United States Army Officer, US Diplomat. Son of Colonel John Pickett. In 1808 he was appointed from Ohio to West Point, but left to enlist as a Midshipman in the Navy at the outbreak of the War of 1812. Due to the need for officers in the war effort, James was appointed a Third Lieutenant in the 2nd United States Artillery on August 14, 1813 under Captain Daniel Cushing. Less than a year later he was appointed a Second Lieutenant (a letter from a board of officers reporting to the Adjutant General, dated from 1815, states that his 2nd Lt. promotion was firm by April 19, 1814 and that he was recommended for the same rank in the "Peace Establishment"). When he left the army, on June 15, 1815, he was a Captain. The Army asked him to remain with the artillery but he declined. He returned to Kentucky and entered a legal clerkship and read Law. Finding military life more fulfilling, he re-enlisted as a Captain. From June 16, 1818 until his honorable discharge on June 1, 1821 he served as the Assistant deputy Quartermaster General of the Army. Shortly after his re-enlistment he married Eleanor Desha, the daughter of Kentucky Governor Joseph Desha, daughter Eleanor (Ellen). Between 1821 and 1825 he practiced law in Kentucky, was elected to the Kentucky legislature, and served as editor of the Maysville “Eagle”. Between 1825 and 1828 he served as Kentucky's Secretary of State under Governor Desha. On June 9, 1829 President Andrew Jackson appointed him as secretary to the Legation in Columbia. This appointment lasted until 1833. He had also served as Charge' d'Affaires in Bogotá and failed to be paid. On February 1, 1835 James was appointed Superintendent of the Patent Office and then was appointed fourth auditor of the Treasury, on May 1, 1835. He was commissioned the plenipotentiary to Ecuador in 1838. Between November 1838 and 1845 he also serves as Charge' de' affairs for Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Authorized to conclude treaties with the Peru - Bolivian Confederation and the Republic of Ecuador, he quickly concluded a treaty of peace, friendship, navigation and Commerce with Ecuador. He included the "most favored nation" clause and the definition of neutrality in wartime treaty, having it ready for signature in September 1842. With Peru he was somewhat less successful, but a treaty was ready and signed on March 17, 1841, although it was not announced until February 21, 1844. He left Peru with three Contenders to the presidency, in late 1844. Returning to Washington, DC, in 1845, he became editor for the “Daily Globe and the National Monument” (a short lived magazine adventure, suspended in 1851 due to lack of funds). Between 1848 and 1851 he, Francis Blair and John C. Rives attempt a weekly paper referred to as the “Weekly Globe”. James Pickett was also awarded an $8.00 per month pension on March 30, 1872, which was to have begun on February 17, 1871. He had to sign a statement that he had not been involved in any form of support of the recent uprising we call the Civil War to received that award. In 1872 at the age of 81 James Chamberlayne Pickett passed away at his home on 330 Indiana Avenue, in Washington, DC, and was buried in Congressional Cemetery on July 11, 1872. His grave at present unmarked, but efforts by descendents to erect a suitable memorial is under way.