Tom McCabes Genealogy 2022

Cropped Image of RO Bennett

Richmond Oliver BENNETTAge: 58 years18361895

Name
Richmond Oliver BENNETT
Birth March 11, 1836 29 29
Military
First Texas, Hood's Brigade, CSA

Note: This article from Houston newspaper in 1863 shows the casualties of the Fourth and First Texas, Hoods Brigade. It lists R O Bennett, CO M, First Texas as a casualty with wounds to the head and knee.
Death of a maternal grandfatherWeaver COTTON
1836
Note: From THE PALLADIUM Advertisements, Coweta Co GA
Birth of a sisterMary Ann BENNETT
June 18, 1838 (Age 2 years)
Death of a paternal grandmotherFrances PINKSTON
after 1840 (Age 3 years)
Death of a paternal grandfatherPeter BENNETT
after 1843 (Age 6 years)
Death of a maternal grandmotherSarah Elizabeth “Sally” BENNETT
about 1851 (Age 14 years)
Note: From Findagrave for Sally Bennett Evans Cotton:
Death of a fatherMycajah Y. BENNETT
1856 (Age 19 years)
Military 1857 (Age 20 years)
Note: Richmond served as a Mounted Texas Ranger in the Indian Wars of NW Central Texas. His commander for 3 months was Lt Thomas K Carmack. Muster record and power of attorney records for the ranger RO Bennett were found in the Texas State Archives.

Event
Mounted Texas Ranger
1857 (Age 20 years)
Note: Comparison of Richmond's signature (RO Bennett) from his Trinity Co Land Patent in 1871 and the sig…

MarriageSarah Jane MOOREView this family
December 1860 (Age 24 years)
Note: Sarah's application for a Confederate Widow's Pension states she was married Dec 1860 in Trinity Co.
Birth of a daughter
#1
Martha Jane BENNETT
September 30, 1861 (Age 25 years)

Death of a motherMary COTTON
1861 (Age 24 years)
Military
Corporal in Co M, First Texas, Hood's Bigade, CSA
1862 (Age 25 years)

Note: Wounded three times:
Death of a sisterSarah Frances BENNETT
March 4, 1864 (Age 27 years)
Birth of a son
#2
Micagah Y BENNETT
March 23, 1866 (Age 30 years)

Birth of a daughter
#3
Mary Melisse Caroline BENNETT
February 14, 1868 (Age 31 years)
Death of a sisterRebecca BENNETT
December 1869 (Age 33 years)
Note: From gedmatch pedigree of Ref: 3470714:P37 for T968797 Susan Hamilton.
Birth of a daughter
#4
Anna Delilah Francis BENNETT
November 21, 1870 (Age 34 years)

Birth of a daughter
#5
Nimmie BENNETT
October 30, 1873 (Age 37 years)
Event
Houston Preemption
1875 (Age 38 years)

Note: Richmond qualified for the Houston preemption in 1875.
Birth of a son
#6
John Hamlin BENNETT
February 15, 1876 (Age 39 years)

Birth of a daughter
#7
Rosa Anna BENNETT
March 26, 1878 (Age 42 years)
Marriage of a childJames W. PRUITTMartha Jane BENNETTView this family
November 18, 1880 (Age 44 years)

Birth of a daughter
#8
Henryetta BENNETT
November 16, 1881 (Age 45 years)

Confederate Script 1882 (Age 45 years)
Note: Richmond was approved to receive a large tract of land due to the fact that he was a disabled former Confederate soldier - disabled as the result of wounds received in the Civil War. He received Confederate Script Certificate 1585 which he used to survey and get title to land in Edwards and Val Verde counties. Evidently the Val Verde application was in conflict and returned to the state; hece the second application for the land in Edwards Co. He sold the land immediately to A.E. Taylor.

Birth of a son
#9
Richmond Floyd BENNETT
February 20, 1884 (Age 47 years)

Marriage of a childWilliam Joseph MAGEEMary Melisse Caroline BENNETTView this family
February 9, 1889 (Age 52 years)
Marriage of a childWilliam Russell JONESAnna Delilah Francis BENNETTView this family
May 24, 1891 (Age 55 years)
Marriage of a childWilliam Julius MCCLAINNimmie BENNETTView this family
1891 (Age 54 years)

Event
Texas Land Office Files

Note: The Texas General Land Office has several historical records of land grants that RO Bennett receive…

Death January 15, 1895 (Age 58 years)
Note: In one application for her pension Sarah declared Richmond died in 1895. In another she said 1896. The application for his military headstone, submitted in 1932 after Sarah had died, states he died Jan 15, 1895.

