Walter Hampden Overton (1788 – December 24, 1845) was a military officer, slaveholder and U.S. Representative representing Louisiana's 3rd congressional district.[1]
Walter Hampden Overton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1788 Louisa Court House, Virginia |
| Died | December 24, 1845 (aged 56–57) Alexandria, Louisiana |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1808-1815 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Battles / wars | War of 1812 |
| Other work | politician |
Personal life
editHe was born near Louisa Court House, Virginia in 1788. His father Thomas Overton moved the family to North Carolina when Walter was an infant, and then moved to Tennessee in 1801. Overton attended the common schools.
He joined the U.S. Army in 1808, and served in the War of 1812. Maj Walter H. Overton AUS was CO of Ft St. Phillips commanding over 135 men during the Dec 1814- Jan 1815 battles below New Orleans. His fort kept five Royal Naval ships from passing this fort 9-18 January 1815.
He rose through the ranks to major in the Third Rifles on February 21, 1814.
For his service below New Orleans - Major Overton was brevetted a lieutenant colonel on December 23, 1814, for actions at the Battle of New Orleans and transferred to the Artillery Corps in May 1815 before resigning his commission on October 31, 1815. Later, he was commissioned a major general of militia by the Louisiana Legislature.
Overton settled near Alexandria, Louisiana in Rapides Parish and served as a member of courthouse building commission in 1820 and 1821, a member of the Commission on Navigation of Bayou Rapides in 1824.
Political career
editOverton was elected as a Jacksonian Democrat — his father had served as Andrew Jackson's second in his duel with Charles Dickinson — to the Twenty-first Congress (March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1831). He succeeded three-term Whig William Leigh Brent, whose son James Fenwick Brent (1814-1847) married his daughter Laura Harriet Overton (1822-1844).[2] General Overton served one term and was not a candidate for renomination in 1830.
He returned to his plantation near Alexandria, Louisiana where he died on December 24, 1845.
Death and legacy
editHe was buried in McNutt Hill Cemetery in Rapides Parish. Thomas Overton Moore, Governor of Louisiana from 1860 to 1864, was his nephew; and the politician John Holmes Overton was his grandson. The politician Overton Brooks was his great-grandson.
References
edit- ^ Weil, Julie Zauzmer (January 10, 2022). "More than 1,800 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation". Washington Post. Retrieved May 5, 2024. Database at "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, January 13, 2022, retrieved April 29, 2024
- ^ David M. French, The Brent Family; the Carroll Families of Colonial Maryland (Alexandria, Virginia typescript copyright 1981) p. 87