Date of Award
1992
Type
Thesis
Major
Specialist in Education
Degree Type
Special Degree in Education in Social Science Education
Department
Teacher Education
First Advisor
Dr. Bob Henderson
Second Advisor
Dr. John Lupold
Third Advisor
Dr. Harold Whitman
Abstract
In the thirty-year period preceding the American Civil War, some southern politicians advocated disunion. Prominent among these was a young lawyer from Columbus, Georgia, Henry Lewis Benning. Ambitious and keen on rising within planter society, Benning married well and used his position to further his political aims. Early in his career, Benning would be identified with the fire-eaters who preached disunion as a means of solving the South's problems. As a delegate to the several secession conventions, Henry Benning lent his organizational skills to promoting secession. When the American Civil War commenced, Benning was among the early volunteers, rising from Colonel to Brigadier General in the Army of Northern Virginia. He participated in most of the famous campaigns in the Eastern Theater during the conflict. After the war, he returned to Columbus, Georgia, where he died in 1875.
Recommended Citation
Chuites, Michael D., "Henry Lewis Benning: Fire-eating Confederate General 1837-1865" (1992). Theses and Dissertations. 584.
https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/584
