James H. Piles was a teacher, school principal, lawyer, and state legislator in Mississippi. He was born c. 1842 in Springfield, Ohio, and before attending Oberlin College, worked as a barber. He left Mississippi after Reconstruction ended and worked in Washington D.C. and Memphis, Tennessee. He represented Panola County in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1870 to 1875 as a Republican. He served as Assistant Secretary of State in 1875.