WALTHALL, Edward Cary, senator, born in Richmond, Virginia, 4 April, 1831. He was educated at Holly Springs, Mississippi, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1852, and practised at Coffeeville, Mississippi In 1856 he was elected district attorney of the 10th judicial district of Mississippi, and he was re-elected in 1859, but resigned in 1861 and entered the Confederate army as a lieutenant in the 15th Mississippi infantry. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and commanded the regiment in the battle of Fishing Creek, or Mill Springs, Kentucky, 19 January, 1862. Subsequently he became colonel of the 29th Mississippi regiment, and he was promoted brigadier, 13 December, 1862, and major-general, 6 June, 1864. His service was in the western army. At the battle of Mission Ridge, after the National forces had penetrated the Confederate lines, General Walthall, under direction of General Benjamin F. Cheatham, threw his brigade across the ridge and held the advancing troops in check until darkness enabled the Confederates to make their escape. He commanded the rearguard of General John B. Hood's army after that general's disastrous defeat at Nashville, and protected them from capture by the pursuing forces of General George H. Thomas. In January, 1871, General Walthall resumed the practice of law at Grenada, Mississippi, which he continued until March, 1885. He was delegate at large to the National Democratic conventions of 1868, 1876, 1880, and 1884 He was appointed to the United States senate as a Democrat to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Lucius Q. C. Lamar, took his seat on 12 March, 1885, and was elected by the legislature in January, 1886, for the unexpired term, without opposition He was unanimously chosen in January, 1888, for the term that will end in 1895.