Joseph Walker McCorkle

Joseph Walker McCorkle (June 24, 1819 – March 18, 1884) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served one term as a California congressman from 1851 to 1853. His congressional service occurred during a significant period in American history, as California transitioned from a newly admitted state to a more established part of the Union in the decade preceding the Civil War.

McCorkle was born in Piqua, Miami County, Ohio, on June 24, 1819. He pursued higher education at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, as a member of the class of 1839, but left before completing his degree. He then turned to the study of law, reading in the traditional manner of the time, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he established a law practice and began to build a regional reputation as an attorney.

In addition to his legal work, McCorkle held a federal appointment in Dayton, serving as the city’s postmaster from 1845 to 1849. His tenure as postmaster coincided with a period of westward expansion and growing political contention over new territories, developments that would shape his later career. In 1849, drawn by the opportunities created by the California Gold Rush, he moved to San Francisco, California. The following year, in 1850, he sought judicial office as a candidate for judge of California’s Eighth Judicial District, but was unsuccessful in that bid.

McCorkle quickly became active in California politics as a member of the Democratic Party. Later in 1850, he secured the Democratic nomination for the California State Assembly, won election, and served one term from 1850 to 1852. That same year, 1850, he was also nominated by the Democrats for the United States House of Representatives from California’s 2nd Congressional District. He was elected and served one term in Congress from 1851 to 1853, representing California during its early years of statehood and participating in the legislative process on behalf of his constituents. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1852, ending his brief but notable tenure in the national legislature.

McCorkle’s political career in California also reflected the intense factionalism of the era. On June 1, 1853, he fought a duel with William M. Gwin, a fellow Democrat and one of California’s U.S. Senators, over disputes concerning the management of federal patronage in the state. The duel took place in San Mateo, California, with the two men firing rifles at each other. Both emerged physically unharmed, but a donkey grazing in a field several hundred yards away was accidentally struck and killed, an incident that became a notorious anecdote in California political lore.

After leaving Congress, McCorkle moved from San Francisco to Marysville, California, where he returned to the practice of law. In 1853, he was appointed judge of California’s 9th Judicial District, a position he held until 1857. During this period he presided over a range of civil and criminal matters in a rapidly developing region of the state. In 1855, he sought higher office as a candidate for the United States Senate but was unsuccessful. Concluding his judicial service in 1857, he returned to San Francisco and again resumed private legal practice.

In 1860, shortly after the 1859 discovery of the Comstock Lode, McCorkle moved to Virginia City, in what would become the state of Nevada, where mining booms were transforming the local economy and legal landscape. He practiced law there from 1860 until 1870, representing clients in a community dominated by mining interests, property disputes, and complex commercial litigation. Around 1870 he left Virginia City and relocated to Washington, D.C., where he continued his legal career with a specialized practice before the American-Mexican Claims Commission, handling cases arising from claims between the United States and Mexico.

In retirement, McCorkle resided in Branchville, in what is now College Park, Maryland. He lived there quietly after decades of public and professional activity in Ohio, California, Nevada, and the nation’s capital. Joseph Walker McCorkle died in Branchville on March 18, 1884. He was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in his hometown of Piqua, Ohio. A lifelong bachelor, he never married and had no children.