Senator James Chesnut

James Chesnut served as a Senator from South Carolina in the United States Congress from 1858 to 1860. A member of the Democratic Party, James Chesnut contributed to the legislative process during 2 terms in office.

James Chesnut’s service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history. As a member of the Senate, James Chesnut participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of constituents.

James Chesnut Jr. (January 18, 1815 – February 1, 1885) was an American lawyer and politician, and a Confederate functionary. Chesnut, a lawyer prominent in South Carolina state politics, served as a Democratic senator in 1858–60, where he proved moderate on the slavery question. But on Lincoln’s election in 1860, Chesnut resigned from the U.S. Senate and took part in the South Carolina secession convention, later helping to draft the Confederate States Constitution. He was Deputy from South Carolina to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1862. He also served as a senior officer of the Confederate States Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. As aide to General P.G.T. Beauregard, he ordered the firing on Fort Sumter and served at First Manassas. Later he was aide to Jefferson Davis and promoted to Brigadier-General. Chesnut returned to law practice after the war. His wife was Mary Boykin Chesnut, whose published diaries reflect the Chesnuts’ busy social life and prominent friends such as John Bell Hood, Louis T. Wigfall, Wade Hampton III, and Jefferson Davis.