The Commissioner during its entire existence was Rufus Randolph Rhodes of Mississippi who resigned his post at the United States Patent Office after the election of Abraham Lincoln.

Very few patent documents issued by the CPO, likely fewer than 10, are known to survive.

The first patent was issued to James H. Van Houten of Savannah, Georgia, on August 1, 1861, for a "breech-loading gun".

100, granted to John Mercer Brooke for the design of the Confederate ironclad ship Merrimack, more properly known as the CSS Virginia.

Confederate States Patent #60 was granted to Jacob B. and William L. Platt of Augusta, Georgia on January 7, 1862 for "Camp Cots."