Family with parents - View this family
father
mother
Marriage: August 27, 1826Wilkes GA
5 years
elder brother
3 years
elder sister
2 years
himself
2 years
younger sister
-10 years
elder brother
2 years
elder sister
Family with Sarah Jane MOORE - View this family
himself
wife
Marriage: December 1860Trinity Co, Tx
10 months
daughter
5 years
son
23 months
daughter
3 years
daughter
3 years
daughter
2 years
son
2 years
daughter
4 years
daughter
2 years
son
John A. “Henry” ROGERS + Sarah Jane MOORE - View this family
wife’s husband
wife
Marriage: March 1, 1855Nacogdoches Tx
22 months
step-son
2 years
step-son
John Rogers, Son of Sarah Jane MooreJohn ROGERS
Birth: February 23, 1858 20Texas
Death: January 12, 1918Apple Springs, Tx

Birth

1867 Voter Registration of Texas. Richmond was probably born in Fayette Co, since his father had moved there by 1834.

Military

Richmond served as a Mounted Texas Ranger in the Indian Wars of NW Central Texas. His commander for 3 months was Lt Thomas K Carmack. Muster record and power of attorney records for the ranger RO Bennett were found in the Texas State Archives.

Military

This article from Houston newspaper in 1863 shows the casualties of the Fourth and First Texas, Hoods Brigade. It lists R O Bennett, CO M, First Texas as a casualty with wounds to the head and knee.

Event

Comparison of Richmond's signature (RO Bennett) from his Trinity Co Land Patent in 1871 and the signature of RO Bennett, Mounted Texas Ranger serving in Lt Thomas Karmack's Erath County Ranger Company in 1858, clearly shows that these are the same men. Both records can be found in the Texas Archives.

In 1857 Richmond's sister Sarah Frances Hightower lived in Erath Co. Richmond must have also traveled from Trinity Co to visit or look for land in the period just before the Civil War. Texas raised several companies of Rangers in response to Indian attacks on settlements NW of Austin. Karmack's Ranger Company signed up for 3 months and evidently disbanded in Austin in 1858.

Marriage

Sarah's application for a Confederate Widow's Pension states she was married Dec 1860 in Trinity Co.

Military

Wounded three times: 1862 Battle of Antietam - in the hand 1863 Stauntan Va skirmish 1863 Gettysburg - shot in knee and head on second day of battle

Captured Twice 1863 After Battle of Gettysburg at Planks Farm Field Hospital 1864 Oct 7, 1864 after fight outside Petersburg Va

Event

Richmond qualified for the Houston preemption in 1875.

From 1845 to 1854, individuals could claim 320 acres of land from the unappropriated public domain. The amount was reduced to 160 acres in 1854 and the grant program was cancelled in 1856. Preemption grants of 160 acres were reinstituted in 1866 and continued until 1898. To qualify for a preemption grant settlers were required to live on the land for three years and make improvements. Richmond received 160 acres adjacent to his father MY Bennett's land in the Crecy area.

County: Trinity Abstract Number: 123 District/Class: Houston Preemption File Number: 000010 Original Grantee: Bennett, R O Patentee: Bennett, R O Title Date: Patent Date: 18 Jun 1875 Patent No: 601 Patent Vol: 2

Confederate Script

Richmond was approved to receive a large tract of land due to the fact that he was a disabled former Confederate soldier - disabled as the result of wounds received in the Civil War. He received Confederate Script Certificate 1585 which he used to survey and get title to land in Edwards and Val Verde counties. Evidently the Val Verde application was in conflict and returned to the state; hece the second application for the land in Edwards Co. He sold the land immediately to A.E. Taylor.

Event

The Texas General Land Office has several historical records of land grants that RO Bennett received. All of them pertain to the same RO (Richmond Oliver) Bennett of Trinity Texas, having to do with grants he was entitled to receive based on his Confederate service and on his application based on received title to fallow land in Trinity county.

File 052196 contains records for his Certificate 1585 and a survey and title transfer to land in Edwards County.

File 043775 contains a survey of land in Val verde County for RO Bennett which was also based on his 1585 Certificate. Evidently this application was voided and returned.

Death

In one application for her pension Sarah declared Richmond died in 1895. In another she said 1896. The application for his military headstone, submitted in 1932 after Sarah had died, states he died Jan 15, 1895.

