William Parish Chilton

William Parish Chilton
William Parish Chilton
Deputy from Alabama; to the Provisional Congress; of the Confederate States
	In office; February 4, 1861 – February 17, 1862
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	August 10, 1810; Columbia, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	January 20, 1871 (aged 60); Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
Political party	Whig
Relations	Thomas Chilton (brother)

William Parish Chilton (August 10, 1810 – January 20, 1871) was an American politician and author who served as a Deputy from Alabama to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1862.

Early life

Called Will Chilton, he was born in

read law with Return J. Meigs III in Athens, Tennessee

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

Career

In 1831 Chilton moved to

Alabama Supreme Court. 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. In 1859 he was elected to the state Senate

from Macon County.

American Civil War

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

Robert Rhett. 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 earned disaffection of colleagues who advocated for Richmond, Virginia

, which was eventually chosen.

Chilton won election to the First and 2nd Confederate States Congress. 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 (great-great-grandson), U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission member
Thomas H. Chilton (grandson), chemical engineer and professor
Robert A. Lovett (great-grandson), U.S. Secretary of Defense

Legacy

Chilton County, Alabama (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

Political offices
Preceded by New constituency	Deputy from Alabama to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States 1861–1862	Succeeded by Constituency abolished