William Parish Chilton (August 10, 1810 – January 20, 1871) was an American politician and author who served as a Deputy from

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

to the

Provisional Congress of the Confederate States The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, fully the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America, was a unicameral congress of deputies and delegates called together from the Southern States which became the governing ...

from 1861 to 1862.

Early life

Called Will Chilton, he was born in

Columbia, Kentucky Columbia is a home rule-class city just above Russell Creek in Adair County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 4,452 at the 2010 census. Columbia is the seat of its county. History The area was settled by Daniel Trabue. The post o ...

, on August 10, 1810, the ninth child of Rev. Thomas John Chilton (a slave-owning Baptist minister) and Margaret Bledsoe, sister of

Jesse Bledsoe Jesse Bledsoe (April 6, 1776June 25, 1836) was a slave owner and Senator from Kentucky. Life and career Bledsoe was born in Culpeper County, Virginia in 1776. When he was very young, his family migrated with a Baptist congregation through Cumber ...

. He was a younger brother of

Thomas Chilton Thomas Chilton (July 30, 1798 – August 15, 1854) was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky, a prominent Baptist clergyman, and the ghost writer of David Crockett's autobiography. Born near Lancaster, Kentucky, a son of Rev. Thomas John Chilton ...

, Representative from Kentucky and ghost writer of an "autobiography" by

David Crockett Colonel David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American politician, militia officer and frontiersman. Often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier", he represented Tennessee in the United States Ho ...

. When Chilton was 14 months old his large family was among the victims of the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes. As a teenager he left home to live in Tennessee with an older sister, Jane, and her husband Charles Metcalfe. He

read law Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship un ...

with Return J. Meigs III in

Athens, Tennessee Athens is the county seat of McMinn County, Tennessee, United States and the principal city of the Athens Micropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 53,569. The city is located almost equidistantly between the major cities of Knoxville a ...

, passed the bar in 1828, and began to practice law.

Career

In 1831 Chilton moved to

Talladega, Alabama Talladega (, also ) is the county seat of Talladega County, Alabama, United States. It was incorporated in 1835. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 15,861. Talladega is approximately east of one of the state's la ...

. In 1839 he was elected as a Whig to represent his county in the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...

. Chilton campaigned vigorously for

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States, serving from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causin ...

in 1840 and

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

in 1844. In 1843 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. While practicing law in Talladega, he tutored his brother-in-law

John Tyler Morgan John Tyler Morgan (June 20, 1824 – June 11, 1907) was an American politician who was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and later was elected for six terms as the U.S. Senator (1877–1907) ...

, who passed the bar in 1845. In 1846 he established a law school in Tuskegee. On December 31, 1847, the state legislature elected Chilton an associate justice of the

Alabama Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for staggered six-year terms. The Supreme Court is hous ...

. He became Chief Justice December 2, 1852 and served until January 2, 1856. After retiring from the bench, he established a law partnership with

William Lowndes Yancey William Lowndes Yancey (August 10, 1814July 27, 1863) was an American politician in the Antebellum South. As an influential "Fire-Eater", he defended slavery and urged Southerners to secede from the Union in response to Northern antislavery ...

. In 1859 he was elected to the

state Senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

from Macon County.

American Civil War

Chilton originally opposed secession, but once Alabama decided to join the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

he became a supporter. Elected to the

, which met in Montgomery on February 4, 1861, it was Chilton's task to call the convention to order as the representative of the district where the body met. After electing

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 1849 to ...

as presiding officer, on February 9 the Provisional Congress elected

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

as president. On February 18, Davis arrived in Montgomery to take his oath of office; he was escorted into the capitol building by Chilton and

Robert Rhett Robert Barnwell Rhett (born Robert Barnwell Smith; December 21, 1800September 14, 1876) was an American politician who served as a deputy from South Carolina to the Provisional Confederate States Congress from 1861 to 1862, a member of the US H ...

. After Davis completed his speech to the Provisional Congress, in which he indicated that he would accept the presidency, Chilton made a motion that the body adjourn and then reconvene on the front steps of the capitol, making possible the well-known photos of Davis taking his oath of office. Members of the Provisional Congress were divided on the choice of a permanent capital. Chilton advocated for Montgomery so forcefully that he earned the disaffection of colleagues who advocated for

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, which was eventually chosen. Chilton won election to the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

2nd Confederate States Congress The 2nd Confederate States Congress, consisting of the Confederate States Senate and the Confederate States House of Representatives, met from May 2, 1864, to March 18, 1865, during the last year of Jefferson Davis's presidency, at the Virginia ...

. After the war he returned to Montgomery, both physically worn out from his legislative service and in constrained financial circumstances. When the Confederate Congress was not in session Chilton served as a private in Harrison's Company of Alabama Rebels, a home guard unit.

Later life and death

After the war Chilton returned to practicing and teaching law, and writing; by 1870 he had managed to recoup most of his financial losses. He was also elected Grand Master of Alabama's Masonic Grand Lodge. In late 1870 or early 1871 Chilton was injured in a fall down the stairs. He died at his home in Montgomery on January 20, 1871.

Personal life

Chilton's descendants included: *

Bart Chilton Bartholomew Hamilton Chilton (May 1, 1960 – April 27, 2019) was an American civil servant. He was Commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2007 to 2014. In April 2014, he joined DLA Piper as a Senior Policy Advis ...

(great-great-grandson), U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission member *

Thomas H. Chilton Thomas H. Chilton (August 14, 1899 – September 15, 1972) was a chemical engineer and professor. He is considered a founder of modern chemical engineering practice and lectured widely around the world. He received numerous awards, including an ...

(grandson), chemical engineer and professor *

Robert A. Lovett Robert Abercrombie Lovett (September 14, 1895May 7, 1986) was an American politician who served as the fourth United States Secretary of Defense, having been promoted to this position from Deputy Secretary of Defense. He served in the cabinet of ...

(great-grandson), U.S. Secretary of Defense

Legacy

Chilton County, Alabama Chilton County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 45,014. The county seat is Clanton. Its name is in honor of William Parish Chilton, Sr. (1810–1871), a lawye ...

(established 1868 as Baker County, renamed Chilton in 1874), is named after him.

Partial Bibliography and archives

* To the people of Alabama (1861) Montgomery, Alabama * Sunday mail : report of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads. (1862), Confederate States of America. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads. * Pardons, paroles, and clemency files, 1862–1863. by W P Chilton (archives of Alabama) * Mansion of the skies (1875) Publisher: New York, J. Ross & Co. * Columbia, a national poem (1880), Publisher: New York, The Authors' Pub. Co.; Montgomery, Ala., J. White * The sacred dust : our Confederate dead : (in memoriam), 1886

References

* Garrett's Public Men in Alabama, p. 118. * Alabama Records Volume 51, Talladega County, Alabama State Archives

External links

William Parish Chilton
at ''

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 Politics of the United States, American political figures and List of United States political families, political families, along with other informa ...

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chilton, William Parish 1810 births 1871 deaths Alabama lawyers Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from Alabama People from Columbia, Kentucky Signers of the Confederate States Constitution Signers of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama 19th-century Alabama state court judges 19th-century American lawyers