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III. — UNDER THE CONFEDERACY
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States met at Montgomery, Alabama, February 17, 1862, having held five sessions. The first regular Congress under the Confederate Constitution, met at Richmond, Virginia, February 18, 1862, and continued till February 17, 1864. The Second Congress met in Richmond, May 2, 1864, and adjourned March 18, 1865.


[Pages 37-38]
      Baldwin, John Brown, born at Spring Farm, in Augusta county, Virginia, January 11, 1820, son of Judge Briscoe G. Baldwin, of the supreme court of appeals of Virginia, and his wife, Martha Steele Brown, daughter of Judge John Brown, chancellor of the Staunton district. His early education was obtained in the primary schools of Staunton and at the Staunton Academy, taught by Littleton Waddell. At the age of sixteen he entered the University of Virginia, where he remained for three years, imbibing that love of his alma mater, which went with him through life, not only when he was a distinguished member of the board of visitors of that institution, but at all times and on all occasions. After leaving the university, he read law for two years with his father, who was then one of the leaders of the Staunton bar. At the age of twenty-one he began the practice of his profession in Staunton, in partnership with his brother-in-law, the Hon. A. A. H. Stuart. After three years this partnership was dissolved, and John B. Baldwin opened an office of his own. In 1844 he took an active part in behalf of the Whig ticket, and this canvass he acquired a reputation as a debater which remained with him through life. The next year he was elected to the legislature, and took an active part, being a strong advocate of the provision that representation should be based on what was known as the "mixed basis," that is, of persons and property, as against what was known as the "white basis," which meant representation upon white persons alone. The result was, his defeat at the next election. This was a matter of little concern to him, and he devoted his attention to the practice of his profession. In 1859, upon the death of Judge Samuels, he became a candidate against his friend, Judge William J. Robertson, for the position thus left vacant upon the supreme court of appeals of Virginia. The election of Judge Robertson called from him a message of congratulation which was suitably replied to, and showed the pleasant feeling existing between these two eminent lawyers. In 1860 he was an ardent advocate of the Bell and Everett ticket, and made a notable speech in behalf of that ticket in the Richmond Club House. In 1861 he was a representative from Augusta county to the convention known as the Secession Convention. There he opposed, in what was supposed by many the ablest speech of that body, the ordinance of secession. Another notable speech made by him in that convention was one in opposition to the right of suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. He was one of the committee went by the convention to confer with President Lincoln, in the hope of averting hostilities. After the war began, he was appointed by Gov. Letcher as inspector-general of the state volunteers, and upon the state troops being merged into those of the Confederacy, he took the field as a colonel of the Fifty-second Regiment. During the operations in West Virginia he was taken with an illness which compelled him to return home, and before his recovery he was elected he was elected to the first regular congress under the Confederate constitution, and was re-elected to the second congress. After the war he was one of the moving spirits in the state in trying to bring about peace and order, and was influential in the meeting called for that purpose in Staunton, on May 8, 1865. He was elected a member of the legislature of 1865, and was speaker of that body. Here he won a reputation as an able presiding officer, and the rules under which the present general assembly of Virginia is conducted are known as Baldwin's Rules. In 1868 he was a member and president of the convention of the Conservative party which met to nominate state officers. In that body he was urged to accept the nomination for the governorship, but stoutly refused to do so, though he received fifty votes for the nomination against fifty-two for Col. R. E. Withers, who was a nominee of the convention. In 1868 he was a member of the committee of nine which went to Washington and secured the permission of the government to have the disfranchising clauses of the Underwood Constitution submitted separately to the people of Virginia. He was also the chairman of the Virginia delegation which met in New York in the convention that nominated Seymour and Blair. In any body of men, Col. Baldwin was naturally a leader. His great bodily form, his hearty honest manners and genial kindly disposition to all, especially to children, made him a unique figure in the life of his people. At the bar he was regarded as a power, and to him people flocked for advice from all over the commonwealth. Perhaps the most notable feature of his life's work was in connection with the extension of the railroad now known as the Chesapeake & Ohio, from its narrow limitations within the state of Virginia, to the Ohio river. At the time of his death, September 30, 1873, the resolutions adopted by the various bodies of which he was a member attested the esteem in which he was held. On September 20, 1842, he married, Miss Susan Madison Peyton, eldest daughter of John Howe Peyton, Esq., one of the leaders of the Staunton bar.

