Walton, George, c. 1749-1804

George Walton (c. 1749 – February 2, 1804), a Founding Father of the United States, signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Georgia and also served as the second Chief Executive of Georgia.

Born in Cumberland County, Virginia, Walton was a studious, self-taught young man. After completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter under his uncle, he moved to Savannah, Georgia to study law. Admitted to the bar in 1774, by the eve of the American Revolution, he was one of the most successful lawyers in Georgia. He became an advocate of the patriot cause and was elected Secretary of the Georgia Provincial Congress and became president of the Council of Safety. In 1776 he served as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, a position he held until the end of 1778. On July 2, 1776, he voted in favor of the Declaration of Independence for Georgia along with Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall.

During the American Revolutionary War, he was in the battalion of General Robert Howe. On January 9, 1778, Walton received a commission as colonel of the First Georgia Regiment of Militia. In October 1779, Walton was elected Governor of Georgia for the first time, a position he held for only two months. During the 1780s, Walton devoted himself almost exclusively to Georgia state politics. He served not only as chief justice but also as a commissioner to negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee Indians (1783), a member of the Augusta Board of Commissioners (1784 and 1785), and a commissioner to settle the border dispute between South Carolina and Georgia (1786). He was elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 but declined, as his commitments at the state level occupied his time to the exclusion of all else.

In 1789 he was a presidential elector and served at the state convention to adopt a new constitution. Walton was elected to a second term as governor in 1789 and served for one year.In November 1795, he was appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James Jackson. Walton served in that position from November 16, 1795, to February 20, 1796, until a successor, Josiah Tattnall, was officially elected. Walton died at his home, Meadow Garden, in Augusta, Georgia. Initially buried at Rosney, home of his nephew Robert Watkins, he was re-interred in 1848 beneath the Signers Monument in front of the courthouse on Greene Street in Augusta.