John Perkins Ralls

Who was John Perkins Ralls?

John Perkins Ralls, Sr. was a physician and representative from the state of Alabama to the Congress of the Confederate States during the American Civil War, not to be confused with John Rawls the 20th-century American philosopher.

Ralls was born in Greensboro, Georgia, on New Years Day, 1822. He attended medical school and established a practice in Gadsden, Alabama. He married Agnes Mary Hamilton. They would eventually have eight children.

He represented Cherokee County, AL as a delegate to the Alabama secession convention in early 1861. He represented the state in the First Confederate Congress from 1862-64. Following the war, he was a delegate to the Alabama state constitutional convention in 1875. He was elected to the Alabama State Legislature in 1878.

Ralls was actively involved in the Methodist Church. He died in Gadsden, Alabama, on November 22, 1904, and was buried in Forrest Cemetery in Gadsden.