
which damages were sought for the killing of a dog named Old Drum on
October 18, 1869. But his greatest legacy is as the apparent
originator of the phrase "history is written by the victors.†While
its origin is not definitively known, Vest used it to promote the Lost
Cause.Vest graduated from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, in 1848
and from the law department of Transylvania University, Lexington,
Kentucky, in 1853. He was admitted to the bar in 1853 and planned to
move to California. However, while en route, he stopped in Pettis
County, Missouri, where he defended a young African-American man
accused of murder. Vest's client was acquitted but soon burned at the
stake by an angry mob. Vest's own life was also threatened, but he
nonetheless decided to stay in Missouri permanently, settling in
Georgetown. In 1854 he married Sallie Sneed of Danville, Kentucky.
They had three children, two sons and a daughter.In 1860, after moving
to Boonville, Missouri, he was elected to the Missouri House of
Representatives and served as a Democratic presidential elector. As a
Missouri representative he was chairman of the Committee on Federal
Relations. Vest served in the House until late 1861 during which he
wrote the Vest Resolutions in which he denounced coercion of the
South. George Graham Vest Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter