Josiah T. Walls
| Josiah T. Walls | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's At-Large district |
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In office March 4, 1871 – January 29, 1873 March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875 |
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| Preceded by | Charles M. Hamilton |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 2nd district |
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In office March 4, 1875 – April 19, 1876 |
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| Succeeded by | Jesse J. Finley |
| Member of the Florida Senate | |
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In office 1869–1870 1877–1879 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Josiah Thomas Walls December 30, 1842 Winchester, Virginia |
| Died | May 15, 1905 (aged 62) Tallahassee, Florida |
| Political party | Republican |
Josiah Thomas Walls (December 30, 1842 – May 15, 1905) was a United States Congressman who served three separate terms in Congress between 1871 and 1876. He was one of the first African Americans in the United States Congress elected during the Reconstruction Era, and the first black to be elected to Congress from Florida. He also served four terms in the Florida Senate.
Josiah Walls was born into slavery in 1842 near Winchester, Virginia. During the American Civil War, he was forced to join the Confederate Army and work in support. He was captured by the Union Army in 1862 at Yorktown. He voluntarily joined the United States Colored Troops in 1863 and rose to the rank of corporal. He was discharged in Florida and settled in Alachua County, Florida.
Walls was elected to the Florida Senate from the 13th district in the sessions of 1869, 1870, 1877 and 1879.
Walls was elected as a Republican and as the sole representative from Florida to the 42nd United States Congress in 1871, but the vote was contested by Democrat Silas L. Niblack. The U.S. Committee on Elections eventually unseated Walls. Walls ran and was elected again in 1873. In office, Walls introduced bills to establish a national education fund and aid pensioners and Seminole War Veterans.
After serving one term in the house, Walls ran for re-election in 1874. He won the election but Jesse Finley, Democrat and former Confederate Colonel, contested the results in a year marked by violence and fraud. He was eventually declared the winner by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. This unseating marked the end of Walls' political career.
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