Abstract:
Revolutionary War soldier, frontiersman, U.S. Congressman, and skilled orator, Felix Walker claims fame not for the foregoing positions but for the meaning he gave to a word in Webster's Dictionary. During the Missouri Compromise debate in the Sixteenth Congress, Walker felt compelled to give a speech and talk for Buncombe County. Soon afterwards \"buncombe\" came to mean speech-making to please constituents, or just plain bunk.