William Barnett (March 4, 1761 – April 1832) was an American slave owner, politician and soldier.

Early life

William Barnett was born in

Amherst County Amherst County is a county, located in the Piedmont region and near the center of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area, and its county seat is also named Amherst. ...

in the Virginia Colony on March 4, 1761, to Nathaniel and Susanna (née Crawford).Lampkin, p. 70 Early in his life, they moved to Columbia County, Georgia. He had a brother Joel.

American Revolutionary War

At the start of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, Barnett and his brother returned to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

to fight under Marquis de Lafayette and were participants in the surrender of Cornwallis at the

Siege of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...

Political career

Married 1785 to Mary Meriwether. Barnett returned to Elbert County, Georgia, after the war and settled on the Broad River. He was the county sheriff from some time and was elected to the

Georgia Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Legal provisions The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, with the lower house being the Georgia Ho ...

and presided as that body's president. Upon the resignation of

Howell Cobb Howell Cobb (September 7, 1815 – October 9, 1868) was an American and later Confederate political figure. A southern Democrat, Cobb was a five-term member of the United States House of Representatives and the speaker of the House from 184 ...

in 1812 to accept a captain's commission in the

United States 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, cla ...

to fight 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 ...

, Barnett was elected as

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

to the

13th United States Congress The 13th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1813 ...

and served from October 5, 1812, until March 3, 1815. After his congressional service, Barnett was appointed in 1815 as a commissioner to establish the boundaries of the

Creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

Indian reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

Later life and death

He moved to Montgomery County, Alabama and died there in April 1832. He was buried in the Gilmer-Christian-Barnett Cemetery, near Mathews Station in that county.

References

Notes

External links

Letter 1804 July 19, Knoxville, Tennessee, to Colonel William Barnett and Brigadier General Buckner Harris, Jackson County, Georgia / John Sevier, Governor of Tennessee
from the Digital Library of Georgia {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnett, William 1761 births 1832 deaths People from Amherst County, Virginia People from Columbia County, Georgia People from Elbert County, Georgia Georgia (U.S. state) state senators Continental Army soldiers People of Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Revolution People from Montgomery County, Alabama Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)