Thomas Bocock

Thomas Stanley Bocock (May 18, 1815 – August 5, 1891) was a nineteenth century politician and lawyer from Virginia. After serving as an antebellum United States Congressman, he was the Speaker of the Confederate States House of Representatives during most of the American Civil War.

Thomas Bocock in The Guns of the South
Thomas Bocock was a member of the Confederate States House of Representatives from a Virginia district and re-elected Speaker after the election of 1867. As such, he presided over a joint session where President Robert E. Lee addressed the members in support of his legislation to "regulate the labor of certain inhabitants of the Confederate States", that is to emancipate the Negro slaves.

After Lee had finished speaking, Senator Louis T. Wigfall rose to speak in respectful opposition. Bocock refused to recognize him, stating that it was a special session to allow the President to address both bodies and that Wigfall would have ample opportunity to make his opinion known when the Senate debated the measure.