Henry Benson (2nd U.S. Artillery)

[Radar14]

On August 11, 1862, Captain Henry Benson, commander of Battery M, 2nd U.S. Artillery, died of wounds aboard the transport vessel S.R. Spaulding, off the coast of Delaware.

This is my first new post, and I've written about Benson elsewhere, but I wanted to take a few moments to reflect upon the life of a fine American who was struck down after serving his country honorably for seventeen years.

* * *

Henry Benson enlisted as a private in the 2nd U.S. Artillery in 1845, at age 20. He was mustered into the Army by William F. Barry. He went to Mexico with Captain James Duncan's Light Battery A, and was present during the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterrey, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Cerro Gordo, Chapultepec, and Mexico City. During the course of the war, he rose from private to first sergeant in charge of one of Duncan's guns.

At Chapultepec, Benson distinguished himself in the bloody fight for the Garita San Cosme. Here, he was attached to the section under command of Lieutenant Henry J. Hunt, with orders to advance up a street under fire from Mexican infantry and an entrenched artillery position which was saturating the area with canister shot. According to veteran James Reilly, Benson's gun was soon the only piece left in the fight--firing, lying down, and moving between shots to avoid the storm of iron until the position was captured.

At the close of the war, Benson was commissioned a lieutenant, and he spent the interwar years with various companies of the 2nd U.S. Artillery. He served as Assistant Commissary of Subsistence and Acting Assistant Quartermaster while stationed at Fort Moultrie, and served several tours in Florida during the Third Seminole War. He was known to have commanded a detachment of mounted riflemen and to have conducted an extensive survey of the waterways in and around Lake Okeechobee.

Just before the beginning of the American Civil War, Benson was part of the Federal force sent to garrison Fort Jefferson, Florida--arriving just in time to secure the unfinished installation against forces of the State of Florida and begin to arm the fort for war.

In May 1861, Benson was promoted to captain and succeeded his old commander, Henry J. Hunt, in command of Battery M, 2nd U.S. Likely due to operational delays, he did not leave Florida until September 1861. When he arrived in the Eastern Theater, his battery was prepared to join the Horse Artillery Brigade of the Army of the Potomac. Of the four original battery captains in that organization, Benson arguably had the most field experience, as well as the honor of being a "fine old first sergeant of Duncan's battery."

Battery M joined the Army of the Potomac on the Virginia Peninsula in 1862, waiting out the Siege of Yorktown, and then accompanying the cavalry in the pursuit toward Richmond. At Williamsburg, Benson's horse was shot out from under him; at Hanover Court House, the battery effectively silenced rebel artillery, and likely contributed to the captured guns taken in that fight. The battery appears to have been held in reserve through most of the Seven Days, but it was returned to duty at Malvern Hill: here, under his old commander once more, they again fought as mobile field artillery, as they had in Mexico.

When the Army of the Potomac began its retreat from the Peninsula in August, Battery M was engaged in a skirmish with rebel artillery on August 5. Here, Benson was struck in the leg and removed to a ship for transport north. He likely died of infection en route to Philadelphia.

* * *

Benson's death was a great loss for his battery, the regiment, and the artillery arm of the Union Army. But the heaviest cost was paid by his own family. His widowed mother and unmarried sisters had lived entirely upon his support, and shortly before the war, Benson had arranged with a local grocer in his hometown for his sisters to purchase goods on his credit. Furthermore, he had dutifully sent money home—$50 to $100 every other month—while living a spartan lifestyle in Florida and the Midwest.

In 1864, the government awarded his mother a monthly pension of $20.

 

[Stryker65]

Interesting to think that had Benson not died, he might have received command of the Horse Artillery brigade instead of officers such as James M. Robertson, Dunbar R. Ransom, or John C. Tidball.

 

[Radar14]

Interesting to think that had Benson not died, he might have received command of the Horse Artillery brigade instead of officers such as James M. Robertson, Dunbar R. Ransom, or John C. Tidball.

I often wondered about that myself. He and Robertson were enlisted men at the same time, with similar dates of rank.