He twice won election to the Virginia House of Delegates, and also served during the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861, as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia (1860 to 1864), and in the Second Confederate Congress from (1864 to 1865).
His son Andrew Jackson Montague became Governor of Virginia and a U.S.
Congressman, and grandson Robert Latane Montague rose to become a general in the U.S.
Marine Corps after receiving the Distinguished Service Cross in World War I.