Balie Peyton

Balie Peyton (1803-1878) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Tennessee's 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.

He was born near Gallatin, Tennessee on November 6, 1803. He completed preparatory studies, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Gallatin in 1824.

Peyton was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-third Congress and re-elected as a Hugh Lawson White supporter to the Twenty-fourth Congress. He served from March 4, 1833 to March 3, 1837.

He moved to New Orleans in 1841, having been appointed the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, a position he held for four years. He then served as an aide-de-camp on the staff of General W.J. Worth during the U.S.-Mexican War. He was appointed as Envoy to Chile by President Zachary Taylor, from August 9, 1849 to September 14, 1853, when he resigned. He moved to California, where he was the prosecuting attorney for San Francisco from 1853 to 1859.

He returned to Gallatin in 1859 and practiced law. He was a presidential elector on the Constitutional Union ticket of John Bell and Edward Everett in 1860. In 1866, he was an unsuccessful candidate to the Fortieth Congress. He was a member of the Tennessee Senate between 1869 and 1871. He again resumed the practice of law before dying on his farm near Gallatin on August 18, 1878. He was interred on the family burying ground on his estate.

He was the brother of U.S. Representative Joseph Hopkins Peyton.

References

USRepSuccession box
state = Tennessee
district = 6
before = James K. Polk
after = William B. Campbell
years = 4 March 1833–3 March 1837succession box
title = United States Envoy to Chile
before = Seth Barton
after = David A. Starkweather
years = 16 February 1850–26 September 1853