Walthall, Edward Cary

WALTHALL, Edward Cary, a Senator from Mississippi; born in Richmond, Va., April 4, 1831; moved to Mississippi as a child; attended St. Thomas Hall, Holly Springs, Miss.; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1852 and commenced practice in Coffeeville, Miss.; elected district attorney for the tenth judicial district of Mississippi in 1856 and reelected in 1859; during the Civil War entered the Confederate Army as a lieutenant; promoted to lieutenant colonel, colonel, brigadier general, and major general; resumed the practice of law in Coffeeville; moved to Grenada, Miss., in 1871 and continued the practice of law until 1885; appointed as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Lucius Q.C. Lamar; was subsequently elected to fill the vacancy; reelected in 1889 and served from March 9, 1885, to January 24, 1894, when he resigned due to ill health; was again elected for the term beginning March 4, 1895, and served from that date until his death in Washington, D.C., April 21, 1898; chairman, Committee on Military Affairs (Fifty-third Congress), Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Fifty-fifth Congress); funeral services were held in the Chamber of the United States Senate; interment in Holly Springs Cemetery, Holly Springs, Miss.