Benning, Henry L. (Henry Lewis), 1814-1875

Henry Lewis Benning was born in Columbia County, Georgia, the son of Pleasant Moon Benning and Malinda Meriwether White, planters. In 1834 he graduated with honors from the University of Georgia, Athens. Soon afterward he moved to Columbus, where he was admitted to the bar. Barely two years after entering upon his profession, Benning was appointed solicitor general for his judicial circuit. in 1839 he married Mary Howard Jones, daughter of a prominent Columbus attorney with whom Benning formed a partnership. They had ten children. A slavery and states' rights advocate in the mold of John C. Calhoun, Benning was an avid secessionist more than a decade before the Civil War began. In 1850 he called on Georgia to leave the Union and join a southern republic whose government would be controlled by deep south politicians. Despite Benning's efforts, Georgia repudiated secession and the following year rejected his congressional bid as a southern rights Democrat. National Biography Online http://www.anb.org (Retrived April 28, 2009)

Confederate Army officer, having served as colonel with the 17th Georgia Volunteers and after as brigadier general of the 15th, 20th, and 2nd Georgia regiments (Toombs' Brigade), 1st Division, Army of Northern Virginia.