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'{{Infobox Governor |name =George Walton |image =George Walton (ca 1749-1804).jpg |order =[[United States Senator]]<br />from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] |term_start =November 16, 1795 |term_end =February 20, 1796 |predecessor =[[James Jackson (Georgia politician)|James Jackson]] |successor =[[Josiah Tattnall (Senator)|Josiah Tattnall]] |birth_date ={{birth-date|1749}} |birth_place =[[Cumberland County, Virginia]] |death_date = February 2, {{Death year and age|1804|1749}} |death_place =[[Augusta, Georgia]] |order2 =Acting Governor of Georgia |term_start2 =January 7, 1789 |term_end2 =November 9, 1790 |predecessor2 =[[George Handley (politician)|George Handley]] |successor2 =[[Edward Telfair]] |order3= Delegate from Georgia to the [[Continental Congress]] |term_start3= 1776 |term_end3=1777, 1780–1781 |nationality = |party =[[Federalist Party]] |spouse = |relations =The Walton family of Atlanta, Georgia; North Carolina. |signature =George Walton Signature.svg |footnotes = |allegiance={{flag|United States|1777}} |branch=[[Georgia Militia]] |battles=[[American Revolutionary War]] * [[Capture of Savannah]] |rank=Colonel }} '''George Walton''' (1749 – February 2, 1804) signed the United States [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] as a representative of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and also served as the [[List of Governors of Georgia|second Chief Executive]] of Georgia. ==Life and work== '''George Walton''' was born in [[Cumberland County, Virginia]].The exact year of Walton's birth is unknown; it is believed that he was born in 1749. Some research has placed it as early as 1740, others as late as 1749 and 1750. The biographer of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Della Gray Bartholomew, uses the date of 1741.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Barthelmas|first1=Della Gray|title=The signers of the Declaration of Independence : a biographical and genealogical reference|date=1997|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=0786403187|page=272}}<!--|accessdate=17 May 2016--></ref> His parents died when he was an infant, resulting in his adoption by an uncle with whom he entered apprenticeship as a carpenter. Walton was a studious young man, but his uncle actively discouraged all study, believing a studious boy to be an idle one. Walton continued studying and once his apprenticeship ended, he moved to [[Savannah, Georgia]], in 1769 to study law under a Mr. Young, and was admitted to the bar in 1774. His brother was [[John Walton (1738-1783)|John Walton]]. By the eve of the American Revolution he was one of the most successful lawyers in Georgia. He became an advocate of the patriot cause and was elected Secretary of the [[Georgia Provincial Congress]] and became president of the [[Council of Safety]]. In 1776 he served as a delegate to the Second [[Continental Congress]] in Philadelphia, a position he held until the end of 1778. On July 2, 1776, he voted in favor of the [[Declaration of Independence]] for [[Signers of the Declaration of Independence|Georgia]] along with [[Button Gwinnett]] and [[Lyman Hall]]. During the [[American Revolutionary War]], he was in the battalion of General [[Robert Howe (Continental Army officer)|Robert Howe]]. On January 9, 1778, Walton received a commission as colonel of the First Georgia Regiment of Militia. During the [[Capture of Savannah|Battle of Savannah]] in 1778 led by [[Archibald Campbell (British Army officer, born 1739)|Archibald Campbell]], Walton was injured in the battle and taken prisoner. He was hit in the thigh by a ball that threw him from his horse. He was subsequently captured by the British, who allowed his wound to heal before sending him to Sunbury Prison, where other colonial prisoners were held. Walton was eventually exchanged in October 1779.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dubrulle|first1=Elizabeth|title=American National Biography|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|isbn=0195206355}}<!