Walter Lenox

Walter Lenox (August 17, 1817 – July 16, 1874) was mayor of Washington, D.C., from 1850 to 1852. He was the only mayor of Washington City born within the city and one of just two born in the District of Columbia.

Early life Lenox was born in the City of Washington on August 17, 1817, the son of Captain Peter Lenox and Margaret Wilkerson Lenox. He was the first mayor to be born in the city of Washington. He was attended the Chase Academy of Salmon P. Chase. He graduated from Yale University in 1837. He studied law under Richard S. Coxe and was admitted to the bar on March 18, 1840. He returned to Washington to practice law in the early 1840s. During the last part of that period, he lived with future Washington mayor Richard Wallach.

Political career Lenox served on the Washington city council (the lower of its two legislative chambers) from 1842 to 1843, then as an Alderman from 1843 to 1849, serving his last term as President of the Board of Aldermen. Thus when mayor William Winston Seaton declined to run for a sixth term in 1850, Lenox was the heir apparent — although because of his young age (only 33), he was dismissed by many residents of the city, particularly when the popular former mayor Roger C. Weightman announced his intention to seek the office again. Ultimately, Lenox won the election by 32 votes.

Lenox was a Whig,

Lenox sympathized with and supported the Confederacy. In June 1861, after the occupation of Alexandria by Union forces during the Civil War, he moved to Richmond where he organized other "refugees" from DC, Maryland and Delaware. Upon returning to Washington in October 1863 to settle the estate of a deceased relative, he spoke openly in contempt of the Union and was arrested and imprisoned by his old friend, General Winfield Scott. He spent the next 20 months in the prison at Fort McHenry and was released in October 1865, half a year after the war ended. Lenox's health suffered after prison. He died on July 16, 1874, at the age of 57, at his sister's home in Washington, D.C. He was interred at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington.