Walter Terry Colquitt (December 27, 1799May 7, 1855) was a lawyer, circuit-riding

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

preacher, and politician. Born in Virginia, he later moved with his family to Georgia, where he grew up. He graduated from

Princeton College Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

, "read the law", and passed the bar. Later he was elected as

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

, and then by the Georgia state legislature as

US Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

from the state.

Life and career

Born in Monroe in 1799 in

Halifax County, Virginia Halifax County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 34,022. Its county seat is Halifax. History Occupied by varying cultures of indigenous peoples for thousands of years, in histor ...

, Colquitt moved as a child with his parents to

Mount Zion Mount Zion ( he, הַר צִיּוֹן, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; ar, جبل صهيون, ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew Bible first for the C ...

Carroll County, Georgia Carroll County is a county located in the northwestern part of the State of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, its population was 119,148. Its county seat is the city of Carrollton. Carroll County is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, ...

. He attended

and studied law, gaining admission to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (un ...

in 1820 at the age of 21. He began his law practice that year in

Sparta, Georgia Sparta is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Milledgeville Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 1,400 at the 2010 census. History Sparta was founded in 1795 in the newl ...

. Later that year, Colquitt was commissioned as a

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed t ...

of the state

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non- professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

, also at the age of 21. Colquitt moved to the village of

Cowpens Cowpens may refer to: * Battle of Cowpens, a battle in the American Revolution * Cowpens National Battlefield, a unit of the National Park Service that protects the battlefield. * Cowpens, South Carolina * USS ''Cowpens'' (CG-63), a guided-miss ...

in Walton County, where he practiced law. He was elected judge of the Chattahoochee circuit in 1826, and was re-elected three years later. He was licensed as a Methodist preacher in 1827, and practiced as a circuit-riding preacher. He became extremely popular in central and south Georgia, mostly for his strong support of

states' rights In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and ...

at a time when the state tried to deal directly with the Native American tribes who occupied extensive territory there. The state was trying to force them to cede land for the benefit of white settlers, but only the federal government was authorized constitutionally to make treaties with the Native Americans and deal with them officially. Colquitt was said to be able to make a stump speech, try a court case and plead another at the bar, christen a child, preach a sermon, and marry a couple - all before dinner. He was elected as a member of the

Georgia Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Legal provisions The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, with the lower house being the Georg ...

in 1834 and 1837. In 1838, after Indian Removal had been underway for several years in Georgia and the Southeast by the federal government, Colquitt was elected as a

Whig Whig or Whigs may refer to: Parties and factions In the British Isles * Whigs (British political party), one of two political parties in England, Great Britain, Ireland, and later the United Kingdom, from the 17th to 19th centuries ** Whiggism ...

to the

Twenty-sixth Congress The 26th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1839 ...

, serving from March 4, 1839, to July 21, 1840, when he resigned. He changed parties, affiliating with the Democratic Party. He was elected as a

Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...

Democrat to the

Twenty-seventh Congress The 27th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. between March 4, 1 ...

. Newly available seats were open in the election, due to the resignations of Julius C. Alford,

William Crosby Dawson William Crosby Dawson (January 4, 1798May 5, 1856) was a lawyer, judge, politician, and soldier from Georgia. Early life, education and legal career Dawson was born in Greensboro, Greene County, Georgia, January 4, 1798. His parents were Geor ...

, and Eugenius A. Nisbet.

Marriages and family

Colquitt married Nancy Holt after setting up his law practice. Their children included sons Alfred Holt Colquitt and Peyton H. Colquitt (1831-1863). Following the death of his first wife, Colquitt married widow Alphea B. (Todd) Fauntleroy in 1841. She died that year, and he married Harriet W. Ross the following year, in 1842.

National office

In 1842 the Georgia state legislature elected Colquitt as a Democrat to the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

; he served from March 4, 1843, until his resignation in February 1848. While in the Twenty-ninth Congress, Colquitt was chairman of the Committee on the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

and the Committee on Patents and Patent Office. He supported the

Polk Polk may refer to: People * James K. Polk, 11th president of the United States * Polk (name), other people with the name Places *Polk (CTA), a train station in Chicago, Illinois * Polk, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Polk, Missouri ...

administration in the controversy relative to the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. ...

, and was a prominent opponent of the

Wilmot Proviso The Wilmot Proviso was an unsuccessful 1846 proposal in the United States Congress to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. The conflict over the Wilmot Proviso was one of the major events leading to the ...

throughout the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Second Federal Republic of Mexico, Mexico f ...

Later years

Colquitt retired from national politics in 1848 to resume his law practice and preaching. He was a member of the

Nashville Convention {{Events leading to US Civil War The Nashville Convention was a political meeting held in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 3–11, 1850. Delegates from nine slave states met to consider secession, if the United States Congress decided to ban slavery i ...

in 1850, arguing for

secession Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics l ...

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

was restricted in any of the new territories then being added to the country. Colquitt died in 1855 during a trip from

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

to Macon, Georgia. He was buried in Linwood Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia, where he had been residing.

Legacy and honors

Colquitt County, Georgia Colquitt County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 45,898. The county seat is Moultrie. The county was created on February 25, 1856, and is named for Walter Terry Colquitt, a U.S. senator. Co ...

is named in memory of Walter T. Colquitt, as was the town of

Colquitt, Georgia Colquitt is a city in Miller County, in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. The population was 1,992 at the 2010 census. Colquitt is the county seat of Miller County, a role it has held since just after Miller County was create ...

. His son, Alfred Holt Colquitt (1824-1894), son of his first wife Nancy (Holt Colquitt, also became a politician, being elected as a U.S. Representative and Senator from Georgia. He served as a general in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

. His second son, Peyton H. Colquitt (1831-1863), also served as a Confederate officer; the colonel was mortally wounded in the

Battle of Chickamauga The Battle of Chickamauga, fought on September 19–20, 1863, between U.S. and Confederate forces in the American Civil War, marked the end of a Union offensive, the Chickamauga Campaign, in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. ...

and died two days later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colquitt, Walter T. 1799 births 1855 deaths People from Halifax County, Virginia People from Carroll County, Georgia People from Walton County, Georgia Methodists from Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia (U.S. state) Whigs Colquitt, Walter Terry Georgia (U.S. state) state court judges Princeton University alumni Democratic Party United States senators from Georgia (U.S. state) Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Hancock County, Georgia American slave owners 19th-century American judges United States senators who owned slaves