Walter Lenox

Walter Lenox (born August 17, 1817 in Washington, DC , †  July 16, 1874 there ) was an American politician . Between 1850 and 1852 he was Mayor of Washington City.

Career

After studying law at Yale University and being admitted to the bar in 1837, Walter Lenox began working in this profession in Washington in the early 1840s. Politically, he joined the Whig Party . Between 1843 and 1849 he sat on the city council, which he chaired during his last term of office. In 1850 Lenox was elected as the new mayor and successor to William Winston Seaton by 32 votes ahead of former Mayor Roger C. Weightman . He held this office between June 10, 1850 and June 14, 1852. It is worth noting that until 1871 the mayor of Washington did not administer the entire District of Columbia . The then independent city of Georgetown provided its own mayor until 1871.

In 1852 Lenox was defeated in the mayoral election to the Democrat John Walker Maury . During the Civil War he left Washington and joined the Confederation Army . He held an administrative position in the Confederate capital Richmond . In 1863 he returned to Washington to settle the estate of a late sister. There he publicly promoted the Confederation cause. He turned down warnings and was arrested as a southern agent and imprisoned at Fort McHenry . He remained there until the end of the war in 1865. Captivity undermined his health. Walter Lenox died on July 16, 1874 as a result of the long-term effects of this imprisonment.

Web links

• Walter Lenox in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• The Political Graveyard

predecessor	Office	successor
William Winston Seaton	Mayor of Washington 1850-1852	John Walker Maury