Robert Ould (January 31, 1820 – December 15, 1882) was a lawyer who served as a

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

official during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. From 1862 to 1865 he was the Confederate agent of exchange for

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

under the Dix–Hill Cartel. After the war he became a member of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

and was later elected president of a railroad company.

Early life

Ould was born in Georgetown,

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on January 31, 1820. After attending Jefferson College in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, he graduated in letters at

Columbian College The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a private federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress and is the first un ...

in D.C. in 1837, and in law at William & Mary College in 1842. During the

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

period he worked as a lawyer in Washington, and in 1855 he was appointed under

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. A northern Democratic Party (United States), Democrat who believed that the Abolitionism in the United States, abolitio ...

to a commission to codify the district's laws. In 1859, following the shooting of Philip Barton Key II, Ould was appointed by

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was the 15th president of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861. He also served as the United States Secretary of State, secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and represented Pennsylvan ...

to succeed Key as

United States Attorney for the District of Columbia The United States attorney for the District of Columbia (USADC) is responsible for representing the Federal government of the United States, federal government in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The U.S. Attorney's ...

. Ould charged Key's killer, Daniel E. Sickles, with murder, but lost the case after Sickles' lawyer (and future

United States Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the President of the United States, U.S. president's United States Cabinet, Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's Presidency of George Washington, administration. A similar position, called either "Sec ...

)

Edwin M. Stanton Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. secretary of war under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's management helped organize ...

invoked one of the first uses of the temporary

insanity defense The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative Defense (legal), defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to a mental illness, psychiatric disease ...

in U.S. history.

Civil War

Ould was also a brigadier general in the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

militia; in his role as United States Attorney, he advised Buchanan not to arm newly raised Unionist militia companies in the District. Charles Pomeroy Stone, "Washington on the Eve of the War", in

Robert Underwood Johnson Robert Underwood Johnson (January 12, 1853 – October 14, 1937) was an American writer, poet, and diplomat. Biography Robert Underwood Johnson was born on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. on January 12, 1853 and spent his childhood in Cente ...

and Clarence Clough Buel (1887), edd., ''Battles and Leaders of the Civil War'', reprint, Secaucus, NJ: Castle, pp. 12, 18-20, . Following the secession of Virginia in 1861, Ould decided to support the Confederacy and moved with his family to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. Early in the war he was appointed to the War Department as Assistant Secretary of War, serving under Judah P. Benjamin. In July 1862 Ould was appointed as the chief agent of exchange under the terms of the Dix–Hill Cartel, with the rank of colonel. In this position he was responsible for negotiating the exchange and treatment of prisoners of war with his Union counterparts. He held the office for most of the remainder of the war, until he was succeeded by William Norris in April 1865. During the war he also served as

judge advocate Judge-advocates are military lawyers serving in different capacities in the military justice systems of different jurisdictions. Australia The Australian Army Legal Corps (AALC) consists of Regular and Reserve commissioned officers that prov ...

in Richmond and seems to have been a high-ranking official in the

Confederate Secret Service The Confederate Secret Service refers to any of a number of official and semi-official secret service organizations and operations performed by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Some of the organizations were directe ...

Postwar career

After the surrender at Appomattox in 1865, Ould was arrested and briefly incarcerated at

Libby Prison Libby Prison was a Confederate States of America, Confederate prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. In 1862 it was designated to hold officer prisoners from the Union Army, taking in numbers from the nearby Seven Days battl ...

on charges of misappropriating funds belonging to Union prisoners, but was soon after released, and on October 30 he received a

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

from

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...

. He subsequently defended former Confederate president

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

against charges of treason. After the war, Ould remained in Richmond and returned to practicing law. In 1866 he was elected to one term in the

Virginia Senate The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...

, and from 1874 to 1875 he served as a representative for Richmond in the House of Delegates. In 1878 he was elected president of the

Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. The track is now the RF&P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system; the original corporation is no longer a railroad co ...

Company. Ould died on January 15, 1882, and was buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.

Notes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ould, Robert 1820 births 1882 deaths Burials at Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia) United States attorneys for the District of Columbia Confederate States Army officers 19th-century American lawyers