Josiah Thomas Walls (December 30, 1842 – May 15, 1905) was a

United States congressman The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

who served three terms in the U.S. Congress between 1871 and 1876. He was one of the first

African Americans in the United States Congress From the first United States Congress in 1789 through the 116th Congress in 2020, 162 African Americans served in Congress. Meanwhile, the total number of all individuals who have served in Congress over that period is 12,348. Between 1789 and 20 ...

elected during the

Reconstruction Era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

, and the first black person to be elected to Congress from Florida. He also served four terms in the

Florida Senate The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

Early life and education

Josiah Walls was born into slavery in 1842 near

Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the most north western independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester wit ...

to unknown parents. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, he was forced to work without pay as a slave for the

Confederate army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. He was captured by the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

in 1862 at Yorktown. He voluntarily joined the

United States Colored Troops The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited during ...

in 1863 and rose to the rank of

Sergeant major Sergeant major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. History In 16th century Spain, the ("sergeant major") was a general officer. He commanded an army's infantry, and ranked about third in the ...

. He was discharged in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and settled in

Alachua County, Florida Alachua County ( ) is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida since 1906, when the campus ope ...

. Thanks to some early education and self-tutoring during the war, Walls was able to work as a teacher in nearby

Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...

Political career

State government

Walls served as a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1868, representing Alachua County. Later that year, he was elected to the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

from Alachua, along with his friend, Henry Harmon, serving in Florida's first Reconstruction Legislature. When State Senator Horatio Jenkins was appointed to a county judgeship, Walls decided to run in the special election to succeed him. He was elected to the Alachua and Levy County district on December 29, 1868, and took office in January. Walls served as state senator for the 1869 and 1870 legislative session.People of Lawmaking in Florida

Congress

In 1870, Walls was nominated as the Republican candidate for Florida's sole at-large congressional seat after a contentious party convention. A moderate faction of mostly white

carpetbagger In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical term used by Southerners to describe opportunistic Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War, who were perceived to be exploiting the lo ...

s, led by U.S. Senator Thomas W. Osborn, supported the

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

Robert Meacham, while the majority of black delegates were split between several more radical black candidates, including Walls. Walls won the nomination on the 11th ballot, after the other black candidates withdrew to prevent Meacham from winning. Walls went on to win the 1870 general election and serve in the 42nd Congress, but the vote was contested by Democrat Silas L. Niblack. The House Committee on Elections eventually unseated Walls after finding election irregularities. Walls ran for the at-large congressional seat again in the 1872 election and won. In office, Walls introduced bills to establish a national education fund and aid pensioners and

Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were three related military conflicts in Florida between the United States and the Seminole, citizens of a Native American nation which formed in the region during the early 1700s. Hostilities ...

Veterans. In 1874, Walls ran for re-election to Congress in the newly redistricted 2nd district. Walls won the election but Democrat

Jesse J. Finley Jesse Johnson Finley (November 18, 1812 – November 6, 1904) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida, following the reco ...

, a former Confederate colonel, contested the results of the election. Finley was eventually declared the winner by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

Return to state politics

Walls again sought the Republican nomination for the 2nd congressional district in 1876. After the black delegates split between Walls and another black candidate, the nomination went to a “white carpetbagger”, Horatio Bisbee. Walls instead ran for his old state senate seat, and served a four-year term. He lost re-election in 1880.

Legal career

Walls was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in Alachua County in April 1873. He served as

mayor of Gainesville The Mayor of Gainesville is, for ceremonially purposes, receipt of service of legal processes and the purposes of military law, official head of the city of Gainesville, Florida and otherwise a member of, and chair of, the city commission, requi ...

although the exact dates are unknown; he resigned on 1 September 1873 and was succeeded by a white Republican, Watson Porter. In June 1874, Walls formed a law partnership in Gainesville with Henry S. Harmon, who had been the first African-American admitted to the bar in Florida, and William U. Saunders. The next year Harmon and Saunders moved their legal practice to

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...

Later life

Leaving politics, Walls operated a successful farm in Alachua County until the disastrous freeze of 1894–95, which destroyed his crops. He took a teaching position as Farm Director of the State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students, which much later would become

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the U ...

, in Tallahassee. After nearly a decade there, he died on May 5, 1905.