Walter Hampden Overton (1788December 24, 1845) was a U.S. Representative representing

Louisiana's 3rd congressional district Louisiana's 3rd congressional district is a United States congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district covers the southwestern and south central portion of the state, ranging from the Texas border to the Atchafalaya River ...

Personal life

He was born near Louisa Court House, Virginia in 1788. His father Thomas Overton moved the family to

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

when Walter was an infant, and then moved to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in 1801. Overton attended the common schools. He joined the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

in 1808, and served in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. He rose through the ranks to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in the Third Rifles on February 21, 1814. Major Overton was brevetted a

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

on December 23, 1814, for actions at the

Battle of New Orleans The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the French ...

and transferred to the Artillery Corps in May 1815 before resigning his commission on October 31, 1815. Later, he was commissioned a

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

by the Louisiana Legislature. Overton settled near

Alexandria, Louisiana Alexandria is the ninth-largest city in the state of Louisiana and is the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the prin ...

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

Overton was elected as a

Jacksonian Democrat Jacksonian democracy was a 19th-century political philosophy in the United States that expanded suffrage to most white men over the age of 21, and restructured a number of federal institutions. Originating with the seventh U.S. president, An ...

— 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 William Leigh Brent— (February 20, 1784July 7, 1848) was a lawyer and plantation owner in Maryland and Louisiana, and three-term U.S. Representative representing Louisiana's 3rd congressional district. Early and family life Brent was born at ...

, whose son James Fenwick Brent (1814-1847) married his daughter Laura Harriet Overton (1822-1844).David M. French, The Brent Family; the Carroll Families of Colonial Maryland (Alexandria, Virginia typescript copyright 1981) p. 87 General Overton served one term and was not a candidate for renomination in 1830. He returned to his plantation near

where he died on December 24, 1845.

Death and legacy

He was buried in McNutt Hill Cemetery in Rapides Parish.

Thomas Overton Moore Thomas Overton Moore (April 10, 1804 – June 25, 1876) was an attorney and politician who was the 16th Governor of Louisiana from 1860 until 1864 during the American Civil War. Anticipating that Louisiana's Ordinance of Secession would be pas ...

Governor of Louisiana A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

from 1860 to 1864, was his nephew; and the politician John Holmes Overton was his grandson. The politician

Overton Brooks Thomas Overton Brooks (December 21, 1897 – September 16, 1961) was a Democratic U.S. representative from the Shreveport-based Fourth Congressional District of northwestern Louisiana, having served for a quarter century beginning on Janu ...

was his great-grandson.

References

Congressional Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overton, Walter Hampden 1788 births 1845 deaths People from Louisa, Virginia American militia generals United States Army personnel of the War of 1812 Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana 19th-century American politicians