John Goode Jr. (May 27, 1829 – July 14, 1909) was a Virginia attorney and Democratic politician. He served in both the United States Congress and the Confederate Congress, and was a colonel in the Confederate Army. He was Solicitor General of the United States during the presidency of Grover Cleveland. He was known as "the grand old man of Virginia." Early life Goode was born in Liberty (now Bedford), the county seat of Bedford County, Virginia. He was first son of Ann (née Leftwich) and John Goode (1796-1876), a veteran of the War of 1812, who lived on a plantation and enslaved 39 individuals. His paternal grandfather, Edmund Goode, fought in the American Revolutionary War, then moved from Caroline County westward to the Peaks of Otter area of what became Bedford County. His maternal great grandfather, Joel Leftwich, fought in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Goode was educated at the New Fields School, the New London Academy and Emory and Henry College, graduating in 1848. He studied law the Lexington Law School (now Washington and Lee University School of Law) and was admitted to the Virginia bar in April 1851. Early career In May 1851, Goode began practicing law in Liberty (now Bedford), Virginia. He served one term in the Virginia House of Delegates as a Democrat in 1852, which was unusual because Bedford County was primarily a Whigs country. In 1861, Bedford County voters elected Goode to the Virginia Secession Convention which passed the Ordinance of Secession in April 1861. Confederacy and Civil War Goode joined Company A of the 2nd Virginia Cavalry (Confederate Army) as a private on May 11, 1861, under the command of Capt. William R. Terry. Goode took leave June 12–July 11, 1861 to participate in the Secession Convention as it established an alternate government for Virginia. Cavalryman Goode fought at the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861. In October 1861, he was promoted to Captain, serving as the Aid-de-Camp for Major General Jubal A. Early from October 5, 1861 through December 1862, and again in 1864. He resigned his commission on December 4, 1862 to attend to his duties as a member of the Confederate Congress. Goode was elected to the First Confederate Congress and the Second Confederate Congress, serving from February 22, 1862 until the war's end. Three of his brothers–Willian O. Goode, Granville Breckenridge Goode,