George Walton
Born: c. 1749 or 1750
Died: February 2, 1804
Colony/State: Georgia
Occupation / Public Role: Lawyer, legislator, military officer, delegate to the Continental Congress, governor, judge, U.S. Senator
Contribution to the Founding Era: Delegate to the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, Revolutionary War officer, governor of Georgia, chief justice of Georgia, and later a United States Senator.
George Walton was born in Virginia and was left orphaned at an early age. He was apprenticed as a carpenter, moved to Savannah, Georgia, in 1769, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1774. That path alone makes him stand out among the signers. He did not come from the polished top shelf of colonial aristocracy. He climbed into the room the hard way.
Before independence, Walton became active in Georgia’s Revolutionary movement. The U.S. House records that he served as secretary of the Provincial Congress in 1775, was a member of the committee of intelligence, sat on the council of safety, and later served in the state house of representatives. He then represented Georgia in the Second Continental Congress in 1776, 1777, and again in 1780.
Walton signed the Declaration of Independence as one of Georgia’s three signers. A National Register nomination cited by the National Park Service notes that he arrived in Philadelphia in late June 1776 and, at about twenty-six years old, was the youngest Georgian to sign the Declaration. Georgia Encyclopedia likewise places him alongside Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall as the colony’s three signers.
His public life after 1776 was extensive. The U.S. House records that Walton served in the Confederation Congress in 1781, was governor of Georgia in 1779 and again in 1789, served as chief justice of Georgia from 1783 to 1789, and later filled a vacancy as a United States Senator from Georgia in 1795–1796. He was also elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 but declined to attend.
Walton also served in the war itself. The U.S. House states that he served in the Revolutionary War, was commissioned as a colonel in the First Georgia Battalion, and was captured at Savannah. That means Georgia’s last signer on your list was not just a courtroom-and-council-chamber man; he also took the Revolution personally enough to wind up in enemy hands.
George Walton died near Augusta, Georgia, in 1804. He is not as famous today as Jefferson or Franklin, but he was one of Georgia’s most substantial founding figures: signer, soldier, governor, chief justice, senator, and public builder. That is a stout way to close out the signer list.
Related Links
- Signers of the Declaration of Independence
- Declaration of Independence
- Button Gwinnett
- Lyman Hall
- Delegates Who Did Not Sign the Declaration of Independence