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First Confederate Congress

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Capitol Richmond

Confederate States Capitol (1865)

The First Confederate Congress was the first regular term of the legislature of the Confederate States of America. Members of the First Confederate Congress were chosen in elections mostly held on 6 November 1861.[1]

Sessions[]

The Provisional Confederate Congress fixed the date of the inaugural meeting of the First Confederate Congress. As a result, the two-year congressional term ran from 18 February 1862 until 18 February 1864.

All sessions of the First Confederate Congress met in the Confederacy's capital of Richmond, Virginia.

  • 1st Session - 18 February 1862 to 21 April 1862
  • 2nd Session - 18 August 1862 to 13 October 1862
  • 3rd Session - 12 January 1863 to 1 May 1863
  • 4th Session - 7 December 1863 to 18 February 1864

Leadership[]

Senate[]

  • President of the Senate: Vice President Alexander H. Stephens
  • President pro tempore: Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter of Virginia [1]

House[]

  • Speaker of the House of Representatives: Thomas Stanley Bocock of Virginia - 18 February 1862 - 18 March 1865
  • Speaker pro tempore: Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry of Alabama (1863) [2]

Members[]

Senate[]

Confederate States Senators were elected by the state legislatures, or appointed by state Governors to fill casual vacancies until the legislature elected a new Senator. It was intended that one-third of the Senate would begin new six-year terms with each Congress after the first. Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their terms. In this Congress, all Senators were newly elected. Senators of Class 1 served a two-year term, expiring at the end of this Congress, requiring a new election for the 1864-1870 term. Class 2 Senators served what was intended to be a four-year term, due to end on the expiry of the next Congress in 1866. Class 3 Senators were meant to serve a six-year term, due to expire at the end of the Third Confederate Congress in 1868. As the Confederate Congress lasted less than four full years, the distinction between classes 2 and 3 was ultimately academic.

The members of the classes were selected by the drawing of lots, which was done during the meeting of the Senate on February 21, 1862.[2]

Alabama

  • 1. Clement Claiborne Clay
  • 3. William Lowndes Yancey (died 23 July 1863)
    • Robert Jemison, Jr. (took his seat on 28 December 1863 - Elected to fill vacancy)

Arkansas

  • 1. Robert Ward Johnson
  • 3. Charles Burton Mitchel

Florida

  • 1. James McNair Baker
  • 2. Augustus Emmet Maxwell

Georgia

  • 3. Benjamin Harvey Hill
  • 1. Robert Augustus Toombs (elected but refused to serve)
    • John Wood Lewis, Sr. (took his seat on 7 April 1862 - Appointed to serve until the place could be filled)
    • Herschel Vespasian Johnson (took his seat on 19 January 1863 - Elected to fill vacancy)

Kentucky

Louisiana

  • 2. Thomas Jenkins Semmes
  • 3. Edward Sparrow

Mississippi

  • 2. Albert Gallatin Brown
  • 1. James Phelan, Sr.

Missouri

  • 1. John Bullock Clark, Sr.
  • 2. Robert Ludwell Yates Peyton (died 3 September 1863)
    • Waldo Porter Johnson (took his seat on 24 December 1863 - Appointed to fill vacancy)

North Carolina

  • 1. George Davis (resigned in January 1864 to become CS Attorney General)
    • Edwin Godwin Reade (took his seat on 22 January 1864 - Appointed to fill vacancy)
  • 2. William Theophilus Dortch

South Carolina

  • 2. Robert Woodward Barnwell
  • 3. James Lawrence Orr

Tennessee

  • 3. Landon Carter Haynes
  • 2. Gustavus Adolphus Henry, Sr.

Texas

Virginia

  • 3. Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter
  • 2. William Ballard Preston (died 16 November 1862)
    • Allen Taylor Caperton (took his seat on 22 January 1864 - Elected to fill vacancy)

House of Representatives[]

X: Originally member of the Provisional Confederate Congress

The names of members of the House of Representatives are preceded by their district numbers.

