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 fourteen 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.
George Walton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
George Walton quickly became involved in the fight for independence. He served as secretary of the Provincial Congress and then president of the Georgia Council of Safety. In 1776, he was elected to the Second Continental Congress, where he voted on and signed the Declaration of Independence. Only 26 years old, he was one of the youngest men to sign the document.
In addition to serving in the Congress and signing the Declaration, George Walton led a distinguished career. As a colonel in the Georgia Militia, he fought in the First Battle of Savannah. During the battle, he was shot and then captured by the British. Colonel Walton was a prisoner of war for ten months. After his release, he returned to his unit and fought for American Independence.
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. 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.
The Council proceeded to the election of a President by ballot, when George Walton, Esq., was found to be duly elected and took his seat accordingly. From the Revolutionary Records of the State of Georgia, Vol. I
On May 1, George Walton receives a letter from Lachlan McIntosh to deliver to Button Gwinnett. Walton would also carry a letter from Archibald Bullock to John Adams, which he would deliver to him in Philadelphia on June 29. From Walton’s own correspondence, we know he spent time in Williamsburg along the way, where he worked to recruit troops for Georgia.
In a letter to John Adams, many years later, George Walton recalls how inspired he was by Adams’ speech in the Congress on July 1, 1776.
The delegates to the Second Continental Congress sign the engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence.
After signing the Declaration of Independence, George Walton spent his Christmas in Philadelphia. With British forces closing in, the Continental Congress adjourned from Philadelphia for safety on December 12 and reconvened in Baltimore on December 20. Three delegates remained behind: George Walton, Robert Morris and George Clymer. The men were appointed as a special committee to execute the necessary business of Congress in Philadelphia.
Late in 1777, George Walton would return from Philadelphia to Savannah. Through the next months, he would restart his law practice, be made a Colonel in the Georgia Militia, purchase a house on Heathcote Ward – what is now Telfair Square – and marry Dorothy Camber.
During the Christmas season in 1778, more than 3,000 British soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell approached Savannah by sea. George Walton was a Colonel with the Georgia forces of not much more than 800 men under American Major General Robert Howe. In the battle, Col. Walton is shot in the leg then captured by the British. He is held as a prisoner of war at Sunbury for 10 months.
With Savannah under British control, George Walton arranges to send his wife Dorothy to go by sea to Charleston to stay with family, probably her older sister Mary Camber Brisbane. With Dorothy is an enslaved woman named Cloe; Cloe’s infant son Charlie; and another enslaved woman, Clarissa. The first night at sea, the ship encounters a storm, which badly damages the ship. Dorothy’s ship was then captured by the British Frigate Guadeloupe. By a later account, Dorothy Walton “bore all her troubles with the greatest fortitude.”