COL. JOSEPH FRANCIS BENNETT
COLONEL JOSEPH FRANCIS BENNETT, who died in the City of Mexico, July 8,
1904,
was one of the best known and highly esteemed men in the southwest. The
experiences of the pioneer, the miner, soldier and public official combined to
make his life record, and few personal histories can equal in interest,
romantic incidents and adventure that of Colonel Bennett.
He was born in Putnam county, New York, on the 11th of November, 1830, and
completed his education by graduation form Milville Academy in Orleans county,
New York. In 1849 he went with his parents to Janesville, Wisconsin, and in
1858 by way of the isthmus of Panama went to California and to British
Columbia in search of gold. He was upon the Pacific coast when in June, 1861,
in response to President Lincoln's call for five thousand troops from
California he offered his services to the government. He was at that time in
San Francisco and going up into the mountains among his old mining associates
he organized a company and largely at his own expense brought them to the
Presidio at San Francisco. These troops became Company G of the First
California Infantry and Mr. Bennett was mustered in as sergeant. In the winter
of 1861 he was sergeant-major of the regiment and in April, 1862, he was
commissioned second lieutenant of Company I, by Governor Leland Stanford of
California, and assigned by General James H. Carleton to the position of
assistant adjutant general of the California column, which moved westward to
drive back the Confederate troops which had come up the Rio Grande from Texas
under General Baylor. The headquarters of the California column were
established at Santa Fe. Upon the recommendation of General Carleton and
General West, Joseph Francis Bennett was commissioned captain and assistant
adjutant general of United States Volunteers by President Lincoln and was
assigned to duty on the staff of General West as adjutant general of the
district of Arizona. In August, 183, he made his infamous ride on the Journada
del Muerto ("journey of death"), covering one hundred and ninety miles in
thirty-seven consecutive hours, accompanied by but one man, "Cherokee Bob,"
recovering and bringing to district headquarters the remnants of the military
mail, for the state coach which carried the mail had been attacked but a few
hours ahead of them by a band of renegade Apaches, and the mail and other
articles thrown from the coach to enable the occupants to make their escape.
He participated in many of the Indian battles against the Apaches in New
Mexico, Arizona and Western Texas in 1862 and 1863. In February, 1864, under
orders from the Secretary of War, he reported for duty to General W. S.
Rosencrans, of the department of Missouri, headquarters at St. Louis, and
participated in the Price campaign and invasion of Missouri in the autumn of
that year. He was twice brevetted as major and as lieutenant colonel for
"gallant and meritorious service." Early in March, 1865, Colonel Bennett was
sent into Arkansas by General Grenville M. Dodge to offer terms of surrender
to General M. Jeff Thompson, in charge of the Confederate forces there, and
from him Colonel Bennett received the surrender and paroling of nine thousand
men. In the following summer and fall he accompanied General Dodge in a
campaign against the Indians in the northwest, at the time of the combined
uprising of nearly all tribes west of the Missouri river. Refusing a
commission as major in the regular army, he was mustered out in El Paso in
June, 1866. Colonel Bennett came of an ancestry noted for bravery and loyalty.
His grandfather, John Bennett, was a captain of the Revolutionary army
and was one of five brothers who fought through the Revolution and aided in
winning independence for the nation.
After leaving the army Colonel Bennett engaged in mining and merchandizing at
La Mesilla, New Mexico, and became owner and manager of the overland mail and
express line, running from Santa Fe to Silver City, El Paso, Tucson and other
points in Arizona. By appointment of General Grant he served as consul at
Chihuahua. He was also probate clerk of his county and later judge of the
probate, clerk of the United State district court, commissioner of the court
of claims, United States commissioner, Indian Agent of the Mescalero Apache
Indians and was elected a member of the legislative council of New Mexico in
1871-1872, and introduced and had passed in that body the first public school
law in the territory. He was one of the founders and builders of the now
beautiful town of Sliver City, the county seat of Grant county, where he lived
for several years, and he was the original discoverer and locator of the
famous Bennett silver mine in the Oregon mountains of New Mexico. He was also
at one time one of the owners of the Longfellow group of copper mines at
Clifton, Arizona, and in El Paso was one of the organizers and at one time
president of the El Paso Transfer Company, while in other ways he was closely
associated with the early development and the history of this city. The last
public office that he held was that of Vice Consul General of the City of
Mexico, and after retiring form the position he continued to make his home
there until his death. He was a man of strong, forceful intellectuality who
left the impress of his character upon every community with which he was
connected, and his capability, broad mind and public spirit made him a leader
in military, political and business circles.
Colonel Bennett was married in Las Cruces on the 14th of February, 1864, to
Miss Lola Patton, of Mesilla, and they had a family of seven children,
five sons and two daughters, all of whom are still living, namely: Harry,
John, Courtland O., Joseph F., H. F., Mrs. Alfred Main and Mrs.
Rosalind Canseco, the last named the wife of the secretary of the Mexican
Boundary Commission. The mother, Mrs. Lola Bennett, still lives in
Mexico City, making her home with her son Harry.
B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West
Texas, Vol. I (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), pp. 443-445.
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