--|accessdate=17 May 2016--></ref> Walton's brother, John, signed the [[Articles of Confederation]] for Georgia in 1778, along with [[Edward Telfair]] and [[Edward Langworthy]]. In October 1779, Walton was elected [[Governor of Georgia]] for the first time, a position he held for only two months. In November 1795, he was appointed to the [[United States Senate]] to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of [[James Jackson (Georgia politician)|James Jackson]]. Walton only served in that position from November 16, 1795, to February 20, 1796, until a successor, [[Josiah Tattnall (Senator)|Josiah Tattnall]], was officially elected. He was a political ally of the Scottish General [[Lachlan McIntosh]] and a foe of [[Button Gwinnett]]. He and Gwinnett's political battles resulted in his expulsion from office and indictment for various criminal activities. He was later censured for his support of a [[duel]] that resulted in Button Gwinnett's death by [[Lachlan McIntosh]]. Walton was in favor of the [[Yazoo land scandal|Yazoo land sales]], the massive real estate fraud perpetrated in the mid-1790s by Georgia governor [[George Mathews (Georgia)|George Mathews]] and the [[Georgia General Assembly]]. The scandal brought [[James Jackson (Georgia politician)|James Jackson]] home from the U.S. Senate to lead a reform movement. Appointed to fill the vacant seat, a feud erupted between Jackson and Walton over the sale of land to speculators. Jackson won, and Walton, who supported the sales, left the office. In 1788, [[Alexander McGillivray]] and other [[Creek Indians|Creek Indian]] leaders met with Georgia leaders at Rock Landing,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Forsyth|first1=Robert|title=Letter, 1789 Sept. 16, Rock Landing [Georgia to] Governor [George] Walton|url=http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/zlna/id:tcc018|website=Southeastern Native American Documents|publisher=Digital Library of Georgia|accessdate=17 May 2016}}</ref> but the meeting failed to result in a peace treaty. This led Governor Walton to worry that "our prospects of peace have been obliged to yield to the impressions of war."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kokomoor |first1=Kevin |date=November 2015 |title=Creeks, Federalists, and the Idea of Coexistence in the Early Republic |journal=The Journal of Southern History |volume=81 |issue=4 |page=808}}</ref> Walton wrote to Colonel Jared Irwin, expressing both his concern and his surprise at the recent Indian depredations near the [[Oconee River]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Walton|first1=George|title=[Letter] 1789 Oct. 13, Augusta, [Georgia to] Colonel [Jared] Irwin|url=http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/zlna/id:cmt006|website=Southeastern Native American Documents, 1730-1842|publisher=Digital Library of Georgia|accessdate=17 May 2016}}</ref> Although a treaty was not signed at Rock Landing, eventually the [[Treaty of New York (1790)]] ceded Creek lands to the state of Georgia. During the 1780s, Walton devoted himself almost exclusively to Georgia state politics. He served not only as chief justice but also as a commissioner to negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee Indians (1783), a member of the Augusta Board of Commissioners (1784 and 1785), and a commissioner to settle the border dispute between South Carolina and Georgia (1786). He was elected as a delegate to the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention in 1787]] but declined, as his commitments at the state level occupied his time to the exclusion of all else. In 1789 he was a presidential elector and served at the state convention to adopt a new constitution.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dubrulle|first1=Elizabeth|title=American National Biography|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|isbn=0195206355}}<!--|accessdate=17 May 2016--></ref> Walton was elected to a second term as governor in 1789 and served for one year. During his term, Georgians adopted the new state constitution, moved the capital to [[Augusta, Georgia|Augusta]] (where Walton himself had moved in the 1780s), and concentrated on settling the western frontier. After completing his tenure as governor, Walton served as a judge of the superior court from 1790 until his death. He also filled the unexpired term of James Jackson in the U.S. Senate in 1795–1796. He was a founder and trustee of the [[Academy of Richmond County]] in Augusta and of [[Franklin College of Arts and Sciences|Franklin College]] (now the [[University of Georgia]]) in [[Athens, Georgia|Athens]]. ==Offices held== The offices he held were: * Continental Congress (1776–78) * Colonel of the First Georgia Militia (1778) * Governor of Georgia (1779–80) * U.S. Congress (1780–1781) * Chief Justice of Georgia (1783–89) * Governor of Georgia (1789–90) * U.S. Senator (1795–96) ==Death== During his second term as governor, he built [[Meadow Garden]], a cottage constructed on confiscated [[Tory]] land outside of Augusta, where he died. He was survived by his wife Dorothy, née Camber,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Knight|first1=Lucien Lamar|title=Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials, and