WALTHALL, Edward Cary was born on April 4, 1831 in Richmond, Virginia, United States, United States. Son of Barrett White and Sally (Wilkinson) Walthall. His father later went bankrupt and moved the family to Holly Springs, Mississippi. in 1841, where young Walthall attended St. Thomas Hall Academy, read law, and was admitted to the Mississippi bar in 1852.
Private school.
He was an Episcopalian and a Democrat. Walthall’s marriages to Sophie Bridger in 1856 and, after her death, to Mary Lecky Jones in 1859 were both childless. After practicing law in Coffeeville, Mississippi, from 1852 until 1856, he was district attorney for the Tenth Judicial District of Mississippi from 1856 to 1860.
When the Civil War began, he volunteered for duty in the Confederate Army. He entered the Confederate Army as a first lieutenant of the 15th Mississippi Infantry and soon rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1861-1862, he served under General Felix Zillicoffer in Kentucky, distinguishing himself despite the Confederate defeat at Mill Springs in January 1862.
He helped to drive federal troops from Cumberland Gap and served under P. G. T. Beauregard at Corinth and under General James R. Chalmers at Munfordville. With the organization of the Army of Mississippi, he was promoted to brigadier general on December 13, 1862. At Chickamauga in the late summer of 1863, he held the main road against Union General George H. Thomas, and in midNovember during the Chattanooga campaign, he attempted to hold Lookout Mountain and was painfully wounded in the foot and captured at Missionary Ridge.
Walthall was later exchanged. He was promoted to major general on June 6, 1864, and after the burning of Atlanta he commanded Cantey’s Division of Polk’s Army of Mississippi. He repulsed Sherman at Kenesaw Mountain, lost two horses at the battle of Franklin, and defended the rear of the Army of Tennessee while commanding eight brigades on the retreat from Nashville in late 1864.
Walthall, along with Generals Nathan B. Forrest and John B. Gordon, has been considered one of the three most famous and ablest volunteer leaders of the South. He fought in North Carolina in 1865, was captured at the war’s end, and was paroled in May 1865. After the war, he practiced law in Coffeeville, where he was a friend of L.Q.C. Lamar and strove for good government through active participation in Democratic politics.
In 1871, he moved to Grenada, Mississippi, where he practiced law until 1885. During this time, he was general attorney for the Mississippi Central Railroad Company. In 1885, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate.
He was elected to that position the following year and he served continuously except for one year.
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.
Member United States Senate from Mississippi, 1885-January 24, 1894, 1895-1898, Chairman of Commission on military affairs.
Married Sophie Bridges, 1856. Married second, Mary Lecky Jones, 1859.