Alabama

Arkansas

  • 1. Felix Ives Batson
  • 2. Grandison Delaney Royston
  • 3. Augustus Hill Garland X
  • 4. Thomas Burton Hanly

Florida

Georgia

Kentucky

Louisiana

Mississippi

  • 1. Jeremiah Watkins Clapp
  • 2. Reuben Davis (resigned 1 March 1863 after third session)
  • 3. Israel Victor Welch
  • 4. Henry Cousins Chambers
  • 5. Otho Robards Singleton
  • 6. Ethelbert Barksdale
  • 7. John Jones McRae

Missouri

In Confederate law, the people of Missouri were entitled to elect thirteen representatives. The state never implemented the reapportionment and continued to use its existing seven districts. Pending an election, the appointed members of the delegation to the Provisional Congress were assigned to serve in the First Congress. No election was held, so the appointed members served throughout the Congress.[5]
  • 1. William Mordecai Cooke, Sr. X (died 3 September 1863)
  • 2. Thomas Alexander Harris X
  • 3. Caspar Wistar Bell X
  • 4. Aaron H. Conrow X
  • 5. George Graham Vest X
  • 6. Thomas W. Freeman X
  • 7. Representative-elect John Hyer never took his seat; the district was unrepresented for the entire First Congress;

North Carolina

  • 1. William Nathan Harrell Smith
  • 2. Robert Rufus Bridgers
  • 3. Owen Rand Kenan
  • 4. Thomas David Smith McDowell X
  • 5. Archibald Hunter Arrington
  • 6. James Robert McLean
  • 7. Thomas Samuel Ashe
  • 8. William Lander
  • 9. Burgess Sidney Gaither
  • 10. Allen Turner Davidson X
  • 11. Abraham Watkins Venable X

South Carolina

  • 1. John McQueen
  • 2. William Porcher Miles X
  • 3. Lewis Malone Ayer, Jr.
  • 4. Milledge Luke Bonham (resigned 13 October 1862 after second session)
    • William Dunlap Simpson (took his seat on 5 February 1863 - Elected to fill vacancy on 20 January 1863 [6])
  • 5. James Farrow
  • 6. William Waters Boyce X

Tennessee

Texas

Virginia

  • 1. Muscoe Russell Hunter Garnett (died 14 February 1864)
  • 2. John Randolph Chambliss, Sr.
  • 3. James Lyons (Representative-elect John Tyler died on 18 January 1862, before the Congress started. Lyons was elected on 10 February 1862.[7])
  • 4. Roger Atkinson Pryor X (resigned 5 April 1862)
    • Charles Fenton Collier (took his seat on 18 August 1862 - Elected to fill vacancy in May 1862 [8])
  • 5. Thomas Stanley Bocock X
  • 6. John Goode, Jr.
  • 7. James Philemon Holcombe
  • 8. Daniel Coleman DeJarnette, Sr.
  • 9. William "Extra Billy" Smith (resigned 4 April 1863)
    • David Funsten (took his seat on 7 December 1863 - Elected to fill vacancy)
  • 10. Alexander Boteler X
  • 11. John Brown Baldwin
  • 12. Waller Redd Staples X
  • 13. Walter Preston X
  • 14. Albert Gallatin Jenkins (resigned 21 April 1862 after first session)
  • 15. Robert Johnston X
  • 16. Charles Wells Russell X

Delegates[]

Non voting members of the House of Representatives.

Arizona Territory

Cherokee Nation

Choctaw Nation

See also[]

References[]

  • The Historical Atlas of the Congresses of the Confederate States of America: 1861-1865, by Kenneth C. Martis (Simon and Schuster 1994)
  1. ↑ Historical Atlas ..., pp. 131-134
  2. ↑ Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States and Confederate Senate Journal
  3. ↑ Historical Atlas ..., p. 132
  4. ↑ Historical Atlas ..., p. 132
  5. ↑ Historical Atlas ... pp. 20 and 62-63
  6. ↑ Historical Atlas ..., p. 133
  7. ↑ Historical Atlas ..., p. 134 and note p. 139
  8. ↑ Historical Atlas ..., p. 134
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