[Page 38]
      Bocock, Thomas Stanley, born in Buckingham (now Appomattox) county, Virginia, May 18, 1815. He graduated from Hampden-Sidney College in 1838, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He was county attorney, 1845-46; and for several years a member of the Virginia house of delegates. he was elected as a Democrat to the thirtieth, thirty-first, thirty-second, thirty-third, thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth congresses (March 4, 1847-March 3, 1861). He was elected representative to the Confederate congress in 1862, and February 14, of that year, was chosen speaker of the house and was re-elected to the second congress. He was a member of the state legislature, 1869-70; and a delegate in the Democratic national conventions of 1868, 1876 and 1880. he died in Appomattox county, Virginia, August 5, 1891.

[Pages 38-39]
      Boteler, Alexander Robinson, born in Shepherdstown, Virginia, May 16, 1815. He was graduated from Princeton College in 1835. He served in the state assembly; in 1852 was a Whig presidential elector, and in 1856 an American presidential elector. He was elected as a National American to the thirty-sixth congress, in 1859, his term closing March, 1861. At the outbreak of the war between the states he entered the Confederate army, and became a member of Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson's staff. In November, 1861, he was elected to the Confederate provisional congress, and was subsequently elected to the first Confederate congress. He was appointed a member of the Centennial Commission in 1876; was appointed as a member of the tariff commission by President Arthur, and was subsequently made pardon clerk in the department of justice, by Attorney General Brewster. He died in Shepherdstown, Virginia, May 8, 1892.

[Page 39]
      Brockenbrough, John White, was the son of William Brockenbrough, of Richmond county, who was born July 10, 1778, and long distinguished in public life as member of the house of delegates, of the council, judge of the general court and of the supreme court of appeals. He was born in Hanover county; educated at William and Mary College (1824-1825), and was for many years judge of the United States court for the western district of Virginia; member of the provisional congress of the Confederate States, and after the war professor of law in Washington and Lee University. He married Mary C. Bowyer, of Lexington, Virginia, and left issue.

[Page 39]
      Caperton, Allen Taylor, born near Union, Monroe county, Virginia, Mn 21, 1810. He was educated in the schools of Huntsville, Alabama, the University of Virginia, and Yale, graduating from the latter in 1832. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He became a director of the James River and Kanawha Canal Company. He was elected to the legislature, and in 1859-60 was a state senator. In 1861 he was a member of the Virginia convention, and was an active opponent of secession until the beginning of hostilities, when he joined the fortunes of the state. He was elected to the Confederate States senate in 1863, and served until its dissolution in 1865. In 1875 he was elected to the United States senate from West Virginia, and was a member of the committees on claims, railroads, and the revision of laws. He devoted his energies to bringing to the notice of distant capitalists the undeveloped wealth of the coal, iron, timber and grazing lands of West Virginia. He died in Washington City, July 26, 1876.

[Page 39]
      Chambliss, John Randolph, born at Hicksford, Greenville county, Virginia, January 23, 1833; graduated from United States Military Academy, 1853; resigned the following year and remained at home until 1861. He was a representative in the second Confederate congress. He was aide-de-camp to the governor, 1856-1861; commanded a brigade of Virginia militia, and was brigade inspector. In July, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the Thirteenth Virginia Cavalry Regiment, and took part in the operations on the Rappahannock. Later he was assigned to W. H. F. Lee's cavalry brigade, and served under Stuart; in December, 1864, promoted to brigadier-general, and was killed August 16, leading in a cavalry battle on the Charles City road, north side of the James river. His body was treated with honor by the enemy, and delivered to his friends.

