Charles Pettit McIlvaine (January 18, 1799 – March 13, 1873)[1] was an Episcopal bishop, author, educator and twice Chaplain of the United States Senate.

[2] McIlvaine was educated at Burlington Academy and entered the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), where he graduated in 1816.

[2] From 1825 to 1827, McIlvaine served as chaplain and professor of ethics at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where his students included Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis.

[2] In 1827 McIlvaine declined the presidency of The College of William & Mary but accepted a call to St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn, New York.

Bishop McIlvaine was so highly respected internationally (for his opposition to the Catholic-leaning Oxford movement within the Episcopal Church) that, shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, President Lincoln asked him to go to England with Archbishop Hughes and Peter Force to argue against British recognition of the Confederacy.