The following was published in the Columbus Sunday Enquirer (Georgia) on 11 July 1875, one day after the death of Gen. Henry Lewis Benning, namesake of Fort Benning (now known as Fort Moore).
HE DIES AT 3 A.M. YESTERDAY -- JURIST, SOLDIER, GENTLEMAN -- BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.
After our paragraph of yesterday morning it was a matter of no surprise for our people to hear that Gen. Benning was dead. He breathed his last about three o'clock Saturday morning. The day before he had been on the streets, but he never rallied from the fai[n]ting fit in F. L. Brook's drug-store. He was not even conscious after 4 P.M. Friday. Drs. Colzey and Stanford were with him constantly. The cause seemed to be a sudden giving away of the entire system. Several days before he seemed to be improving rapidly. The General was a tall, powerful man, with white beard and hair, and a true Southerner, every inch of him.
Old Billie, the colored man who was in headquarter mess in Virginia, was told yesterday that Gen. B. was dead, when the old man dropped in a faint. He was a representative of the affection our entire city feels for the departed chieftain.
Gen. Benning was a native Georgian, having been born in Columbia county, adjoining Richmond (of which Augusta is the site) on April 2, 1814, so he was sixty-one years of age. While he was quite young his father removed to Harris county. Gen. B. graduated at Franklin College in 1834, in the same class with ex-Governor and Superior Court Judge, Herschell V. Johnson, and bore off the first honors. Afterwards he studied law, under Gov. Towns, in Talbotton, and was admitted to the bar in 1835. The next year he removed to Columbus, where he has resided since. In September, 1839, he married the daughter of Col. Seaborn Jones, of Columbus, one of the most beautiful and accomplished of women. She died since the war. Success followed his practice and he reaped a handsome fortune as a lawyer. In 1851 the Southern Rights Party nominated him for Congress in opposition to James Johnson now Judge of Muscogee Superior Court, who had been nominated by the Constitutional Union Party. Col. Benning, as he was then called, led his ticket but was defeated. He was elected in 1853 by the Legislature of the Associate Judges of the Georgia Supreme Court, and held that position until his term expired in 1859. In the struggle before the war he advocated the election of Breckinridge, for President, and after the victory of Lincoln advocated secession. Shortly after his State seceded in June 1861, he raised the 17th Georgia regiment. The following year he was made a Brigadier General. He would have been made one sooner had it not been for a difficulty with the War Department. Col. Benning insisted his regiment should elect their officers. He gained his point and the 17th had that privilege during the entire war. He took a principal part in all the heavy battles in the army of Northern Virginia, and never had a furlough until shot down at the Wilderness. His brigade was in Hood's Division, Longstreet's corps. At the battle of Chicamauga, he h[a]d a horse shot from under him. He cut one from a wagon and rode bare-back in the fight, at the head of the brigade. Thence across East Tennessee to Virginia. At the battle of the Wilderness he received a severe wound in the shoulder. He was mounted at the time and leading his men into action. He never had the perfect use of his arm after that time. A more gallant officer never led men into battle. He never ordered men to go forward, but to follow him. His sonbrignet [sic, sobriquet] of "Old Rock," known throughout the army, is said to have been gained this way: Gen. B. was moving his brigade rapidly into action to support Anderson at the Second Manassas. A wounded soldier on the ground cried out "Hurry up, Rock, Tige has treed." "Rock and Tige" were henceforward the army names of Generals Benning and Anderson. Gen. B. shared every privation of his men. He practiced what he preached. He advocated secession and fought for the South and her rights. On one occasion his little brigade, after the lines were broken at Petersburg, held the whole of the Federal army for awhile at bay. He was among those immortal, and who with their glorious leader, surrendered at Appomatox [sic]. Ambitious he was, but scorned to seek promotion by reason of his personal influence and high position in his State.
Since the war, General Benning has accepted the position nobly, and set a worthy example to his soldiers. He was a prominent[n]t candidate for United States Senator when Gen. Gordon was elected. When Governor Smith was elected, he offered the position of Chief Justice to the old hero and superb lawyer, but he was forced to decline it because the salary was insufficient. He lost heavily in property by the war, but no one ever heard a murmur from his lips. He died loved and honored by all.
HIS FAMILY
A few months since the General buried his only son, Capt. S. J. Benning. Three single daughters survive him. The wives of Reese Crawford, Esq., and S. Spencer, Division Superintendent of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, are his daughters. He has a brother in Harris county. M. L. Patterson, Esq., of Russell county, was his brother-in-law. Every friend (and we do not believe Gen. B. had an enemy in Columbus) will be glad to know his life was insured for $10,000.
A NOBLE MAN
was General Benning. Every action was free and open. To the poor he was kind and generous; the ricj were glad to grasp his hand. Gifted with keen comprehensive intellect, studious habits and fine reasoning powers, he ranked with the first lawyers of the land. A braver more chivalrous spirit never breathed. He had the confidence, love and esteem of every inhabitant of Columbus.
The funeral takes place this morning at 9 o'clock. Let all come out to honor the brave.
The Order for the Funeral -- Arrangement of the Line.
The funeral of General Benning will take place this morning at nine o'clock from his late residence on upper Broad street. Rev. W. C. Hunter, at the house, will read the Episcopal ceremony, when the column will be formed and marched to the cemetery. It is hoped that every Confederate soldier in the city will be in the line.
The following is the ORDER OF PROCESSION.
1 -- Military companies.
2 -- Confederate soldiers without regard to rank who are willing to honor the dead hero.
3 -- Fire Company No. 5.
4 -- Officiating clergyman.
5 -- The hearse with the remains.
6 -- The General's horse with military trappings, led by "Old Billie."
7 -- The family of the deceased.
8 -- Pall bearers in carriages.
9 -- The Judge, members of the Bar and officers of the Court.
10 -- Citizens generally.
"Old Billie".
He is a colored man who was in the Twentieth Georgia regiment, Benning's brigade, as cook during the war. Every Memorial day "Old Billie" puts on his Confederate gray coat and goes to the cemetery to put flowers on the graves of the "boys." He leads the horse in the procession.
Two days later, The Daily Times of Columbus, Georgia reported on the general's funeral:
FUNERAL OBSEQUIES.The great love, esteem and veneration in which General Benning was held by his life-long neighbors and friends, found fitting expression in the large concourse assembled to do honor to his memory on Sunday morning. For hours before that fixed for the funeral, the streets around his late residence, were blocked by those unable to find admittance within. All that public or private love could suggest to show appreciation of his worth, was done. The solemn burial service was read, the long procession formed in order, and all that was mortal of Henry L. Benning conveyed to the narrow home appointed for all the living. The military and civic authorities, and the Bar, were present in a body...
Linwood Cemetery at Columbus is the final resting place for "all that was mortal" of Henry Lewis Benning.
General Henry Lewis Benning:
Georgia's Supreme Court Justice and Confederate General
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