George Walton, the son of Robert Walton and Sally or Mary (Hughes) Walton, was born near Farmville, Prince Edward County, Va. His grandfather had emigrated to America from England in 1682. He was left an orphan at an early age and grew up in the household of an uncle.
He was apprenticed to a carpenter, who, impressed with Walton's character, intelligence, and ambition, gave him a portion of his wages and released him from his apprenticeship so that he could attend a local school. He was, however, largely self-taught. He removed to Savannah, Ga. , in 1769 where he studied.
He was admitted to the bar in 1774. There he became an ardent patriot and joined with others to call a meeting of the patriot party in July 1774. He was a member of the committee on resolutions and also of the committee of correspondence. At a second meeting in August, he played an important part in condemning the British colonial measures and in allying the Georgia group with the Continental patriot party. He was also a member of the group that called and organized the Provincial Congress at the Liberty Pole in 1775. Unanimously chosen secretary of the Provincial Congress, he served on the committees of intelligence, helped to draw up the articles of association, and wrote addresses to the people and to the king. When the Council of Safety was organized he was elected its president. The Provincial Congress, on Feburary 2, 1776, elected Walton a delegate to the Continental Congress and, with the exception of 1778, when other interests prevented his attending the sessions, and 1779, when he was governor of the state, he served continuously until September 27, 1781. As a member of the important committees on Western Lands, the Treasury Board, Indian Affairs, and the Executive Committee in charge of Federal Affairs in Philadelphia, he envinced zeal, intelligence, and ability. He was a strong advocate of independence and a signer of the Declaration. In the debate on the Confederation he urged that Indian trade be made a monopoly and that its control be vested in Congress. He also advocated equal vote for the states. In January 1777, Walton and George Taylor represented the government at Easton, Pa. , and negotiated a treaty with the Six Nations. In Georgia he led the conservative Whigs who favored the union of the civil and military authority and opposed the radical Whigs led by Button Gwinnett. His ardent defense of Lachlan McIntosh, who killed Gwinnett in a duel in 1777, led him into difficulties, when, as governor of the state in 1779, he forwarded a forged letter to Congress which brought about the transfer of McIntosh from Georgia. For this conduct, the legislature in 1783 censured Walton and ordered the attorney-general to bring suit against him, yet on the preceding day it had elected him chief justice of the state. He was commissioned colonel of the 16t Regiment of Georgia Militia on January 9, 1778, and served gallantly at the siege of Savannah, where his leg was broken by a ball. He fell from his horse and was captured by the British, who considered their prize so valuable that they asked for a brigadier-general, at least, in exchange. He was finally exchanged for a captain of the navy in September 1779. When the British overran Georgia in 1779 the patriot government was torn by dissension. One faction chose John Wereat as governor but a more influential group elected Walton, who held office from November 1779 to January 1780. He was returned to Congress in 1780 and protested against the idea of peace on the principle of uti possidetis. He was one of the signers of the Observations upon the Effects of Certain Late Political Suggestions (1781) in which he favored extending liberal commercial privileges to Spain. The Loyalist assembly of 1780 disqualified Walton from holding any office in the state, but the patriot legislature immediately appointed him commissioner of Augusta and authorized him to lay out the city of Washington, Ga. In 1783 he was commissioned by the Confederation to go on to Tennessee and negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee Indians. Thereafter he served for six years as chief justice of Georgia. In 1786 he served on a commission to locate the boundary line between Georgia and South Carolina. He was appointed a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 but did not attend because of pressing judicial engagements. He attended, however, the Georgia Constitutional convention of 1788, served as a presidential elector in 1789, and was elected governor a second time in 1789. This administration was marked by the establishment of a new constitution, the location of the capital at Augusta, by frontier difficulties, and the pacification of the Creek Indians. He retired to his estate "Meadow Garden" in 1790, but was shortly elected a judge of the superior court of Georgia and served from 1790 to 1792, from 1793 to 1795, and from 1799 until his death. He was appointed in 1795 to fill out the unexpired term of James Jackson in the United States Senate. His term was uneventful but served to ally him with the Federalist Party. Walton was one of the founders and a trustee of Richmond Academy, and a member of the committee to locate Franklin College. As a trustee of the University of Georgia he formulated plans to promote higher education in the state. In 1795 he built a new home, "College Hill"; here he died, survived by his wife and one of their two sons. He was buried in the Rosney Cemetery but was removed, July 4, 1848, to the monument erected in Augusta to the Georgia signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Walton County, which is about 30 miles east of the city of Atlanta, is named for him. There are also at least two schools that bear his name: George Walton Comprehensive High School in Marietta, Georgia and George Walton Academy, a private school in Monroe, Georgia. He was a founder and trustee of the Academy of Richmond County in Augusta and of Franklin College (now the University of Georgia) in Athens.
Small of stature, comely in appearance, Walton was haughty, dignified and stern of manner; he was warm in his attachments and bitter in his enmities. His violent temper would brook not the slightest deviation from what he thought his due, but in spite of this characteristic he was respected by the people and honored by election to many public offices.
In 1775, Walton was married to Dorothy Camber, who, although she was the daughter of a loyal British subject, was noted for her wholehearted support of the patriot cause.
