Josiah T. Walls

Josiah Thomas Walls ( born December 30, 1842 in Winchester, Virginia; † May 15, 1905 in Tallahassee, Florida ) was an American politician. Between 1871 and 1876 he represented the state of Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Josiah Walls was born a slave in Virginia. At the beginning of the Civil War he was forced to serve in the army of the Confederacy. In 1862 he was captured by Union troops. He was later a member of an existing unit of African Americans in the army of the Union. After the war he left the military and settled in Alachua County in Florida down. There he was active in gardening.

Politically, Walls member of the Republican Party. In 1868 he was a delegate at a meeting on the revision of the Constitution of Florida. From 1869 he was a member of the Senate from Florida. In the congressional elections of 1870 he was in the then single electoral district of this state in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of Charles Memorial Hamilton on March 4, 1871. This choice was however challenged by the Democrats Silas L. Niblack. After this appeal was upheld, Walls was forced to cede to Niblack on January 29, 1873 from his position. This then ended until March 3 of that year, the current legislative period in Congress. Meanwhile, Josiah Walls was elected in the elections of 1872 in the newly created second district of Florida again in the Congress. There he graduated between 4 March 1873, the March 3, 1875 for a full term. Walls was also confirmed in 1874. Therefore, he was able to start on March 4, 1875, a further term in the U.S. House of Representatives. The outcome of this election but was challenged by Democrat Jesse Johnson Finley. After this appeal was also met, Walls was forced to resign from his position at Finley on April 19, 1876. This decision also meant the end of the political career of Walls.

After his retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives Josiah Walls managed a successful plantation in Alachua County. A strong frost in 1895 then led but by the end of this plantation. He then worked as a teacher in Tallahassee. In 1896 he became director of the agricultural faculty of Florida A & M University. Josiah Walls died on May 15, 1905 in Tallahassee.