History, Page 2
Walker Family Cemetery
founded 1804
Following two additional one-year terms, Walker was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by fellow Augustan John
Forsyth's resignation to accept a position with the State Department.(8) During his tenure as a U.S. senator, Freeman Walker served
on the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Judiciary Committee.(9) In 1821, he resigned from Congress, returned to his law practice,
and, two years later, again became mayor of Augusta.(10)
In 1817, the year he first became mayor, Freeman Walker acquired "400
acres, more or less . . . being the late residence of the deceased George Walker, and known as the Bellevue Tract" from Abraham and
Amaranth Louisa Walker for $2,000.(11) It was seventy-two acres of this land that he sold to the government for an arsenal in 1826
for $6,000.(12) But, he retained an acre within the boundaries of the sale for a family cemetery, which already contained the graves
of several relatives. The following year, Freeman Walker died at the age of forty-seven and was interred in Walker Cemetery. Noted
poet, mayor, congressman, law professor and personal friend Richard Henry Wilde wrote his epitaph.(13) In tribute to this famous Georgian,
Walker County in the northern part of the state was named for him.(14)
Freeman and Mary Garlington Creswell Walker had nine children,
five of whom survived childhood. Sons William Henry Talbot and John David pursued military careers rather than the legal profession
so prevalent among the Walker family men. John David Walker, who enlisted in 1846, fought in the Mexican War and was wounded at Churubusco.
Later, he joined in the filibustering forces of William Walker (unrelated to the Augusta Walkers), in the latter's attempt to gain
control of Nicaragua. Early in the Civil War, John David enlisted in the Army of the Confederacy. As a major in 1862, he commanded
the First Georgia Regulars and was wounded in August of that year in the second battle of Manassas. The leg injury became gangrenous
and resulted in his death. Although he was originally buried near the battlefield, later in 1871, he was interred in Walker Cemetery.(15)
William Henry Talbot Walker , who was born in 1816, graduated from West Point in 1837; commissioned a second lieutenant, he
served under Colonel Zachary Taylor in the Seminole War during which he was wounded three times. Walker also saw action in the Mexican
War when in a two-year span, 1846-1847, he received three promotions, the last being to lieutenant colonel. Again wounded in combat,
his recovery from this injury required over a year. To honor his bravery in both conflicts, the State of Georgia presented him with
a sword.(16) When he was able to return to duty, W.H.T. Walker was at first an instructor at West Point and later assigned to the
frontier.(17)
Upon Abraham Lincoln's victory in the presidential election of 1860, Walker resigned from the army and became active
in the secession movement. When moderates obviously controlled an Augusta town meeting at the City Hall in December, Walker led the
secessionists from the building to rally on the steps.(18) The following month, Georgia seceded and the U.S. Arsenal on "the Hill"
became a Union enclave. At first refusing a call to surrender, Commandant Arnold Elzey reversed his earlier decision when local militia
units began to assemble in the downtown area. He requested that he be allowed to relinquish his sword to W.H.T. Walker, a former classmate
at West Point.(19)
