Richard Wilde Walker (February 16, 1823 – June 16, 1874) was an American politician.

Biography

Walker was born in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...

in 1823. He was the son of John Williams Walker, the brother of Percy Walker and

LeRoy Pope Walker LeRoy Pope Walker (February 7, 1817 – August 23, 1884) was the first Confederate States Secretary of War. Early life and career Walker was born near Huntsville, Alabama in 1817, the son of John Williams Walker and Matilda Pope, and a gran ...

, and father of

Richard Wilde Walker, Jr. Richard Wilde Walker Jr. (March 11, 1857 – April 10, 1936) was an associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Educati ...

Richard Walker, Sr. served in the

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

state legislature from 1851 to 1855, and served as Associate Justice of the

Alabama Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for staggered six-year terms. The Supreme Court is hous ...

in 1859. Walker represented Alabama in the provisional C.S. Congress from 1861 to 1862. He also served as a

Confederate States Senator The Confederate Senate was the upper house of the Confederate States Congress, Congress of the Confederate States of America. Its members were, like those of the United States Senate, elected for six year terms by the state legislature of each sta ...

from 1864 to 1865. he died in Huntsville at age 51.

In popular culture

In the 1992

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed his ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

alternative history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

novel '' The Guns of the South'', "Senator Walker" is mentioned as opposing a bill to re-enslave

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

in a victorious Confederacy, but being blackmailed by the "Rivington" cabal into silencing himself.

References

"Alabama: Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men From 1540 to 1872," by Willis Brewer, published 1872, pp. 355–356

External links

* 1823 births 1874 deaths Confederate States of America senators Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States Members of the Alabama House of Representatives Politicians from Huntsville, Alabama People of Alabama in the American Civil War Signers of the Confederate States Constitution Signers of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama Walker family Lawyers from Huntsville, Alabama 19th-century Alabama state court judges 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the Alabama Legislature {{Alabama-state-judge-stub