{⋆★⋆} BG Benning, Henry L.

Henry Lewis “Rock” Benning

Born: April 2, 1814
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Birth Place: Columbia County, Georgia

Father: Pleasant Moon Benning 1776 – 1845
(Buried: Harris County, Georgia)​

Mother: Malinda Meriwether White 1789 - 1864

Wife: Mary Howard Jones 1817 – 1868
(Buried: Linwood Cemetery, Columbus, Georgia)​

Children:

Captain Seaborn Jones Benning 1840 – 1874​
(Buried: Linwood Cemetery, Columbus, Georgia)​
Mary Howard Benning 1841 – 1927
Benning.jpg
(Buried: Linwood Cemetery, Columbus, Georgia)​
Louisa Vivian Benning Spencer 1848 – 1919​
(Buried: Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C.)​

Augusta Benning Crawford 1848 – 1928​
(Buried: Linwood Cemetery, Columbus, Georgia)​

Anna Caroline Benning 1853 – 1935​
(Buried: Linwood Cemetery, Columbus, Georgia)​

Sallie Benning Hull 1855 – 1949​
(Buried: Linwood Cemetery, Columbus, Georgia)​

Education:

1834: Graduated from Franklin College​

Occupation:
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1834 – 1853: Attorney in Columbus, Georgia​
1851: Unsuccessful Candidate for United States Representative​
1853 – 1861: Associate Justice of Georgia State Supreme Court​

Civil War Career:

1861 – 1863: Colonel of 17th Georgia Infantry​
1862: Participated in the Second Battle of Bull Run​
1862: Participated in the Battle of Antietam, Maryland​
1863 – 1865: Brigadier General of Confederate Army Infantry​
1863: Participated in the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
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1863: Participated in the Battle of Chickamuga​
1863: Participated in the Battle of Wauhatchie, Tennessee​
1864: Wounded during the Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia​
1864 – 1865: Participated in the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia​
1865: One of the last men to surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia​

Occupation after War:

1865 – 1875: Attorney in Columbus, Georgia​

Died: July 10, 1875

Place of Death: Columbus, Georgia

Cause of Death: Apoplexy

Age at time of Death: 61 years old

Burial Place: Linwood Cemetery, Columbus, Georgia
 
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I believe it was him leading the contingent guarding the Stone Bridge (AKA Burnside's Bridge) at Antietam.

Correct. He earned his nickname with his actions at Antietam. Before that, his reputation was somewhat suspect because he spoke out pretty vociferously about the unconstitutionality of the Confederate Conscription Act and was almost dismissed from the army.

Ryan
 
His son, Captain Seaborn Jones Benning, served on his staff as Assistant Adjutant General. His son was named after Henry's father-in-law, Seaborn Jones Jr.

Henry's brother-in-law, John Abraham Jones, son of Seaborn Jones, Jr., was Colonel of the 20th Georgia in Benning's brigade, who was killed on July 2 at Gettysburg.

Henry graduated from Franklin College (now the University of Georgia) with the First Honor - the top of his class.

[http://archives.columbusstate.edu/findingaids/mc6.php; Catalogue of the Trustees, Officers, Alumni and Matriculates of the University of Georgia at Athens, Georgia from 1785 to 1906, p. 32]
 
While on the Georgia Supreme Court he held the opinion that a state supreme court is not bound by US Supreme Court decisions concerning constitutional questions but that the two courts must be held to be "coordinate and co-equal."
 
I read an article about him having 2 horses shot out from under him at Chickamauga. So he cut loose a horse from a nearby artillery battery and rode it into combat bareback. Longstreet said afterwards that Benning riding an old artillery horse and whipping it with a piece of rope was "greatly excited and the very picture of despair" after many of his men fled following a union counterattack and Benning rode up to report the calamity to Longstreet.
 
You got me curious, just what did Benning say to the Convention?
"What was the reason that induced Georgia to take the step of secession? This reason may be summed up in one single proposition. It was a conviction, a deep conviction on the part of Georgia, that a separation from the North was the only thing that could prevent the abolition of her slavery.... If things are allowed to go on as they are, it is certain that slavery is to be abolished. By the time the North shall have attained the power, the black race will be in a large majority, and then we will have black governors, black legislatures, black juries, black everything. Is it to be supposed that the white race will stand for that? It is not a supposable case.... War will break out everywhere like hidden fire from the earth, and it is probable that the white race, being superior in every respect, may push the other back.... We will be overpowered and our men will be compelled to wander like vagabonds all over the earth; and as for our women, the horrors of their state we cannot contemplate in imagination. That is the fate which abolition will bring upon the white race.... We will be completely exterminated, and the land will be left in the possession of the blacks, and then it will go back to a wilderness and become another Africa.... Suppose they elevated Charles to the presidency? Suppose they elevated Fred Douglass, your escaped slave, to the presidency? What would be your position in such an event? I say give me pestilence and famine sooner than that."
(source from wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20150713102827/http://civilwarcauses.org/benningva.htm ; originally retrieved from Wikipedia)
 
'Old Rock' Benning was one of the best Brigade commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia. He was a renowned and dependable fighter - considered a man of action, rather than oratory in battle. Prior to going into action, as Stephen Sears states in 'Gettysburg', at page 274, he would simply shout to his Georgians, ..."Give them hell, boys - give them hell!"...
 
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