1861 - Principals and Chiefs Chronological
Listing - People - Department History
Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission, by Year: 1861
NOTE TO READERS
Updates to the Principal Officers and Chiefs of Mission database are currently suspended. For information about the Department’s current and recent leadership, we recommend visiting the Department of State homepage’s Biographies of Senior Officials and List of U.S. Ambassadors.
Notice posted on January 12, 2024.
Last
updated March 14, 2024.
Note: Career Foreign Service appointees are asterisked.
- Charles Francis Adams (1807–1886)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, United Kingdom (1861–1868)
- Benjamin Franklin Angel (1815–1894)
- Minister Resident, Sweden (1857–1861)
- John Appleton (1815–1864)
- Chargé d’Affaires, Bolivia (1848–1849)
- Chief Clerk (1848)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1857–1860)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Russia (1860–1861)
- John Bigler (1805–1871)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Chile (1857–1861)
- Jeremiah Sullivan Black (1810–1883)
- Secretary of State (1860–1861)
- Henry Taylor Blow (1817–1875)
- Minister Resident, Venezuela (1861)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Brazil (1869–1870)
- James Wallace Borden (1810–1882)
- Commissioner, Hawaii (1858–1861)
- James M. Buchanan (1803–1876)
- Minister Resident, Denmark (1858–1861)
- Charles Rollin Buckalew (1821–1899)
- Minister Resident, Ecuador (1858–1861)
- Anson Burlingame (1820–1870)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, China (1861–1867)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Austria (1861)
- Allan A. Burton (1820–1878)
- Minister Resident, Colombia (1861–1866)
- Minister Resident, Colombia (1861)
- David Kellogg Cartter (1812–1887)
- Minister Resident, Bolivia (1861–1862)
- Cassius Marcellus Clay (1810–1903)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Spain (1861)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Russia (1861–1862)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Russia (1863–1869)
- Thomas Corwin (1794–1865)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Mexico (1861–1864)
- Elisha Oscar Crosby (1818–1895)
- Minister Resident, Guatemala (1861–1864)
- John Franklin Cushman (?–1862)
- Minister Resident, Argentina (1859–1861)
- George Mifflin Dallas (1792–1864)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Russia (1837–1839)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, United Kingdom (1856–1861)
- John Moncure Daniel (1825–1865)
- Chargé d’Affaires, Italy (1853–1854)
- Minister Resident, Italy (1854–1861)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Italy (Nomination of February 25, 1856, withdrawn before the Senate acted upon it.)
- William Lewis Dayton (1807–1864)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, France (1861–1864)
- Edwin De Leon (1818–1891)
- Agent/Consul General, Egypt (1853–1861)
- Andrew B. Dickinson (1801–1873)
- Minister Resident, Nicaragua (1861–1863)
- Minister Resident and Extraordinary, Nicaragua (1863–1869)
- Alexander Dimitry (1805–1883)
- Minister Resident, Costa Rica (1859–1861)
- Minister Resident, Nicaragua (1859–1861)
- Thomas Jefferson Dryer (1808–1879)
- Commissioner, Hawaii (1861–1863)
- Henry William Ellsworth (1814–1864)
- Chargé d’Affaires, Sweden (1845–1861)
- Elisha Young Fair (1809–1886)
- Minister Resident, Belgium (1858–1861)
- Charles James Faulkner (1806–1884)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, France (1860–1861)
- Theodore Sedgwick Fay (1807–1898)
- Minister Resident, Switzerland (1853–1861)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Switzerland (Nomination of February 25, 1856, withdrawn before the Senate acted upon it.)
