Josiah Thomas Walls, was born into slavery December 30, 1842 near Winchester, Virginia. He was forced to join the Confederate army during the Civil War. He was captured by the Union Army in 1862 and voluntarily joined the United States Colored Troops in 1863, rising to the rank of corporal. He was discharged in Florida and settled in Alachua County, Florida, near Gainsville.
Walls was elected to the Florida House of Representatives from Alachua in December 1868 and took office in January. He won the 1870 general election to serve in the 42nd Congress but was unseated after election "irregularities".
He was elected in the 1872 election and won. He established a national education fund and aid for Seminole War veterans.
He was re-elected in 1874 but a former Confederate colonel, contested the results of the elction and Walls lost his seat.
He became a teacher at the State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students which would eventually become Florida A&M University.
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