George Eustis Jr; Statesman
George
Eustis Jr., was a brother of James Biddle Eustis. He served in the US House of
Representatives from Louisiana. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to George
and and Clarice (Allain) Eustis on September 28, 1828.
He was graduated from Jefferson
College, Convent, Louisiana and from the Law Department of Harvard University.
He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in New Orleans before being
elected as the American Party candidate to the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth
Congresses (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1859).
He served as secretary to John Slidell and was taken prisoner with him from the
British mail steamer Trent in 1861. He was held prisoner at Fort Warren in
Boston Harbor, but released when it was determined that the seizure was illegal.
During the War Between the States, he served as secretary of the Confederate
mission at Paris and remained in Paris after the close of the war. His intimate
acquaintance with the French language, caused his arrest as a French spy during
the Franco-German war-an incident , it is believed, of more amusement than
serious inconvenience to him.
George Eustis was commissioned by
Elihu B. Washburne, United States Minister at Paris, to negotiate a postal
treaty with the French Government. He married Louise Corcoran of Washington,
D.C. They were the parents of William Corcoran Eustice (July 20, 1862), George
Peabody Eustis (July 21, 1864) and Harriet Louise Eustis (January 21, 1867).
George Eustis Jr. died in Cannes,
France on March 15, 1872. His interment took place in Oak Hill Cemetery,
Washington, D.C. Bibliography: Tregle, Joseph G. “George Eustis, Jr., Non-Mythic
Southerner.” Louisiana History 16 (Fall 1975): 383-90.