Risden Tyler Bennett was a Democratic
U.S. CongressmanThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
between 1883 and 1887.
Biography
Born in
Wadesboro, North CarolinaWadesboro is a town in Anson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,780 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Anson County.-Geography:Wadesboro is located at ....
, Bennett attended common schools and then
Cumberland UniversityCumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1842, though the current campus buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896.-History:...
, where he was a member of a chapter of
St. Anthony HallSt. Anthony Hall, also known as Saint Anthony Hall and The Order of St. Anthony, is a national college literary society also known as the Fraternity of Delta Psi at colleges in the United States of America. St...
that became defunct after the Civil War. He studied law in Tennessee before enlisting in the Confederate Army in 1861. During the war, he rose to the rank of
colonelIn the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
and was wounded three times, including at the
Battle of GettysburgThe Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
in July 1863. He served in the
brigadeA brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
of Stephen D. Ramseur during the 1864
Overland CampaignThe Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, directed the actions of the Army of the...
.
Following the war, Bennett was the solicitor of
Anson County, North Carolina-See also:*National Register of Historic Places listings in Anson County, North Carolina-External links:*...
, in 1866 and 1867. He was elected to the
North Carolina House of RepresentativesThe North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the state senate....
, serving from 1872 to 1874. A delegate to the 1875 state constitutional convention, he was named to the state superior court in 1880, serving for two year until his election to Congress.
In 1882, he was elected to the
48th United States CongressThe Forty-eighth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1883 to March 4, 1885, during the last two years...
, and re-elected in 1884 to a second term. During the
49th CongressThe Forty-ninth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1885 to March 4, 1887, during the first two years...
, he chaired the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State.
After leaving Congress, Bennett practiced law in Wadesboro, North Carolina, where he died in 1913 and is buried.
External links
Retrieved on 2008-10-18