James D. Walker

James David Walker (December 13, 1830 – October 17, 1906) was an attorney and

On his admittance to the bar in 1850, Walker began practicing law in Fayetteville. He was elected as a circuit court judge in the fourth judicial district, where he served for a time.

Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Walker was commissioned as a colonel of the 4th Regiment, Arkansas State Troops. Captured at Oak Hills, Missouri in 1861, he was held as a prisoner of war for two years.

In 1865 he resumed his practice in Fayetteville, and was appointed as

The legislature elected Walker to the US Senate in 1878. He defeated Robert Ward Johnson (1814–1879), a former Congressman and Senator who had been prominent in state politics before the Civil War. He was part of the political coalition known as "The Family," which had dominated Arkansas politics before the war.^[1]

Walker served from 1879 to 1885. His personal secretary was Elias Cornelius Boudinot, a Cherokee attorney and politician from Arkansas who had lobbied for railroad construction in the West. Walker supported his bid in 1885 for appointment as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, but another man was selected.^[2] Walker declined to run for reelection in 1884 and returned to Arkansas at the end of his term.

Later years

He resumed his law practice in Fayetteville. He died there on October 17, 1906, and is buried in the city.

References

Further reading

• United States Congress. "James D. Walker (id: W000057)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.