James
Seddon was born in Falmouth, Virginia, on 13th July, 1815. After graduating
from the University of Virginia in 1835 he was admitted to the bar
and practiced law in Richmond.
A member of the Democratic Party,
Seddon was elected to Congress and served for two spells (4th March,
1845 - 3rd March, 1847 and 4th March, 1849 to 3rd March, 1851).
Seddon was a member of the peace convention held in Washington
in 1861 that attempted to devise a means of preventing the American
Civil War. Seddon also attended the Provisional Confederate Congress
in 1861. President Jefferson Davis appointed
Seddon as his Secretary of War in November, 1862 and held the position
until January, 1865.
When the Union Army arrived in Andersonville
in May, 1865, photographs of the prisoners were taken and the following
month they appeared in Harper's Weekly.
The photographs caused considerable anger and calls were made for
the people responsible to be punished for these crimes. It was eventually
decided to charge Seddon, General Robert Lee,
and several other Confederate generals and politicians with "conspiring
to injure the health and destroy the lives of United States soldiers
held as prisoners by the Confederate States". In August, 1865,
President Andrew Johnson ordered that
the charges against Seddon and the Confederate generals and politicians
should be dropped. James Seddon died in Goochland County, on 19th
August, 1880.
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