Provisional Congress of the Confederate States
The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, also known as the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America, was a congress of deputies and delegates called together from the Southern States which became the governing body of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States from February 4, 1861, to February 17, 1862. It sat in Montgomery, Alabama, until May 21, 1861, when it adjourned to meet in Richmond, Virginia, on July 20, 1861. It added new members as other states seceded from the Union and directed the election on November 6, 1861, at which a permanent government was elected.
First Session
The First Session of the Provisional Congress was held at Montgomery from February 4, 1861, to March 16, 1861. Members were present from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. It drafted a provisional constitution and set up a government. For president and vice-president, it selected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia.Constitutional Convention
The Confederate States of America Constitutional Convention was held at Montgomery from February 28, 1861, to March 11, 1861.Second Session
The Second Session of the Provisional Congress was held at Montgomery from April 29, 1861, to May 21, 1861. Members were present from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Arkansas.Third Session
The Third Session of the Provisional Congress was held at Richmond from July 20, 1861, to August 31, 1861. Members were present from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.Fourth Session
The Fourth Session of the Provisional Congress was held at Richmond on September 3, 1861. Members were present from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.Fifth Session
The Fifth Session of the Provisional Congress was held at Richmond from November 18, 1861, to February 17, 1862. Members were present from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, and Kentucky. One non-voting member was present from the Arizona Territory.Leadership
- President: Howell Cobb
Members
Deputies
Deputies from the first seven states to secede formed the first two sessions of the Congress.Alabama
- Richard W. Walker
- Robert H. Smith
- Colin J. McRae
- John Gill Shorter
- * Cornelius Robinson
- W. P. Chilton
- Stephen F. Hale
- David P. Lewis
- * Nic. Davis, Jr.
- Thomas Fearn
- * H. C. Jones
- J. L. M. Curry
- J. Patton Anderson
- * George Taliaferro Ward
- * John Pease Sanderson
- James B. Owens
- Jackson Morton
- Robert Toombs
- Howell Cobb
- F. S. Bartow
- * Thomas Marsh Forman
- M. J. Crawford
- E. A. Nisbet
- * Nathan Henry Bass, Sr.
- B. H. Hill
- A. R. Wright
- T. R. R. Cobb
- A. H. Kenan
- A. H. Stephens
- John Perkins, Jr.
- Alexander De Clouet
- Charles M. Conrad
- Duncan F. Kenner
- Edward Sparrow
- Henry Marshall
- A. M. Clayton
- * Alexander Blackburn Bradford
- James T. Harrison
- William S. Barry
- J. A. P. Campbell
- Wiley P. Harris
- Walker Brooke
- William S. Wilson
- * J. A. Orr
- Robert Barnwell Rhett
- Robert W. Barnwell
- Christopher Gustavus Memminger
- James Chesnut, Jr.
- William Porcher Miles
- Laurence M. Keitt
- Thomas J. Withers
- * James Lawrence Orr
- William W. Boyce
- John Gregg
- Thomas N. Waul
- W. S. Oldham
- J. H. Reagan
- John Hemphill
- W. B. Ochiltree
- L. T. Wigfall
Delegates
Arkansas
Kentucky
- Henry Cornelius Burnett
- Theodore Legrand Burnett
- John Milton Elliott
- George Washington Ewing
- Samuel Howard Ford
- George Baird Hodge
- Thomas Johnson
- Thomas Bell Monroe
- John J. Thomas
- Daniel Price White
- Caspar Wistar Bell
- John Bullock Clark, Sr.
- Aaron H. Conrow
- William Mordecai Cooke, Sr.
- Thomas W. Freeman
- Thomas Alexander Harris
- Robert Ludwell Yates Peyton
- George Graham Vest
- Delegate-elect Hyer never took his seat
- William Waightstill Avery
- Francis Burton Craige
- Allen Turner Davidson
- George Davis
- Thomas David Smith McDowell
- John Motley Morehead
- Richard Clauselle Puryear
- Thomas Hart Ruffin
- William Nathan Harrell Smith
- Abraham Watkins Venable
- John DeWitt Clinton Atkins
- Robert Looney Caruthers
- David Maney Currin
- William Henry DeWitt
- John Ford House
- Thomas McKissick Jones
- James Houston Thomas
- Thomas Salem Bocock
- Alexander Boteler
- John White Brockenbrough
- Gideon D. Camden
- R. M. T. Hunter
- Robert Johnston
- William Hamilton MacFarland
- James Mason
- Walter Preston
- William Ballard Preston
- Roger Atkinson Pryor
- William Cabell Rives
- Charles Wells Russell
- Robert Eden Scott
- James Alexander Seddon
- Waller Redd Staples
- John Tyler