[Page 39]
      Collier, Charles Y., a member of the Confederate States house of representatives.

[Page 40]
      De Jarnette, Daniel Coleman, born near Bowling Green, Virginia, September 27, 1822; pursued classical studies; served several years in the state house of delegates; elected as an anti-administration Democrat to the thirty-sixth congress (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1861); re-elected to the thirty-seventh congress, but did not serve; representative from Virginia to the first and second Confederate congresses, 1862-1865; died in /White sulphur Springs, Virginia, August 18, 1881.

[Page 40]
      Funston, David, representative in second Confederate congress.

[Page 40]
      Garnett, M. R. H., (q. v.); member of first Confederate congress.

[Page 40]
      Gholson, Thomas Saunders, born in Gholsonville, Brunswick county, Virginia, December 9, 1809, son of Maj. William Gholson; was graduated from the University of Virginia in 1827. He became a judge of the state circuit court in 1859; was president of several railroads, and aided to support a public library in Petersburg, Virginia. He was a member of the second Confederate congress. He died at Savannah, Georgia, December 13, 1868.

[Page 40]
      Goode, John, born in Bedford county, Virginia, May 27, 1829, son of John and Ann M. Goode, of English descent. He was educated at the New London Academy and Emory and Henry College, studied law under Hon. John W. Brockenbrough, at Lexington, Virginia, and admitted to the bar in 1851. At the age of twenty-two elected from Bedford county to the general assembly. In the convention of 1861 he voted for the secession ordinance after the failure of the peace conference in Washington. He volunteered at the opening of the war between the states, took part in the first battle of Manassas, and was called to the staff of Gen. Jubal A Early. He was a member of the Confederate congress from February, 1862, until the end of the war. In 1865 he engaged in practice of law in Norfolk, and was elected to the house of delegates. He was a member of congress from 1874 to 1881, and served on the committee on education. A Democrat in politics, he was a presidential elector in 1852, 1856 and 1884; a delegate in the national conventions of 1868, 1872, 1883 and 1892, and served on the national committee of his party from 1868 until 1876. He was a member of the board of visitors of the University of Virginia, and the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. From May, 1885, to August, 1886, he was solicitor-general of the United States, and in 1893 was a member of the United States and Chilian claims commission. In 1898 he was president of the Virginia State Bar Association, and in 1901 unanimously elected president of the Virginia constitutional convention He married Sallie, daughter of R. A. Urquhart, of Isle of Wight, Virginia He died at Norfolk, July 14, 1909.

[Pages 40-41]
      Holcombe, James Philemon, born in Lynchburg, Virginia, September 25, 1820; attended Yale University and the University of Virginia, pursued a legal course, in which profession he subsequently achieved an eminently brilliant success as a teacher and author, as well as in the political phases of the profession; elected to the position of adjunct professor of constitutional and international law, mercantile law and equity, in the University of Virginia in 1852, to assist Professor Minor, and two years later was advanced to the full professorship of his subjects; in 1861 he was a member of the secession convention of Virginia, and in 1862 was elected to the house of representatives of the Confederate congress and continued until 1863; was a firm believer in the cause of the southern Confederacy, and vigorously advocated the justice of the right of secession; after the close of his term in the Confederate congress, he accepted an appointment as commissioner to Canada, representing the Confederate government; in 1868 he opened a school for boys in Bedford county, Virginia, and later removed the school to Capon Springs, West Virginia, and continued to direct it until his death, August 22, 1873; was an orator of much eloquence and a writer of distinguished merit, and some of the most valuable of his writings were contributed to the publications of the Virginia Historical Society, of which he was a member; he also wrote extensively for other periodicals, and published several law books: "Leading Cases on Commercial Law," New York, 1847; "Digest of the Decisions of the United States Supreme Court," 1848; and "Merchants' Book of Reference, 1848; he also published, in 1868, "Literature and Letters"; his death occurred at Capon Springs, West Virginia.

