Walter T. Colquitt

Walter T. Colquitt
File:Walter Terry Colquitt.jpg
United States Senator from Georgia
In office March 4, 1843 – February 4, 1848
Preceded by	Alfred Cuthbert
Succeeded by	Herschel V. Johnson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's at-large district
In office March 4, 1839 – July 21, 1840
Preceded by	Jabez Y. Jackson
Succeeded by	Hines Holt
In office January 3, 1842 – March 3, 1843
Preceded by	Eugenius A. Nisbet
Succeeded by	John H. Lumpkin
Personal details
Born	Walter Terry Colquitt (1799-12-27)December 27, 1799 Halifax County, Virginia
Died	Macon, Georgia
Political party	Democratic

Walter Terry Colquitt (December 27, 1799 – May 7, 1855) was a lawyer, circuit-riding Methodist preacher, United States Representative and Senator from Georgia.

Life and career

Born in Monroe in Halifax County, Virginia, he moved with his parents to Mount Zion in Carroll County, Georgia. He attended the common schools and Princeton College and studied law, gaining admission to the bar in 1820 and commencing practice in Sparta, Georgia. Late in 1820, he was chosen brigadier general of the state militia, despite being only 21 years old. Colquitt moved to the village of Cowpens in Walton County and was elected judge of the Chattahoochee circuit in 1826, being re-elected three years later. He was licensed as a Methodist preacher in 1827, becoming extremely popular in Central and South Georgia, mostly for his strong support of states' rights. He was a member of the Georgia Senate in 1834 and 1837.

Colquitt was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth Congress and served from March 4, 1839, to July 21, 1840, when he resigned. He was elected as a Van Buren Democrat to the Twenty-seventh Congress to fill in part vacancies caused by the resignations of Julius C. Alford, William Crosby Dawson, and Eugenius A. Nisbet. Following the death of his first wife, Colquitt married Mrs. Alphea B. (Todd) Fauntleroy in 1841, then when tragedy struck again, he married Harriet W. Ross the following year. He was then elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate and 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 and the Committee on Patents and Patent Office. He supported the Polk administration in the controversy relative to the Oregon Territory, and was a prominent opponent of the Wilmot Proviso throughout the Mexican-American War.

Colquitt retired from national politics in 1848 and resumed his law practice and preaching. He was a member of the Nashville Convention in 1850, arguing for secession if slavery was restricted in any of the new territories then being added to the country. Colquitt died on a trip from Columbus to Macon, Georgia, in 1855. He was buried in Linwood Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia.

Colquitt County, Georgia is named in memory of Walter T. Colquitt. His son, Alfred Holt Colquitt, was also a U.S. Representative and Senator from Georgia, as well as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

References

• Walter T. Colquitt at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Jabez Y. Jackson	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's at-large congressional district March 4, 1839 – July 21, 1840	Succeeded by Hines Holt
Preceded by Eugenius A. Nisbet	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's at-large congressional district January 3, 1842 – March 3, 1843	Succeeded by John H. Lumpkin
United States Senate
Preceded by Alfred Cuthbert	U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Georgia March 4, 1843 – February, 1848 Served alongside: John M. Berrien	Succeeded by Herschel V. Johnson