Bennet C. Riley

Bennet C. Riley (November 27, 1787–June 6, 1853) was the seventh and last military governor of California, United States. Riley ordered the election of representatives to a state constitutional convention, and handed over all civil authority to a Governor and elected delegates at the end of 1849; the following year, California joined the U.S. as a state.<ref>Unlike most western states, California was never a U.S. Territory</ref> He participated in the War of 1812 on Lake Ontario. He also served in the United States Army during the Seminole War in Florida, and Mexican–American War.

• He died in Buffalo, New York in 1853. Because of ill health he returned to his home in Black Rock, near Buffalo, New York, and died of cancer. General Riley died on Thursday evening, June 10, 1853, and was survived by his wife Arabella and four of his children. He is buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo. [1]

Early life and family

Bennet Riley was born to an Irish-Catholic couple, Bennet Riley and Susanna Ann Drury<ref>Spencer Tucker, in St. Mary's, Maryland, 1787. His father apprenticed him to a cobbler; later, he served as a foreman in a shoe factory. After his father's death in 1811, he signed up for service on a privateer. [Jefferson Davis, Papers, LSU Press, 1975, p. 602.]

Riley married Arabella Israel, of Philadelphia, on 9 November 1834, at the Jefferson Barracks, Lemay, Missouri.<ref>Newspapers and Periodicals. American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Ancestry.com. U.S., Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast, 1704-1930 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014, 29 Nov 1834. Accessed 31 October 201.Template:Subscription</ref> They had eight children: William Davenport Riley and Samuel Israel Riley, twins, died in Fort King, Florida, on 15 and 17 November 1841; Bennet Israel Riley, born 1835 in Massachusetts, served in the Navy and died aboard the war-sloop Template:USS, which disappeared with all hands in September, 1854;<ref>Navy Casualty Reports, 1776–1941, Lost and Wrecked Ships, Explosions and Steam Casualties, p. 5, Fold3 12-003. Accessed 3 November 2015. Template:Subscription See also Correspondence of Franklin Pierce with the Senate, To the Senate (re sloop-of-war Albany), 26 February 1855, Congressional Edition, Volume 745, Mary, born 1836; Arabella I. Riley, 1837–1916) (never married); George, born 1838; and Edward Bishop Dudley Riley (1839–1918), whose military career was split between the Union and Confederate armies.<ref group=Note>Edward Riley, born in 1839 in Indian Territory, Oklahoma, graduated from West Point in 1860. There is some conflict with the sources over his subsequent service. Sources about his father report that he served with the 4th Infantry in California; upon the outbreak of war in 1861, he resigned his commission on 13 June 1861, and left with Lewis Armistead for Texas, and then to Virginia. He served as a staff officer, under Braxton Bragg and Albert Sidney Johnston and several others, as part of the Confederate staff. Davis, p. 601. According to Army records, he served as a corporal in the 2nd Infantry, and deserted in June 1861 in Troy, New York. New York State Archives, Cultural Education Center, Albany, New York; He is listed in the "Officers of the 4th Infantry Present and Absent in September 1861", Army Register of Enlistments, p. 539, accessed 3 November 2015, and in US Army Historical Register - Volume 2 › Part III - Officers Who Left the US Army After 1860 and Joined the Confederate Service › Page 4. Accessed 3 November 2015.

Ulysses S. Grant described Bennet Riley as "the finest specimen of physical manhood I had ever looked upon...6'2 in his stocking feet, straight as the undrawn [sic] bowstring, broad shouldered with every limb in perfect proportion, with an eagle and a step as light as a forest tiger."<ref>Susannah Ural Bruce, The Harp and the Eagle: Irish-American Volunteers and the Union Army, 1861–1865, NYU Press, 2006, 9780814799390 pp. 36–37.</ref> An accident or injury in his youth caused him to lose part of his palette, and he spoke with a hoarse voice.

Military career

Riley volunteered for service in the War of 1812,<ref>Durwood Ball, Army Regulars on the Western Frontier, 1848–1861., University of Oklahoma Press, 2001, 9780806133126 p. 8..</ref> and on 19 January 1813, he was appointed Ensign of Rifles. In March of the same year, he became a third lieutenant and in April 1814 a second lieutenant in the First Rifles. He saw action at Sackets Harbor, New York, in second of two battles for control of the shipyards on Lake Ontario. He gained a promotion to first lieutenant in March 1817. Riley was further advanced to captain in the 5th U.S. Infantry, and by 1821 he was transferred to the 6th U.S. Infantry.<ref name=Davis /><ref name=Obit />

