Walter Moses Burton (August 9, 1840 – June 4, 1913) was a farmer, sheriff, and Republican politician who served four terms in the Texas State Senate. Born into slavery in North Carolina in 1840, Burton was brought to Texas about 1850. His owner, Thomas Burke Burton, a plantation owner in Fort Bend County, taught him to read and write. After emancipation, he purchased several tracts of land from his former owner. He became active in Republican politics and was elected as the sheriff and tax collector in Fort Bend County in 1869. He was the first Black elected sheriff in the United States. He was first elected to the Fourteenth Legislature in 1874 and served almost continually until 1883. After leaving office, he returned to farming, but continued to be active in the Republican party until his death in 1913. He is buried in the Morton Cemetery in Richmond, Texas.^[1] During this time in the State Senate, his districts encompassed Fort Bend, Waller, Wharton, and Austin counties.^[1]

• Jaybird-Woodpecker War
• African American officeholders from the end of the Civil War until before 1900

• Texas Legislators: Past & Present - Walter Burton
• Handbook of Texas Online - Walter Moses Burton
• Forever Free: Nineteenth Century African-American Legislators and Constitutional Convention Delegates of Texas
• Findagrave - Walter Moses Burton
• Walter Moses Burton (1829?-1913)
• The Illuminating History of Walter Burton