James Henry Cox

In this installment of the Virginia delegates to the Secession Convention of 1861, I hope to shine a little light on James Henry Cox of Chesterfield County, Virginia.

Cox was born in Chesterfield County in 1810 and died at his home, Clover Hill, in 1877. He attended Hampden Sidney College where he graduated with distinction and studied law. After serving as President of the Academy of Tallahassee for three years, he returned to Chesterfield.

He served in the House of Delegates of the General Assembly of Virginia and then in the Commonwealth's Senate. He represented Chesterfield in the 1850 Constitutional Convention. He was made a judge for Chesterfield County prior to the war.

Cox's record as (Democratic) State Senator in the 1840s is illustrative of his feelings of national political events. In 1843, he concurred with a resolution in the Virginia State Senate which "instructed" Virginia's U.S. Senators "to procure the repeal of the Tariff, passed at the last Session of Congress, and to oppose and vote against any Tariff which is not solely for Revenue." He opposed distribution of proceeds from public lands "among the several States of this Union." He was also opposed to any Bank of the United States and wished to repeal "the Bankrupt Law." (See here)


In 1852, the Democrats had a five day convention in Baltimore. It is no surprise that Cox would go as the party platform that year spoke much to his politics. For two days the delegates of the respective Northern and Southern states clung tenaciously to their candidate of choice. Upon the 35th ballot on the 5th of June, the Virginia delegation, led by James Barbour, finally moved their 15 votes from James Buchanan of Pennsylvania to Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire. While a few more states joined Virginia in the next several ballots, it was not until 49th ballot that Pierce carried the delegation with 283 votes. In the two ballots for Vice President, the Virginians supported William R. King of Alabama.

Cox was an extremely wealthy man in the antebellum period, much of that wealth built upon his slave holdings. In 1850, he had 20 slaves. A decade later, he had 47 slaves, his real estate was valued at $25,000 and his personal estate at $124,800.

Thus it comes as little surprise from his years in the political culture of the antebellum period, in 1861 he represented Chesterfield County at the Secession Convention in Richmond. Cox voted for secession on April 17, 1861.