Walter Hampden OVERTON, Congress, LA (1788-1845)

OVERTON, Walter Hampden, a Representative from Louisiana; born near Louisa Court House, Va., in 1788; moved in infancy with his father to North Carolina, and thence to Tennessee in 1801; attended the common schools; entered the Army in 1808, and promoted through the ranks to major in the Third Rifles February 21, 1814; transferred to the Artillery Corps May 17, 1815; brevetted lieutenant colonel December 23, 1814, for actions at the Battle of New Orleans; resigned October 31, 1815; commissioned major general of militia by the Louisiana Legislature; settled near Alexandria, Rapides Parish, La.; member of courthouse building commission in 1820 and 1821; member of the commission on navigation of Bayou Rapides in 1824; engaged in planting; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress (March 4, 1829-March 3, 1831); was not a candidate for renomination in 1830 to the Twenty-second Congress; returned to his plantation near Alexandria, Rapides Parish, La.; died near Alexandria, December 24, 1845; interment in McNutt Hill Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present