A lawyer by training, Toombs gained renown in the antebellum years as an orator in the U.S. House of Representatives, and later in the U.S. Senate. A slaveholder, he found common ground with fellow-Georgian Alexander H. Stephens and advocated states' rights and the extension of slavery to western territories. Toombs supported the Compromise of 1850, but later advocated secession. Toombs had emotive oratory and a strong physical presence, but his intemperate habits and volatile personality limited his career. In the newly formed Confederate Government, Toombs was appointed Secretary of State. He criticized the attack on Fort Sumter, which put him at odds with President Jefferson Davis (whose position he had coveted), and he quit the administration to join the Confederate States Army. He became a Brigadier-General, and was wounded at the Battle of Antietam. In 1863, Toombs resigned his commission in the Confederate Army to join the Georgia militia. He was subsequently denied higher promotion and resigned as he continued to feud with Davis. When the war ended, he fled to Cuba. He returned to Georgia in 1867, but refused to request a presidential pardon and was prohibited from holding political office until after the Reconstruction era ended.