He stayed out of politics for a year, though both Sherman and Grant advocated that Cox replace Stanton as Secretary of War as a means of stemming the demands for Johnson's impeachment.

Secretary of Interior Cox implemented the first civil service reform in a federal government department, including examinations for most clerks.

However, Cox was opposed by Republican Party managers, who ultimately convinced Grant to cease civil service reforms in the Interior, a large department coveted for its vast Congressional patronage.

In 1882, Cox started a series of books he authored on Civil War campaigns, which remain today respected histories and memoirs.

[5] His mother Thedia was descended from Revolutionary War Connecticut soldier Payne Kenyon who was there when British General John Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga in 1777.

His family suffered a financial setback during the Panic of 1837, and Cox was unable to afford a college education and obtain a law degree.

New York State law mandated that an alternative to college would be to work as an apprentice in the legal firm for seven years before entering the bar.

Having changed his mind on becoming a lawyer, Cox worked as a bookkeeper in a brokerage firm and studied mathematics and classical languages in his off hours.

His brigade joined the Department of Western Virginia and fought successfully in the early Kanawha Valley campaign under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan.

[6] Cox viewed opposition towards black suffrage and advocacy of segregation as a winning formula for the Ohio GOP, telling Radical Republican colleague James Garfield regarding racial equality: "On that issue, if made, you will be beaten.

Grant initially gave Cox the freedom to run his department as he saw fit "focused on public service as an advocation, not a career.

"[12] However, after Grant failed to back him up against Republican politicians who thrived on the patronage system then rampant in the Interior Department, Cox resigned.

[14] Cox's responsibilities varied widely, and he administered the Patent, Land, Pensions, and Indian Affairs Offices, the Census, marshalls, and officials of federal court, and was in charge of transcontinental railroads.

[15] Cox's moralistic approach to civil service reform would eventually clash with President Grant's practical use of patronage appointment powers.

"[17] Cox made contributions voluntary, but the ability to pass civil service examinations would remain mandatory, to keep their jobs.

[19] Prior to electric air conditioning, the hot Summer of 1870 caused employees to use up most of their 30-day vacation time, leaving only a few days of paid campaigning.

The acquisition, according to Grant, would ease race relations in the South, clear slavery from Brazil and Cuba, and increase American naval power in the Caribbean.

[24] All of the Cabinet kept quiet until Secretary Cox spoke up and asked Grant, "But Mr. President, has it been settled, then, that we want to annex Santo Domingo?

Cox believed that Native Americans derived no benefits from frontier towns that took away pasture lands from the buffalo herds, an Indian food staple.

[30] Cox looked forward to their visit, hoping to convince the Sioux chiefs of the federal government's commitment to Indian treaties, and also to impress them with the power and grandeur of the nation, so they would be fearful of making war.

[30] In response, Cox lectured Spotted Tail that complaining was not manly, and that the Grant administration's Indian policies had positive results.

[30] Red Cloud asked Cox for food and ammunition so his people could hunt and not starve, railed against broken treaties, and forcing Indians into starvation.

[31] On June 7, Cox attempted to placate the Indian chiefs that President Grant, the "Great White Father", acted not out of fear, but had the desire to do the right thing.

[32] At their final meeting, Cox offered several more concessions, and allowed the Indians to give names of agents they would prefer to act as interlocutors with the government.

[32] Before returning to Wyoming the Indians visited New York City, and the philanthropist eastern papers demanded a more generous Sioux policy.

[33] Dissatisfaction over the Grant administration, his appointments of family and friends,[34] corruption at the New York Customs House,[35] and his attempt to annex Santo Domingo,[36] led many reformers to seek new leadership.

"[41] Meeting on May 1, 1872, at their convention held in Cincinnati, the Liberal Republicans nominated New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley for President of the United States.

Volume 4 of Dictionary of American Biography, edited by Dumas Malone, published in 1930 by Charles Scribner's Sons, has a biographical article on Cox, authored by Homer Carey Hockett (H.C.H.).

[43] Historian Ron Chernow said Cox was a conservative on Grant's cabinet, preaching against black suffrage and favored racial segregation, but "he enjoyed a reputation of an efficient administrator and an energetic ally of civil service reform.

said that Cox, in general, was "recognized as an elegant and forceful writer, of fine critical ability and impartial judgement, one of the foremost military historians of the country."