Carolinians Who Served in
the Confederate Congress
They were indexed a distinguished group
of men. and you will find many of their
names still prominent in various seetions
of the state.
By II. C. LAWRENCE
THE Provisional Congress of
the Confederacy, hastily or¬
ganized in a time of intense
feeling, was a unicameral body
having no Senate. It was organ¬
ized at Montgomery, Alabama on
February 4th, 1861. and continued
to sit in that historic city until
July 20th. 1861, when the seat of
the Confederate Government was
transferred to Richmond, as it had
become evident that the Old Do¬
minion was to be the scene of the
greater part of the conflict. At
Richmond the Provisional Con-
ress held its third, fourth and
fth sessions, extending until Feb¬
ruary 17th, 1862, when it passed
out of existence and was super¬
seded by the regular and perma¬
nent Confederate Congress, hav¬
ing a Senate in which each State
was represented by two Senators;
and a House of Representatives
proportioned to population, mod¬
elled along the same lines as the
Congress of the United States.
Let us first briefly notice the
Carolina representation in the
Provisional Congress. The state
had no representatives at the first
and second sessions held at Mont¬
gomery. as we had not then
adopted the Ordinance of Seces¬
sion, and it was not until July
20th, 1861 — after the great battle
of Bull Run had been fought —
that the representatives from our
state made their appearance at
Richmond. These representatives
were: George Davis of New Han¬
over; W. W. Avery of Burke; Wil¬
liam N. H. Smith of Hertford;
A. W. Venable of Granville; John
Motley Morehcad of Guilford;
R. C. Puryear of Surry; Allen T.
Davidson of Macon; Thomas D.
McDowell of Bladen; Burton
Craige of Rowan; and Thomas
Ruffin. Jr. of Orange.
Consider these men. George
Davis was one of the ablest law¬
yers our State has produced. He
THE STATE. JULY 30. 1949
came within one vote of receiving
the Whig nomination for Gover¬
nor; and upon the death of Chief
Justice Pearson he was tendered
an appointment as his successor,
which he declined because the
salary was inadequate to support
his family. Upon the organization
of the permanent Confederate
Congress in February 1862. he was
elected as a member of the Con¬
federate Senate, an office which
he held until 1864. when he re¬
signed to accept appointment as
Attorney General in the cabinet
of Jefferson Davis, a position he
continued to occupy until the end
of the war. He attended the last
meeting ever held by the Con¬
federate cabinet and Volunteered
to accompany the President in his
effort to escape across the Missis¬
sippi. After the war he became
General Counsel for the lines now
constituting the Atlantic Coast
Line, and was the legal brain
which welded the numerous short
lines into the present great system.
There is an imposing monument
to his memory in his native city of
Wilmington, erected at public ex¬
pense by a grateful people. The
only other Carolina member of
the Confederate cabinet was
Thomas Bragg, a brother of Gen¬
eral Braxton Bragg, who had
served as Governor, as United
States Senator and also as Gover¬
nor of Florida.
W. W. Avery was a member of
the distinguished Burke County
family of that name, a name which
is perpetuated in that of our
youngest county. It was peculiarly
fitting that this famous family
should have been represented in
the legislative branch of the gov¬
ernment, as five Avery brothers
from Burke served as full Colonels
in the Southern army, and all of
them were killed — which consti¬
tutes a record for both the Union
and Confederate armies, a record
which should have drawn from
President Davis a letter similar
to that written by President Lin¬
coln to Mrs. Bixby. There was a
sixth Avery brother, but as he was
only a Major, he came through
without a scratch after distin¬
guishing himself upon the bloody
field of Chickamauga. and lived to
become Mr. Justice A. C. Avery of
our Supreme Court bench.
John Motley Morehead had
been Governor of the State and
had been the impelling power be¬
hind the construction of a system
of railway from Charlotte to the
sea, and he has come down in his¬
tory as the greatest of the Whig
governors and as the father of the
policy of state-aid to internal im-
rovements. Representative Allen
Davidson was a forebear of that
distinguished Asheville lawyer
and legislator. Attorney General
Theodore F. Davidson. Repre¬
sentative Burton Craige was one
of the most brilliant barristers of
the South, a member of the famous
Rowan family of that name —
which still is prominent in the
State — and it was he who intro¬
duced the Ordinance of Secession
into the Convention of 1861.
Thomas Ruffin, Jr., had served
with conspicuous ability upon the
bench of our Supreme Court, of
which his father had been for so
many years the distinguished
Chief Justice.
The Permanent Congress
Upon the organization of the
permanent Confederate Congress
on February 18th. 1861, the fol¬
lowing served as members of the
Senate: George Davis has been re¬
ferred to above. The only Senator
who served until the end of the
war was William T. Dortch of
Wayne. He had passed a distin¬
guished legislative career, having
served both as Speaker of the
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