John Slidell was an American politician and diplomat born in New York City in 1793 who later moved to New Orleans, where he practiced law from 1819 to 1835 and married Mathilde Deslonde. A member of the state House of Representatives, he unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 1828, served as U.S. District Attorney from 1829-1833, and was then elected as a States Rights Democrat to the 28th and 29th U.S. Congress, serving from March 4, 1843 until his resignation on November 10, 1845. In 1850, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, was reelected in 1853, and became a major influence in the administration of President James Buchanan, at one point being known as "the most powerful man in the United States." Upon Louisiana's secession from the Union, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him special envoy to France to seek diplomatic assistance and procure war resources. During that mission, he was taken from the RMS Trent after it was seized by the U.S., and after his release he arrived in Paris in January 1862. Through the banking house of Baron Emile Erlanger, he arranged a major bond issue for the Confederacy. He remained in Europe after the Civil War and died on July 29, 1871, in Cowes, Isle of Wight, England. In the course of his diplomatic and banking transactions, his daughter Mathilde met and married Frederick, the son of Baron Emile Erlanger. Frederick Erlanger later succeeded his father as Baron, participated in building the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, and named the first settlement in honor of his father-in-law, John Slidell.