The officer joined his superior, Colonel Henry Leavenworth, in an engagement against the Arikara Indians in August 1823. Riley was honored for ten years of faithful service by being promoted to brevet major on 6 August 1828, leading the first military escort along the Santa Fe Trail in 1829.<ref name=Davis/><ref>Otis E. Young, Philip St. George Cooke, The First Military Escort on the Santa Fe Trail, 1829: From the Journal and Reports of Major Bennet Riley and Lieutenant Philip St. George Cooke, A. H. Clark Company, 1952.</ref>

He had tenures as major in the 4th U.S. Infantry (1837) and lieutenant colonel, 2nd U.S. Infantry, beginning in December 1839.<ref name=Davis /> The Battle of Chokachotta in Florida took place on 2 June 1840. Colonel Riley was cited for bravery and good conduct during this engagement in the Seminole Wars. He gained the rank of Brevet Colonel in February 1844.<ref name=Davis/><ref name=Obit/>

During the Mexican–American War, as colonel of the 2nd U.S. Infantry, Riley fought at the Siege of Veracruz and the Battle of Cerro Gordo, where he was cited for bravery.<ref name=Davis/> He was brevetted brigadier general and assumed command of the 2nd Brigade in David E. Twiggs's Second Division. He led his brigade at the Battle of Contreras and the Battle of Churubusco, where Winfield Scott gave him credit for the U.S. victory: Riley had discovered a way around the rear of Velencia's position.<ref>Philip F. Rose, Mexico Redux, iUniverse, Sep 21, 2012 9781475943313 pp. 204–205.</ref> He was appointed brevet major general and fought at the Chapultepec. After the battle at Churubusco, he also presided over the courts-martial of 72 deserters of the so-called Saint Patrick's Battalion discovered hiding in the San Patricios convent; among them were John Murphy and John Riley.<ref>Tucker, in Bielakowski.</ref> He was generally considered one of the ablest brigade commanders in the army during the war with Mexico.<ref name=Davis/><ref name=Obit/>

Role in California statehood

After the war with Mexico, Riley served a brief stint at Fort Hamilton, in Brooklyn, New York, in 1848.<ref>National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Returns from U.S. Military Posts, 1800-1916; Microfilm Serial: M617; Microfilm Roll: 442, Fort Hamilton, October 1848. Accessed 3 November 2015. Template:Subscription</ref> In the years 1849 and 1850, General Riley commanded the Military Department in Upper California and exercised the duties of Provincial Governor: the inaction of Congress in deciding the issue of California statehood complicated his service.<ref>Anthony Quinn. The Rivals: William Gwin, David Broderick, and the Birth of California. U of Nebraska Press, 1997 pp. 22–24. 9780803288515</ref> He relieved Colonel Richard B. Mason on 13 April 1849, as the Gold Rush worked into its most violent phase. In addition to the influx of prospectors seeking their fortunes, daily desertions of his own men rapidly depleted his troops. At the height of the Gold Rush, he had eight companies of infantry, two artillery, and two dragoons stretched between San Diego and San Francisco. When Congress refused to act on the statehood of California and New Mexico, he called for the election of civil officers to a de facto government. Consequently, the military authorities could not prevent the slaughter of California's native population, nor could they suppress the violence in the lawless gold camps. He relinquished all his civil power on 20 December 1849.<ref>Ball, pp. 12–15.</ref>

After his administrative service concluded on the Pacific, Riley was ordered to take command of a regiment on the Rio Grande. However ill-health prevented further service on his part. He returned to his home in Black Rock, near Buffalo, New York, where he died of cancer.<ref name=Davis /> General Riley died on Thursday evening, 10 June 1853, survived by his wife Arabella (who died on 12 February 1894) and four children.<ref name=Obit/><ref>The surviving family is listed in the 1855 State Census for Buffalo City, Ward 11, Erie, New York, USA, household 586. Census of the state of New York, for 1855. Microfilm. New York State Archives, Albany, New York. Accessed 3 November 2015. Template:Subscription</ref> Riley is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo.

Legacy

On 27 June 1853, Camp Center (Kansas Territory) was named Fort Riley in Bennet Riley's honor, even though he never served at the fort, and it was a cavalry post, while Riley's career was that of an infantryman. Riley County, Kansas is also named in his honor.<ref>Michael A. Beatty, County Name Origins of the United States, McFarland, 2001 9780786410255. #937, p. 140.</ref>

External links

• New York Times: "General Riley", June 11, 1853, obituary
• Guide to the Bennet Riley Papers at The Bancroft Library
• Short bios of all California military governors

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennet_C._Riley