Brig. Gen. Henry L. Benning

[jkBluesman]

Brig. Gen. Henry Lewis Benning (b. 1814, d. 1875). Nicknamed “Old Rock” for his determination in battle, Benning was an able brigade commander but did not rise higher. Born on his parent’s plantation (though some sources say he was part Cherokee) in Columbia County, Georgia, he attended the University of Georgia from which he graduated in 1834. He practised law in Columbus well enough to rise to associate justice of the Georgia Supreme Court in 1853. Supporting the Democrats, he became Vice-President of the National Convention in Baltimore, which nominated Stephen Douglas for the Presidency in 1860. After the victory of Abraham Lincoln in the election, Benning strongly spoke out in favour of secession and voted for it in the Georgian state convention. He was one of the delegates sent to Virginia to persuade the state’s convention to join the Confederacy. When he did not get a desired post in the newly formed Confederate government, he raised the 17th Georgia Infantry Regiment and was commissioned colonel in August 1861. The regiment became part of Toomb’s Brigade and Benning led it at Malvern Hill and Second Manassas. At Antietam on September 17, 1862 Benning was assigned the task of defending the Rohrbach Bridge on the right flank. For more than three hours he and his men withstood the attacks by Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s force before being finally overpowered – the bridge being afterwards named after Burnside. Benning fought at Fredericksburg as well and was promoted to brigadier general in April 1863 (dating from January 17). Assigned to Gen. John B. Hood’s division he fought at Gettysburg on the second day and was then transferred with most of the I corps to Tennessee. At Chickamauga Benning’s brigade suffered high casualties during the attack on the Southern left when struck in the flank by a counterattack, but Benning managed to rally his men and fight on. He led his men in the futile night attack at Wauhatchie during the ensuing siege of Chattanooga and through the failed Knoxville campaign. Back in the East in 1864, Benning was wounded in the left shoulder on the second day of the Battle of the Wilderness. He returned to duty during the siege of Petersburg and surrendered at Appomattox with the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865. After the war he returned to Columbus and resumed the practise of law. He died from a stroke on the way to court on July 10, 1875. Benning was interred in the city’s Linwood Cemetery.

Ldr: 4
Tact: 4
Init: 2
Cmd: 3
Cav: 0

Teaches: Steady or Shooters, Night Owls

[Gil R.]

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