Major William Martin "Buck" Walton

Walton read law in the office of James Z. George and reached Austin on February 19, 1853, by way of Arkansas and Indian Territory. An ardent secessionist, he spent the war's first year as private secretary to Governor Francis R. Lubbock, then led scouts near Helena, Arkansas, men who in his words needed "the eye of an eagle and the tread of a panther." Impoverished and barred from law after the war, he hunted and fished for a living. United States officials removed him as attorney general as "an impediment to Reconstruction." His memoirs were published in 1965.

What the plaque says

Major William Martin "Buck" Walton (January 17, 1832 - July 1, 1915) Mississippi native William M. "Buck" Walton attended the University of Virginia and studied law in Carrollton, Mississippi. In 1853 he moved to Austin, where his first law partner was A. J. Hamilton, later governor of Texas. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate Army, serving in Co. B, 21st Texas Cavalry. He was elected Texas attorney general in 1866. In the practice of law he had few peers in land litigation, and was considered one of the best criminal defense attorneys in Texas. Esteemed for his generosity, Major Walton was a well known public speaker, author and civic leader. He retired in 1907 but remained active until his death at age 83. He is buried here with his wife of 60 years, Lettie Watkins Walton, their four children and other family members. (1999)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• George Washington Carver Museum — 0.4 mi
  East Austin's museum of Black history and culture, grown from a segregated branch library moved across town in 1933, with a permanent exhibit on Juneteenth at its core.
• Texas State Cemetery — 0.6 mi
  A hill east of the Capitol that began with one general's grave in 1851 and now holds Stephen F. Austin, governors, Barbara Jordan and more than 2,000 Confederate veterans and widows.
• French Legation State Historic Site — 0.6 mi
  A raised pine house built in 1840 and 1841 for France's envoy to the Republic of Texas, who left Austin in a rage over a neighbor's pigs before it was finished.
• LBJ Presidential Library — 0.7 mi
  A ten-story travertine archive on the University of Texas campus holding 45 million pages from a presidency of civil rights laws, the War on Poverty and Vietnam.

More markers nearby

• Joseph Baker — steps away
• Texas Land Commissioner, Johann Jacob Groos — steps away
• John Crittenden Duval — steps away
• Swante Palm — steps away