Jacob Dolson Cox Papers

Jacob Dolson Cox was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on October 25, 1828 to Jacob Dolson Cox (1792-1852) and Thedia Redelia Kenyon (1804-1876). He had many siblings: Redelia Ann (1822-1871), Sarah Allyn (1824-1831), Charlotte (1826-1905), Kenyon (1831-1911), Allyn (1833-1834), Allyn (1835-1898), Sarah Ann (1837-1839), Theodore (1839-1892), William Wallace (1841-1843), and Charles Finney (1846-1912). His early years were spent in New York City where he apprenticed in law. He elected to forsake law and enter the ministry instead, journeying to Oberlin, Ohio, in 1846 to attend Oberlin College (then known as the Oberlin Collegiate Institute). Enrolling in the Preparatory Department and Seminary, in addition to taking the regular college course, Cox was awarded the A.B. degree in 1851 and the A.M. in 1854.

While still a student at Oberlin, Cox married Helen Finney Cochran (1828-1911, L.B. 1846), the eldest daughter of Oberlin’s second president, Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875). Helen was the widow of Oberlin Professor William Cochran (1814-1847) by whom she had a son, William (1848-1936, A.B. 1869, LL.D. 1919). The Coxes had five more children: Helen Finney (1850-1936), Jacob Dolson (1852-1930), Kenyon (1856-1919, hon. 1912), Charles Norton (1858-1907), and Charlotte Hope (1871-1937). Two other children, Brewster (1861-1861) and Dennison (1867-1868), died in infancy.

In 1851, Cox moved to Warren, Ohio, where he served as superintendent of schools and principal of the high school. He also completed his legal training and entered a law practice. Joining the Whig party in 1853, he lost an election for prosecuting attorney. A man of strong anti-slavery views, Cox changed party affiliations to join the new Republican Party. He served as a delegate to the 1855 State Convention that organized the Republican Party in Ohio. In 1858 he won election to the State Senate of Ohio and during his term allied closely with other anti-slavery advocates, including James A. Garfield (1831-1881).

When the Civil War broke out, Cox was appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers and placed in charge of training Ohio troops. His active campaigning began in Western Virginia under General George B. McClellan (1826-1885). Subsequently, he fought at the battles of Antietam, Atlanta, Franklin, and Nashville, after which he was promoted to Major General. An 1862 opportunity for promotion fell through when the allotted quota of promotions was surpassed. The conclusion of his military service was spent supervising the paroling of Confederate troops in North Carolina.

After the Civil War Cox was nominated as the Republican candidate for Governor of Ohio. During the campaign he published his famous “Oberlin Letter,” calling for the segregation of formerly enslaved people into a separate state and for opposition to Black suffrage. Cox was elected and served one gubernatorial term, 1866-67. He attempted to compromise the dispute between President Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) and the radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policy, but failed. His advocacy of forcible segregation, and his support for Andrew Johnson’s position on Reconstruction, resulted in losing favor with his party. When Cox was not renominated for a second term, he entered into private law practice in Cincinnati.

In March 1869, after declining President Johnson’s offer to serve as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Cox was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885). He revised the government’s policies toward Indigenous tribes, established the first complete civil service examination and appointment system, and reformed five bureaus under his control. After serving only eighteen months, Cox submitted his resignation. He attributed his decision to resign to rampant corruption in the Grant administration. He also believed that President Grant did not fully support him in matters involving civil service reform.

After leaving federal government service, Cox resumed his law practice in Cincinnati. He soon identified himself with the Liberal Republican movement and was briefly considered as the Party’s presidential nominee in 1872. In 1873 he moved to Toledo to act as president and then receiver of the Toledo, Wabash, and Western Railroad. He managed it through the Panic of 1873 and the subsequent depression. He again entered the world of politics in 1876, serving as a representative of the 6th Ohio district, U.S. Congress. There he was reunited with his friend James A. Garfield and his brother-in-law James Monroe (1821-1898, A.B. 1846, B.D. 1849, A.M. 1850).

After only one term in Congress, Cox returned to his law practice in Cincinnati. In 1881 Cox accepted the deanship of the Cincinnati Law School, which he held until 1897, serving concurrently as President of the University of Cincinnati during 1885-89. During this time he declined a number of political opportunities.

In addition to his other attainments, Cox made quite a reputation as a writer on military history. He took up the study of microphotography as an avocation, published some thirty articles on the subject, and twice was elected president of the American Microscopy Society. He also became a military historian, focusing on the Civil War. Between 1874 and his death, he was the military book critic for the Nation magazine and authored seven books or book sections on military aspects of the Civil War including Atlanta (1882), The March to the Sea: Franklin and Nashville (1882), and The Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864 (1897).

From 1897 to 1900, Cox lived in Oberlin. There, he wrote his two-volume Military Reminiscences of the Civil War (Scribners’ Sons, 1900). Beginning in 1876, he had served as a trustee of Oberlin College. He donated his private library to the College's collection. He died in Magnolia, Massachusetts, on August 4, 1900, and was buried in Cincinnati four days later.

Note written by William E. Bigglestone.