John Randolph Chambliss Sr. (March 4, 1809 – April 3, 1875) was a Virginia lawyer, plantation owner, and politician who served in the

Confederate House of Representatives The Confederate States Congress was both the provisional and permanent legislative assembly of the Confederate States of America that existed from 1861 to 1865. Its actions were for the most part concerned with measures to establish a new nat ...

during the American Civil War. Because he also served in a county militia, he had to petition for amnesty after the war, as he had not acquired the pass confirming that he had taken the Oath of Allegiance.

Biography

Chambliss was born in

Sussex County, Virginia Sussex County is a rural county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,829. Its county seat is Sussex. It was formed in 1754 from Surry County. The county is named after the county of Sussex, ...

to a planter family, James Jared Chambliss (1784-1848) and Lucy Rives Newsom (1782 – 1858). He grew up at his family home of Glenview, near

Stony Creek, Virginia Stony Creek is a town in Sussex County, Virginia, United States. The population was 198 at the 2010 census. History In 1848, Stony Creek was a stop on the Petersburg Railroad. Glenview, Nottoway Archeological Site, and Rose Bower are listed on ...

. It is also known as the Chambliss House. He attended Winchester Law School in the Shenandoah Valley and passed the bar exam. In 1830 he married Sarah Jane Rives Blow in Greensville County, Virginia and settled there. He established a profitable law practice near his home in Emporia. He and his wife had seven children but four did not survive childhood. Chambliss had a moderate-sized plantation and produced profits from commodity crops. He served as a delegate to the Virginia state constitutional convention in 1850–51. An ardent supporter of states rights, he was the delegate from Greensville and Sussex counties to the Virginia secession convention in 1861. He was subsequently elected to the First Confederate Congress. Chambliss served in Captain Scott's Company, Greensville Local Defense. After the war, he was arrested and briefly jailed for not having an

Oath of Allegiance An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...

pass. This was the loyalty oath required of former Confederates. A copy of his petition to President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...

is filed at the National Archives; it was granted. Chambliss retired from politics and returned to his home to take up the practice of law. He was interred in the Chambliss family graveyard near Emporia, Virginia.

Legacy

Of the Chambliss's seven children, four did not survive past childhood. They and all the others, including the grown ones, were buried in the Chambliss family cemetery in Emporia. Eldest son and namesake John R. Chambliss Jr. (1833-1864) served in the Civil War for the Confederate States Army, first in the cavalry. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1862, in charge of the 41st Infantry. He died on the battlefield in 1864, and his men ultimately returned his body to the family for burial in the Chambliss cemetery.

References and links

Political Graveyard
1809 births 1875 deaths Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from Virginia 19th-century American politicians People from Sussex County, Virginia Virginia lawyers Virginia Secession Delegates of 1861 19th-century American lawyers Winchester Law School alumni {{Virginia-politician-stub