[Page 41]
      Holliday, F. W. M., (q. v.); member of second Confederate congress.

[Page 41]
      Jenkins, Albert Gallatin, born in Cabell county, Virginia, November 10, 1830; entered the Virginia Military Institute, the studied at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1848; immediately took a course of law at Harvard was admitted to the bar in 1850, but never practiced; went instead to his plantation, and devoted himself to farming; his public spirit would not permit an absolute agricultural existence, and he became a delegate to the national Democratic convention, held in Cincinnati in 1856, and was then elected a representative from Virginia, serving in the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth congresses (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1861); delegate in the Confederate provisional congress in 1861; enlisted in the Confederate service, appointed brigadier-general, August 1, 1862; assigned to Gen. Hill's division, and afterwards transferred to Stuart's cavalry; as a commander he was ever on the alert, and especially showed his genius in the handling of his forces at the battle of Gettysburg; he subsequently served in the Shenandoah Valley, and in western Virginia, and was killed in the battle of Floyd's Mountain, near Dublin, Virginia, May 9, 1864.

[Pages 41-42]
      Lyons, James, was born in Hanover town, Virginia, in 1801, the eldest son of Dr. James Lyons, and grandson of Peter Lyons, president of the supreme court of appeals. He attended William and Mary College in 1817 and settled in Richmond City, where he practiced law. In 1824, being then just twenty-three years old, he was sent by the city council to New York to arrange with LaFayette as to his visit to Virginia. In the politics of his day he was a states rights Whig and drew the Virginia Whig address of 1840, pledging the Whig party against a bank and a protective tariff. He was twice elected to the senate, and on his resignation from that body was elected to the house of delegates. On the death of John Tyler, January 18, 1862, he was elected in his place to the house of representatives of the Confederate congress, and during the war was appointed by the Confederate government a judge to try political prisoners. After the war he practiced his profession in Richmond with great success, and was one of its representative citizens. He possessed a commanding person and prepossessing manners.

[Page 42]
      Johnson, Robert, member of provisional congress, and representative in first and second congresses.

[Page 42]
      Mason, James M., member of provisional congress (q. v.).

[Page 42]
      McFarland, William H., was a prominent financier and lawyer of Richmond, president of the Farmers' Bank, member of the provisional congress of the Confederacy; in 1871 he was a member of the board of visitors of William and Mary College.

[Page 42]
      McMullen, Fayette, born in Scott county, Virginia, in 1810; received an academic education; was a stage driver in early life. He was elected to the senate of Virginia from the Washington district in 1838, and served until 1849. He was elected as a democrat to the thirty-first congress and reëlected to the thirty-second and thirty-third congresses without opposition, and was elected a fourth time, serving from December 3, 1849, to March 3, 1857. He was appointed governor of Washington territory by President Buchanan, and served as such from 1857 to 1861. He was elected from Virginia to the second Confederate congress, serving from February 22, 1864, to the overthrow of the Confederacy. He died at Wytheville, Virginia, November 8, 1881, from injuries sustained in a railroad accident.

[Page 42]
      Miller, Samuel A., representative in second Confederate congress.

[Page 42]
      Montague, Robert Latané, born at "Ellaslee," Middlesex county, Virginia, May 23, 1819, son of Lewis B. Montague and Catherine Street (Jesse) Montague, his wife. He was a student in Fleetwood (King and Queen county) Academy, and studied law under Judge Lomax, of Fredericksburg. In 1841 he entered William and Mary College, Williamsburg, and graduated in law in 1842, the same year taking a post-graduate course in the same institution. He was one of the most brilliant and polished speakers in the state. He was several times a Democratic presidential elector; and was for many years commonwealth attorney of Middlesex county. He was elected lieutenant-governor under Governor Letcher, leading his ticket by five thousand votes. He was president of the Virginia convention of 1861, and was made a member of the executive council which had power to organize the army and make appointments to office. He was a member of the second Confederate congress, and was one of the most conspicuous of the younger members. In 1872 he was elected to the house of delegates, though the county had a large negro Republican population. In 1875 he was elected judge of the eighth judicial district, and in 1878 was re-elected for eight years, dying in office, March 2, 1880, at "Inglewood," Middlesex county. He was for many years moderator of the Virginia Baptist General Association. He married Cordelia Gay, daughter of Joseph C. Eubank.