- George Gilman Fogg (1813–1881)
- Minister Resident, Switzerland (1861–1865)
- Jacob Samils Haldeman (1827–1889)
- Minister Resident, Sweden (1861–1864)
- Townsend Harris (1804–1878)
- Minister Resident, Japan (1859–1862)
- James E. Harvey (1820–)
- Minister Resident, Portugal (1861–1869)
- Frederick (Friedrich) Hassaurek (1831–1885)
- Minister Resident, Ecuador (1861–1866)
- Jacob Merritt Howard (1805–1871)
- Minister Resident, Honduras (1861)
- George Wallace Jones (1804–1896)
- Minister Resident, Colombia (1859–1861)
- Jehu Glancy Jones (1811–1878)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Austria (1858–1861)
- Minister Resident, Austria (1858)
- Norman Buel Judd (1815–1878)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Germany (1861–1865)
- Rufus King (1814–1876)
- Minister Resident, Holy See (1861)
- Minister Resident, Holy See (1863–1867)
- George Perkins Marsh (1801–1882)
- Minister Resident, Turkey (1849–1853)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Italy (1861–1882)
- Richard Kidder Meade (1803–1862)
- Chargé d’Affaires, Italy (1853)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Brazil (1857–1861)
- George Washington Morgan (1820–1893)
- Minister Resident, Portugal (1858–1861)
- Edward Joy Morris (1815–1881)
- Chargé d’Affaires, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1850–1853)
- Minister Resident, Turkey (1861–1870)
- John Lothrop Motley (1814–1877)
- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Austria (1861–1867)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, United Kingdom (1869–1870)
- Henry Cruse Murphy (1810–1882)
- Minister Resident, Netherlands (1857–1861)
- Thomas Henry Nelson (1824–1896)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Chile (1861–1866)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Mexico (1869–1873)
- Robert M. Palmer (1820–1862)
- Minister Resident, Argentina (1861–1862)
- James Shepard Pike (1811–1882)
- Minister Resident, Netherlands (1861–1866)
- William Preston (1861–1887)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Spain (1858–1861)
- Robert Hewson Pruyn (1815–1882)
- Minister Resident, Japan (1861–1865)
- Alexander Williams Randall (1819–1872)
- Minister Resident, Holy See (1861–1862)
- Charles N. Riotte (1814–1887)
- Minister Resident, Costa Rica (1861–1867)
- Minister Resident, Nicaragua (1869–1873)
- Minister Resident, Costa Rica (Not commissioned; nomination tabled by the Senate.)
- Christopher Robinson (1806–1889)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Peru (1861–1865)
- Henry Shelton Sanford (1823–1891)
- Minister Resident, Belgium (1861–1869)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Belgium (Nomination of December 17, 1866, rejected by the Senate.)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Belgium (Nomination of March 8, 1867, rejected by the Senate.)
- Minister Resident, Belgium (Not commissioned; nomination not confirmed by the Senate.)
- Minister Resident, Spain (Not commissioned; nomination not confirmed by the Senate.)
- Carl Schurz (1829–1906)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Spain (1861)
- Frederick William Seward (1830–1915)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1861–1869)
- Assistant Secretary of State (1877–1879)
- William Henry Seward (1801–1872)
- Secretary of State (1861–1869)
- John Cotton Smith II (1810–1879)
- Minister Resident, Bolivia (1858–1861)
- John Potter Stockton (1826–1900)
- Minister Resident, Holy See (1858–1861)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Austria (Not commissioned; nomination rejected by the Senate.)
- William Sydney Thayer (1830–1864)
- Consul General, Egypt (1861–1864)
- Edward A. Turpin (1804–1880)
- Minister Resident, Venezuela (1858–1861)
- Charles Ames Washburn (1822–1889)
- Commissioner, Paraguay (1861–1863)
- Minister Resident, Paraguay (1863–1868)
- James Watson Webb (1802–1884)
- Chargé d’Affaires, Austria (1849–1850)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Brazil (1861–1869)
- Minister Resident, Turkey (1861)
- John B. Weller (1812–1875)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Mexico (1860–1861)
- Hezekiah G. Wells (1812–1885)
- Minister Resident, Honduras (1861)
- James Williams (1796–1869)
- Minister Resident, Turkey (1858–1861)
- Bradford Ripley Wood (1800–1889)
- Minister Resident, Denmark (1861–1865)
- Joseph Albert Wright (1810–1867)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Germany (1857–1861)
- Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Germany (1865–1867)