Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/312

 WALKER

WALKER

1850, aiul was judge of tlio circuit court, lS."")0-55, becoming a leader of the southern bar. He was chairnian of the Alabama delegation to tlu' Dem- ocratic national convention at Charleston in ISGO. and to the adjourned conventions held at Kich- mond anil Baltimore the same year, supporting the Breckinridge and Lane ticket. Wlien Ala- bama seceded, he was apjwinted by Governor Moore a special commissioner to confer with the authorities of the state of Tennessee on the ques- tion of secession and he made an effective speech before the legislature, urging the co-operation of the state with the other slave states in forming a new confederacy. In making up the first cabinet of the Confederate provisional government. Feb. 1. 18C1, President Davis made him secretary of war. He exchanged telegrams with Gen. G. T. Beauregard during the investment and capture of Fort Sumter in April, 1861, and in a speech made at Montgomery, April 12,1861, on the re- ceipt of the news of the fall of Sumter, amid the universal enthusiasm, and with little time for reflection or to weigh the significance of his words, he was reported to have said that the Confederate flag would wave over the Capitol at Washington by the first of May and eventually over Faneuil Hall, Boston, These words were not admitted to have been said by him {vide Stephens's " War Between the States," Vol. I. p. 415), but the purpose of uniting the South ngainst the North was strongly asserted. The task of equipping armies without material and with limited resources was herculean and when he re- signed, Sept. 21, 1861, his health was shattered. He immediately joined the C.S. army as briga- dier-general; served in the department of Ala- bama and West Florida, and commanded the forces at Mobile and Montgomery, He resigned liis commission in the army in March. 1863, on account of continued ill health, and was judge of a military court, 1863-65, He resumed his law partnersiiip with Judge Brickell at Huntsville in 1865, He was president of the state constitutional convention of 1875, and delegate-at-large to the Democratic national convention at St. Louis in 1>:<76, and to tiie Chicago convention of 1884. He was twice married: first, in 1834. to Miss Hop- kins of Mississippi; and secondly, in July. 1850, to Eliza, daughter of Judge William Dickson and Eliza Goddard (Wliitman) Pickett of Mont- gomery, Ala. Capt. Clift<m Walker of Gen. Tracy's stall and Lieut. Percy Walker, C.S.A., were sons by his first marriage, and his only sur- viving .son (1903) was Dr. Leroy Pof)e Walker of New York city. General Walker died in Hunts- ville, Ala.. Aug. 23. 1884.

WALKER, Lucius Marsh, soldier, was born in Tennessee in 1829; a descendant of the family of President James K, Polk. He was aj^pointed

a cadet at large to the U.S. Military academy and was graduated number 15 in the class of 1850, and promoted in the armj' brevet 2d lieu- tenant of dragoons, July 1, 1850. He served in the calvar}' school, Carlisle, Pa., 1850; was pro- moted 2d lieutenant, 2d dragoons, Aug. 8, 1851, and served in Texas, 1851-52, resigning his com- mission March 31, 1852. He was married to Miss Garth of Virginia and engaged in mercantile business in Tennessee. He was appointed colonel of the 40th Tennessee regiment and commandant of the poi-t of Memphis, Nov. 11, 1861; was com- missioned brigadier-general. March 11. 1802; en- gaged in the battle of Farmington, May 9, 1802, and attacked and drove the Federals from their works. In March, 1803, he was ordered to the Trans-Mississippi department and was assigned to a cavalry brigade. He commanded a division made up of two Arkansas calvary brigades under Col. Robert C. Newton and Col. Archibald S. Dobbin in Gen. T. H. Holmes's army, operating in the district of Arkansas, and engaged in the battle at Fort Righter, Helena, July 4, 1863, also under Price's command in the Little Rock ex- pedition, August-September, 1863, and the battle Sept. 10, 1863, at the dam on Bayou Fourche. He was killed in a duel by Gen. John S. Marmaduke (who also commanded a division of General Price's army), in Arkansas. Sept. 16. 1863.

WALKER, Reuben Lindsay, soldier, was born in Albemarle county, Va.. May 29, 1827. He was graduated from the Virginia Military' institute in 1845; and served as a civil engineer on the Ches- apeake and Ohio railroad, 1845-61. As captain of artillery in the Virginia militia he was in com- mand of the battery at Aquia creek in 1861, arriv- ing from Fredericksburg w^ith his six-Parrot-gun battery in time to shell the fugitives from the first battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. He was promoted major, and lieutenant-colonel; was in command of the artillery in Gen. A. P. Hill's di- vision, Jackson's corps in the second battle of Manassas, Aug. 29-30, 1862, and at the capture of Harper's Ferry, Sept. 14-15, 1862, he crossed the Potomac with several batteries and obtained a commanding position on the slope of Loudoun Mountain. He took part in the battles of Fred- ericksburg and Chancellorsville, being appointed colonel in the provisional Confederate army in April, 1863. He commanded the reserve artillery of Hill's 3d corps at the battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863; bore a prominent part in the Petersburg and Richmond campaigns of 1864; was promoted brigadier-general, Feb. 18, 1865, and surrendered with Lee at Ajipomatox. He died in Fluvanna county, Va., June 7, 1890.

WALKER, Robert John, cabinet officer, was I.orn in X(.rtlminl)rilaii(l. Pa., July 23, 1801; son of Jonathan Iloge and Lucy (Duncan) Walker,