[Pages 42-43]
      Preston, Walter, born in Abingdon, Virginia, son of John M. Preston. He was educated for the bar, and became distinguished in his profession. Previous to the civil war he was a candidate for attorney-general of Virginia. He was a member of the Confederate provisional congress, and a representative in the first regular congress under the Confederate constitution, defeating Fayette McMullen. He died shortly after the war.

[Page 43]
      Preston, William Ballard, was born at "Smithfield," Montgomery county, Virginia, February 5, 1805, son of Governor James Patton (q. v.) and Ann (Taylor) Preston. He was a student at the University of Virginia, was admitted to the bar, and practiced successfully in his native state, meantime serving as a representative in the Virginia legislature, and as a state senator. He married a Miss Redd, of Virginia. He was a Whig representative from Virginia in the thirtieth congress, 1847-49; and secretary of the navy in President Taylor's cabinet, from March 8, 1849, to July 22, 1850. He visited France in 1858-59, as an agent from Virginia, to effect the establishment of a direct lien of steamers between Norfolk and Havre, but the plan was defeated by the civil war. He was a delegate from Virginia to the provisional Confederate congress that met at Richmond, July 20, 1861, where he still sought to present war. He was elected a senator from Virginia in the first Confederate congress, which met February 22, 1861, being succeeded on his death by Allen T. Caperton. He died at "Smithfield," Virginia, November 16, 1862.

[Page 43]
      Pryor, Roger Atkinson, born in Dinwiddie county, Virginia, July 19, 1828; was graduated from Hampden-Sidney College in 1845, and from the University of Virginia in 1848; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. After practicing law a short time in Petersburg, he abandoned the profession on account of ill health, and engaged on the editorial staff of the " Washington Union," and later on that of the " Richmond Enquirer." In 1854 he was appointed special minister to Greece, returning home in 1857 and again engaging in newspaper work. He was elected as a Democrat to the thirty-sixth congress, to fill vacancy occasioned by the death of William O. Goode, and served from December 7, 1859, to the close of the session, March 3, 1861, and was reëlected to the next congress, but did not serve on account of the breaking out of the civil war. He was a member of the provisional Confederate congress, and of the first Confederate States congress. He entered the Confederate army as colonel, and was promoted to brigadier-general, but resigned and enlisted as a private soldier. He was captured by the Federals in November, 1864, and was confined in Fort Lafayette, but was soon released. After the war he located in New York City, and engaged in the practice of law. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention of 1876; judge of the New York court of common pleas, 1890-94; justice of New York supreme court, 1894-99, retiring upon reaching the age limit, and resuming his law practice. He was made official referee in 1912.

[Page 43]
      Rives, William C., member of second Confederate congress (q. v.).

[Page 43]
      Russell, Charles W., member of provisional congress and representative in first and second congresses.

[Pages 43-44]
      Scott, Robert E., son of John Scott and Elizabeth Pickett, his wife, and a descendant of Rev. John Scott, M. A., of Dipple parish, Morayshire, Scotland, was born April 22, 1808, was educated at the University of Virginia, 1825-27, studied law and was admitted to the bar of Warrenton, Virginia, 1829. He was elected commonwealth's attorney and for years served in the legislature; member of the constitutional convention of 1850 and of the convention of 1861, in which body he supported the Union until the proclamation of Lincoln for troops to coerce South Carolina. He was a member of the provisional congress of the Confederate States, July, 1861. In September, 1861, he was a candidate for the Confederate house of representatives. He died May 3, 1862, killed by two marauders from the United States army in Fauquier county, while trying to arrest them. He had been offered by Mr. Seward the position of Secretary of Navy of the United States. He married (first) March 10, 1831, Elizabeth Taylor, born 1815, died March 11, 1834, daughter of Robert Johnston Taylor, of Alexandria; (second) Anne Morson, daughter of Alexander and Anne (Carson) Morson, of Stafford county, and (third) Heningham Watkins Lyons, sister of Hon. James Lyons, of Richmond (q. v.).

