Orphan to Patriot
George Walton began life very differently from many of our founders. He was born in Virginia sometime between September 1749 and February 1750. His father died near the time of this birth, and by the age of seven, he lost his mother as well. As a result, he was raised by his aunt and uncle in a family of thirteen children. At just fifteen years old, he apprenticed as a carpenter. However, in 1769, George left Virginia and moved to Georgia to apprentice with a lawyer. Beyond all expectations, George Walton pushed past every barrier to play a vital role in the founding of our country.
The Path to Independence
George Walton quickly became involved in the fight for independence. In the summer of 1775, he served as secretary of Georgia’s Provincial Congress. The young patriot served on many of the committees and councils that formed the early government, and on December 11, 1775, he the Georgia Council of Safety elected him president.
Just a few weeks later, under this young man’s leadership, the Council of Safety would resolve that “his excellency James Wright, Baronet … be forthwith arrested and secured.”
George Walton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
In February of 1776, Archibald Bullock, Lyman Hall, John Houston, Button Gwinnett, and George Walton are selected to represent Georgia as delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Only Hall, Gwinnett, and Walton will attend. Later that spring, George would travel to Philadelphia to vote on and sign the Declaration of Independence. Only 26 years old, he was one of the youngest men to sign the document.
George Walton will stay in Philadelphia for the next year and a half. He serves on Board of Treasury, Board on War and Ordnance, Committee on Indian Affairs, Committee of Appeals, and Marine Committee. In December of 1776, many feared the British would march on the rebel congress in Philadelphia. The Congress departed to Maryland for safety. George Walton, Robert Morris, and George Clymer stay and are appointed as the Executive Committee for the Management of Affairs in Philadelphia. George will finally return to Georgia in later 1777.
To Fight for Independence
George Walton began his military service when Georgia was still a colony. In January of 1774, he is commissioned as a Lieutenant, and then on March 20, 1775, he is commissioned as a captain. By May of 1776, the Council of Safety records refer to him as Major Walton. From January 1778, he is a colonel of the Georgia forces. On December 29, 1778, he led his troops in the First Battle of Savannah. During the battle, he was shot and then captured by the British.
Captured
Colonel Walton was a prisoner of war for ten months. The British treated his wounds. He was then, along with other prisoners from the battle, paroled to Sunbury. Colonel Walton was the highest ranking of the prisoners. The prisoners where he was allowed to live in the town with restrictions and even bring their families. George had married Dorothy Camber in her family home in Savannah September 1778 not long before the British took the city. Dorothy Walton would join her husband in Sunbury in this confinement.
In October 1779, George Walton was exchanged for a captured British officer who had been captured by the patriot forces. After his release, Colonel Walton returned to his unit and fought for American Independence. With Savannah in British hands, he sent his wife by ship to Charleston.
Dorothy Walton’s Story
A Legacy of Service
Throughout his life, George Walton not only served in the Continental Congress, but he was also twice governor of Georgia, a U. S. senator, three times chief justice of Georgia, and later as the state expanded, a circuit court judge. George Walton was a great supporter of education. He was a trustee of Franklin College, that became the University of Georgia, as well as Chairman of the Trustee of Richmond Academy. The Trustees served as the town planners for Augusta in its early years. In 1783, the trustees chartered the Academy of Richmond County. The school still has students today and is the fifth oldest public high school in the United States.
Walton lived his life in service to his state and his nation, serving in all three branches of government and the military. Most importantly, George Walton shows us that life is full of possibilities. He pushed past every boundary and rose to serve his country. He gives us a unique lens to view our founders.