Legends|date=1913|publisher=Pelican Publishing|location=Gretna, Louisiana|isbn=1455604828|pages=1003-1005|edition=2006 reprint|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=is7hRpodAawC&pg=PA1013&dq=%22atlanta,+birmingham+and+atlantic%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7oMbLh_bWAhXD4CYKHSGZDS4Q6AEIxAEwHA#v=onepage&q=dorothy%20camber&f=false|accessdate=16 October 2017}}</ref> whom he had married in 1775, and one of his two sons. He was initially buried at Rosney, home of his nephew Robert Watkins; however, he was re-interred in 1848 beneath the [[Signers Monument]] in front of the courthouse on Greene Street in Augusta. ==Legacy== [[Walton County, Georgia|Walton County]], which is about 30 miles east of the city of [[Atlanta]], is named for him. There are also at least two schools that bear his name: [[George Walton Comprehensive High School]] in [[Marietta, Georgia]] and [[George Walton Academy]], a private school in [[Monroe, Georgia]]. His granddaughter, [[Octavia Le Vert]], was a noted socialite and author.<ref name="madame">{{cite book |title=Madame Le Vert: A Biography of Octavia Le Vert |last=Satterfield |first=Frances Gibson |year=1987 |publisher=Edisto Press |location=Edisto Island, S.C. |isbn=978-0-9618589-1-9 }}</ref> His great nephew Thomas George Walton built [[Creekside (Morganton, North Carolina)|Creekside]] near [[Morganton, North Carolina]].<ref name = nrhpinv>{{Cite web | author =John B. Wells, III| title = Creekside| work = National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory | date =September 1971| url = http://www.hpo.ncdcr.gov/nr/BK0004.pdf | format = pdf | publisher = North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office | accessdate = 2014-08-01}}</ref> George Walton’s descendants eventually moved to Florida, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee. His descendants alive as of 2018 include Laurie Telfair and Viola West of Texas, John West of Tennessee, and Jenny West of South Carolina. ==References== {{CongBio|W000114}} * [http://www.colonialhall.com/walton/walton.php Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, 1856] * Deaton, Stan. [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/george-walton-ca-1749-1804 "George Walton (ca. 1749-1804)."] New Georgia Encyclopedia. 6 January 2016. Web. 17 May 2016. ==Notes== {{Reflist}} {{S-start}} {{s-off}} {{Succession box | before= [[William Ewen]] | title= [[List of governors of Georgia|President of the Georgia Council of Safety]] | years= 1775–1776 | after= William Ewen}} {{Succession box | before= [[John Wereat]] | title= [[List of governors of Georgia|Governor of Georgia]] | years= 1779–1780 | after= [[Richard Howly]]}} {{Succession box | before= [[George Handley (politician)|George Handley]] | title= [[List of governors of Georgia|Governor of Georgia]] | years= 1789–1790 | after= [[Edward Telfair]]}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box|class=2|state=Georgia| before = [[James Jackson (Georgia politician)|James Jackson]]| after = [[Josiah Tattnall (Senator)|Josiah Tattnall]] | years =November 16, 1795 – February 20, 1796| alongside=[[James Gunn (senator)|James Gunn]] }} {{S-end}} {{USDecOfIndSig}} {{Governors of Georgia}} {{USSenGA}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, George}} [[Category:1749 births]] [[Category:1804 deaths]] [[Category:18th-century American politicians]] [[Category:19th-century American politicians]] [[Category:American slave owners]] [[Category:Continental Congressmen from Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Governors of Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence]] [[Category:United States Senators from Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Members of the Georgia House of Representatives]] [[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) militiamen in the American Revolution]] [[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers]] [[Category:University of Georgia people]] [[Category:People of Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Revolution]] [[Category:Burials in Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:People from Cumberland County, Virginia]] [[Category:Politicians from Augusta, Georgia]] [[Category:American people of Welsh descent]] [[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) Democratic-Republicans]] [[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) Federalists]] [[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) Independents]] [[Category:Federalist Party United States Senators]] [[Category:Independent state governors of the United States]] [[Category:Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States]]'