[Pages 44-45]
      Seddon, James Alexander, born in Falmouth, Virginia, July 13, 1815, son of Thomas Seddon, a merchant and subsequently a banker, who was descended from John Seddon, of Lancashire, England, who was one of the early settlers of Stafford county, Virginia; his mother, Susan (Alexander) Seddon, was a lineal descendant of John Alexander. James A. Seddon entered the law department of the University of Virginia and was graduated in 1835; after graduation began practice in Richmond, where his abilities attracted immediate attention, and he became one of the foremost members of his profession in the state; elected as a Democrat to the twenty-ninth congress (March 4, 1845-March 3, 1847), receiving a handsome majority, although the district was usually uncertain; he declined a renomination in 1847, because his views were not in accord with the platform of the nominating convention; re-elected to the thirty-first congress (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1851), but his delicate health obliged him to decline another nomination, and he retired to Sabot Hill, his home on the James river, above Richmond; he took an active part in the debates during his service in congress, and was acknowledged to be the leader of his party; his debates upon the reform revenue bill, in which he advocated free trade, were models of strength and erudition, and commanded wide attention; in 1860 was appointed, with John Tyler and others, a commissioner to the peace congress which, at the instance of the state of Virginia, was held in Washington; he was placed upon the committee of rules, and by the instruction of his state made the minority report, recommending the amending of the constitution according to the resolution which had been introduced into the senate by John J. Crittenden. He was a delegate to the Confederate provisional congress, and upon the establishment of the Confederate government was given the portfolio of secretary of war in the first cabinet of Jefferson Davis, November 20, 1862. In his contention with Governor Brown, of Georgia, upon the subject of conscription, he shoed the strength of his personality; the principle of state sovereignty, according to Governor Brown, did not permit the general government to conscript the citizens of any state, carried out logically there could be no general government; upon the fall of the Confederacy, Mr. Seddon retired from public life, and died in Goochland county, Virginia, August 19, 1880.

[Page 45]
      Smith, William, (q. v.), member of first regular Confederate congress.

[Page 45]
      Staples, Waller R., (q. v.), member of first and second Confederate congresses.

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      Tyler, John, (q. v.) member of the provisional and first Confederate congresses.

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      Whitfield, Robert H., representative in second congress.

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      Wickham, Williams Carter, born in Richmond, Virginia, September 21, 1820, son of William Fanning and Anne (Carter) Wickham, grandson of John Wickham, the distinguished lawyer who defended Aaron Burr, and a descendant of Robert Carter, and of Gen. Thomas Nelson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and commander of the Virginia forces at Yorktown; educated in the private schools of Richmond, and the University of Virginia, where he studied law; after graduation he returned to his father's estate in Hanover county, Virginia, where he established himself as a farmer; nominated and elected as a Whig candidate to the Virginia house of delegates and the state senate, of which he was a member for many years; elected to the secession convention, where he opposed secession, but on the outbreak of the civil war formed a cavalry company and became the captain of the Hanover troop; was successively promoted to be colonel and brigadier-general. He was a member of the second Confederate congress/ After the war was elected president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, at that time the Virginia Central Railroad Company, and was associated with the same at the time of his death; served for years as a member of the board of supervisors of his native county,, and always took a deep interest in the welfare of his own people; he married Lucy P. Taylor, granddaughter of John Taylor, of Caroline county, Virginia; three children survived him: Hon. Henry T. Wickham, Mrs. Robert H. Renshaw, William F. Wickham; at the time of his death a monument was erected to him in the city of Richmond by his old soldiers and the employees of the railroad which he managed.