Walter T. Colquitt

{{More citations needed|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder |image = Walter Terry Colquitt.jpg |jr/sr = United States Senator |state = [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] |term_start = March 4, 1843 |term_end = February 4, 1848 |predecessor = [[Alfred Cuthbert]] |successor = [[Herschel Vespasian Johnson|Herschel V. Johnson]] |state1 = Georgia |district1 = [[Georgia's at-large congressional district|at-large]] |term_start1 = March 4, 1839 |term_end1 = July 21, 1840 |preceded1 = [[Jabez Y. Jackson]] |succeeded1 = [[Hines Holt]] |term_start2 = January 3, 1842 |term_end2 = March 3, 1843 |preceded2 = [[Eugenius A. Nisbet]] |succeeded2 = [[John H. Lumpkin]] |office3 = Member of the [[Georgia Senate]] |term3 = 1834<br>1837 |birth_name = Walter Terry Colquitt |birth_date = {{birth date|1799|12|27}} |birth_place = [[Halifax County, Virginia]], U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|1855|5|7|1799|12|27}} |death_place = [[Macon, Georgia]], U.S. |resting_place = Linwood Cemetery<br />[[Columbus, Georgia]], U.S. |party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] |spouse = Nancy Holt |children = [[Alfred H. Colquitt|Alfred H.]] and [[Peyton H. Colquitt|Peyton H.]] }} '''Walter Terry Colquitt''' (December 27, 1799{{spaced ndash}}May 7, 1855) was a lawyer, [[Circuit rider (religious)|circuit-riding]] [[Methodist]] preacher, slave owner, and politician.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Collins-doerrer to Combest |url=https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/collinsworth-combest.html#219.79.36 |access-date=2026-01-24 |website=politicalgraveyard.com}}</ref> Born in Virginia, he later moved with his family to Georgia, where he grew up. He graduated from [[Princeton University|Princeton College]], "read the law", and passed the bar.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mellichamp |first=Josephine |title=Senators from Georgia |date=1976 |publisher=Strode Publishers |isbn=0873970829 |location=Huntsville, AL |pages=119-21}}</ref>

Later he was elected as [[United States House of Representatives|United States Representative]], and then by the Georgia state legislature as [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from the state.

==Life and career== {{more citations needed section|date=November 2025}} Born in 1799 in Monroe, [[Halifax County, Virginia]], Colquitt moved as a child with his parents to [[Mount Zion, Georgia|Mount Zion]] in [[Carroll County, Georgia]]. He attended [[Princeton University|Princeton College]] and studied law, gaining admission to the [[bar (association)|bar]] in 1820 at the age of 21.

He began his law practice that year in [[Sparta, Georgia]]. Later that year, Colquitt was commissioned as a [[Brigadier General|brigadier general]] of the state [[militia]], also at the age of 21. Colquitt moved to the village of [[Cowpens, Georgia|Cowpens]] in [[Walton County, Georgia|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]] 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.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Carwardine|first1=Richard|title=Methodists, Politics, and the Coming of the American Civil War|journal=Church History|date=2000|volume=69|issue=3|page=584|doi=10.2307/3169398|jstor=3169398|s2cid=154489893}}</ref> He was elected as a member of the [[Georgia Senate]] 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 Party (United States)|Whig]] to the [[Twenty-sixth United States Congress|Twenty-sixth Congress]], serving from March 4, 1839, to July 21, 1840, when he resigned. He changed parties, affiliating with the Democratic Party.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gruberg|first1=Martin|title=A Biographical Encyclopedia of American Politicians Who Switched Parties: A History of the Crises That Changed Loyalties|date=2011|publisher=Edwin Mellen Press|location=Lewiston|isbn=9780773411593}}</ref> He was elected as a [[Martin Van Buren|Van Buren]] Democrat to the [[Twenty-seventh United States Congress|Twenty-seventh Congress]]. Newly available seats were open in the election, due to the resignations of [[Julius C. Alford]], [[William Crosby Dawson]], and [[Eugenius Aristides Nisbet|Eugenius A. Nisbet]].

==Marriages and family== {{unreferenced section|date=November 2025}} Colquitt married Nancy Holt after setting up his law practice. Their children included sons [[Alfred H. Colquitt|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== {{unreferenced section|date=November 2025}} In 1842 the Georgia state legislature elected Colquitt as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]]; 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 [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]] and the Committee on Patents and Patent Office. He supported the [[James K. Polk|Polk]] administration in the controversy relative to the [[Oregon Territory]], and was a prominent opponent of the [[Wilmot Proviso]] throughout the [[Mexican–American War]].

==Later years== {{unreferenced section|date=November 2025}} Colquitt retired from national politics in 1848 to resume 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 in 1855 during a trip from [[Columbus, Georgia|Columbus]] to [[Macon, Georgia]]. He was buried in Linwood Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia, where he had been residing.

==Legacy and honors==

[[Colquitt County, Georgia]] is named in memory of Walter T. Colquitt, as was the town of [[Colquitt, Georgia]].<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/c.pdf |title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins |publisher=Winship Press |author=Krakow, Kenneth K. |year=1975 |location=Macon, GA |pages=49 |isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref>

His son, [[Alfred H. Colquitt|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]] during the [[American Civil War]]. His second son, [[Peyton H. Colquitt]] (1831-1863), also served as a Confederate officer; the colonel was mortally wounded in the [[Battle of Chickamauga]] and died two days later.

==References== {{Reflist}} {{CongBio|C000648}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state = Georgia | district = AL | before= [[Jabez Y. Jackson]] | after= [[Hines Holt]] | years=March 4, 1839 – July 21, 1840 }} {{US House succession box | state = Georgia | district = AL | before= [[Eugenius A. Nisbet]] | after= [[John H. Lumpkin]] | years=January 3, 1842 – March 3, 1843 }} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box | state=Georgia | class=3 | before=[[Alfred Cuthbert]] | after= [[Herschel V. Johnson]] | alongside= [[John M. Berrien]] | years= March 4, 1843 – February, 1848 }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colquitt, Walter T.}} [[Category:1799 births]] [[Category:1855 deaths]] [[Category:People from Halifax County, Virginia]] [[Category:People from Carroll County, Georgia]] [[Category:People from Walton County, Georgia]] [[Category:Methodists from Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) Whigs]] [[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) state senators|Colquitt, Walter Terry]] [[Category:Princeton University alumni]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Whig Party United States representatives]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:People from Hancock County, Georgia]] [[Category:19th-century Georgia (U.S. state) state court judges]] [[Category:United States senators who owned slaves]] [[Category:United States representatives who owned slaves]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]] [[Category:19th-century United States senators]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly]]