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The Second Confederate Congress was the second and last regular term of the legislature of the Confederate States of America. Members of the Second Confederate Congress were chosen in elections held at various dates in 1863 and 1864.[1] They only served for just over one year of their two-year term since the American Civil War ended and the Confederacy was defeated.

Sessions[]

The term of the Second Confederate Congress started on 18 February 1864 and was due to end on 18 February 1866. In the event the Congress did not function, after the end of its second and last session.

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

  • 1st Session - 2 May 1864 to 14 June 1864
  • 2nd Session - 7 November 1864 to 18 March 1865

Leadership[]

Senate[]

  • President of the Senate: Vice President Alexander H. Stephens
  • President pro tempore: Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter of Virginia
  • President pro tempore ad interim: William Alexander Graham of North Carolina (1865)[1]

House[]

  • Speaker of the House of Representatives: Thomas Stanley Bocock of Virginia
  • Speaker pro tempore: William Parish Chilton, Sr. of Alabama [2]

Members[]

Senate[]

X: served in the Senate of the First Congress (i.e. reelected or continued in office for this Second Congress).

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. Senators of Class 1 were intended to serve a six-year term, starting with this Congress and expiring in 1870. Class 2 Senators served what was intended to be a four-year term, due to end on the expiry of this Congress in 1866. Class 3 Senators were meant to serve a six-year term, due to expire in 1868.[2]

Alabama

  • 3. Robert Jemison, Jr. X
  • 1. Richard Wilde Walker

Arkansas

  • 1. Robert Ward Johnson X
  • 3. Charles Burton Mitchel X (died 20 September 1864)
    • Augustus Hill Garland (took his seat on 8 November 1864 - Appointed to fill vacancy)

Florida

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

Georgia

  • 3. Benjamin Harvey Hill X
  • 1. Herschel Vespasian Johnson X

Kentucky

Louisiana

  • 2. Thomas Jenkins Semmes X
  • 3. Edward Sparrow X

Mississippi

  • 2. Albert Gallatin Brown X
  • 1. John William Clark Watson

Missouri

  • 2. Waldo Porter Johnson X
  • 1. (vacant caused by the inability of the Missouri legislature to meet and elect a senator)
    • George Graham Vest (took his seat on 12 January 1865 - Appointed to fill vacancy)

North Carolina

South Carolina

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

Tennessee

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

Texas

Virginia

  • 3. Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter X
  • 2. Allen Taylor Caperton X

House of Representatives[]

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

X: reelected

Alabama

Arkansas

  • 1. Felix Ives Batson X
  • 2. Rufus King Garland, Jr.
  • 3. Augustus Hill Garland X (resigned to become CS-senator 8 November 1864)
  • 4. Thomas Burton Hanly X

Florida

Georgia

Kentucky

Louisiana

Mississippi

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.[5]

North Carolina

  • 1. William Nathan Harrell Smith X
  • 2. Robert Rufus Bridgers X
  • 3. James Thomas Leach
  • 4. Thomas Charles Fuller
  • 5. Josiah Turner
  • 6. John Adams Gilmer
  • 7. James Madison Leach (Representative-elect Samuel H. Christian died, in March 1864, before taking his seat. Leach was elected 21 April 1864.[6])
  • 8. James Graham Ramsay
  • 9. Burgess Sidney Gaither
  • 10. George Washington Logan

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Virginia

  • 1. Robert Latane Montague
  • 2. Robert Henry Whitfield (resigned 2 March 1865)
  • 3. Williams Carter Wickham
  • 4. Thomas Saunders Gholson
  • 5. Thomas Stanley Bocock X
  • 6. John Goode, Jr. X
  • 7. William Cabell Rives (resigned 7 March 1865)
  • 8. Daniel Coleman DeJarnette, Sr. X
  • 9. David Funsten X
  • 10. Frederick William Mackey Holliday
  • 11. John Brown Baldwin X
  • 12. Waller Redd Staples X
  • 13. LaFayette McMullen
  • 14. Samuel Augustine Miller X
  • 15. Robert Johnston X
  • 16. Charles Wells Russell X

Delegates[]

Non voting members of the House of Representatives.

Arizona Territory

Cherokee Nation

Creek and Seminole Nations

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. 135-138
  2. Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States and Confederate Senate Journal
  3. Historical Atlas ..., p. 135
  4. Historical Atlas ..., p. 136
  5. Historical Atlas ... p. 20 and p. 128
  6. Historical Atlas ... p. 137 and notes p. 139
  7. Historical Atlas ... p. 137 and notes p. 140
  8. Historical Atlas ... p. 137 and notes p. 140
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