Media object

This flag was the companion to the Lone Star banner below. During the spring and summer of 1862, the Army of Northern Virginia began to issue factory-made battle flags. This flag is a variant of the so-called first bunting issue, and probably was meant by army commanders to be the official flag of the 1st Texas. The soldiers, however, continued to favor their state flag, but carried both into battle. The ANV flag was lost in Miller's cornfield at the same moment as the state flag, being picked up by the same Pennsylvania private. Both flags were relegated to the War Department after the war and languished until 1905 when President Theodore Roosevelt returned them to Texas as part of a gesture of national reconciliation.

Media object

This is a Lone Star flag inscribed with the battle honors, \"Seven Pines/Gaines Farm\" in the blue canton, and \"Elthams Landing/Malvern Hill\" in the field. This very important flag was made by Lula Wigfall, daughter of the regiment's first colonel, Louis T. Wigfall, and was presented to the 1st Texas in the summer of 1861.

As the battle honors attest, the 1st Texas fought under this flag throughout the Peninsula Campaign. The Texans carried it through the Second Manassas fight in August 1862 and into Maryland during Lee's first invasion of the North. During the desperate Battle of Antietam, in Miller's cornfield on Lee's northern flank, the 1st Texas suffered 82.3 percent casualties -- the highest endured by any unit North or South during the entire war. In the course of the battle, nine brave Texas standard bearers fell carrying this flag. When the ninth was killed, the flag was lost -- picked up from among the dead bodies by a Pennsylvania private.

Shared note

PROBABLY born in Fayette Co Ga.. There is a Micajah Bennett (Richmond father's name) who was living in Fayette Co Ga in 1836. All census and voter registrations for Richmond simply say Ga. as birthplace.

Aunt Effie Austin says that there is a photograph of Richmond Bennett that hung in her mother's house until she died . The photo went to Aunt Rosie in Groveton and eventually to Panola Perkins in Seabooke (now deceased.) Panola has a son named George Willis who lives in Onalaska Tx near Groveton. She said the photo was taken before the civil war and shows Richmond as a young man with big sideburns.

Note

Richmond joined Company M of the First Texas in 1862. This unit was formed from Trinity Co, Texas and was the last unit to join with Texas' Hood's Brigade in Virginia. In 1862 Company M arrived in Virginia just in time to participate in Robert ELee's first attempt to invade the North, ending with one of the biggest battles in the Civil war - the Battle of Antietam. The First Texas unit fought in the early morning in the infamous cornfield close to the Dunker church. The unit suffereed82% casualties - one of the highest suffered by any unit of the Civil War - and lost its battle flag. Richmond was wounded in the thumb, according to official casualty lists. (Family lore is that he lost his thumb in the war.)

In the Spring of 1863 Richmond was wounded near Staunton Va in a skirmish. He was well enough to travel with Hood's brigade as part of Lee's Army of Virginia as they invaded the North a second time. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Richmond's unit fought through the area close to Devil's Den and Little Round Top to capture a Union battery. At some point Richmond was seriously wounded in the knee and head. After the battle he was left behind with other wounded soldiers at Plank's Farm where he was captured. He remained a prisoner until he was exchanged sometime in the Fall of 1863.

In October 1864 Richmond was captured once again after an intense skirmish outside Petersburg VA, in which many fellow Texans were killed. He remained a prisoner until March 17, 1865, just a few days before the end of the war, when he was released at Point Lookout MD.

Richmond traveled home on his on, as most Confederate soldiers did. When he returned in late 1865, family lore says that he surprised his family when he walked into the clearing - scaring his young boys who did not recognize him. He had been gone for 3 and a half years and family lore says that his family thought he was dead.

Note

From Find A Grave entry for Richmond Bennett:

Richmond Oliver Bennett married Sarah Jane Moore (Rogers) 25 Dec 1860 in Trinity Co, TX. He was the son of Micajah Y. & Mary (Cotton) Bennett. He fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy and was taken prisoner several times. After the war was over, he had to find his way home as best he could. According to family lore, after walking many miles and being thin, dirty and unshaven, arrived at his home and asked Sarah his wife if she has room for a tired old man to stay and rest. She replied that she is a widow and can't let him stay there but her father (Isaac Moore) lives down the road and would welcome him. Sarah thought he was dead and didn't recognize him until he called her by name and asked her if she didn't know who he was.

Family history and the Texas Historical Cemetery sign at Bennett Cemetery says that he gave the land for the Crecy, Texas, community to use for a cemetery. Many graves, including his parents, were already there. The previous name of the cemetery was Pleasant Hill.

MilitaryTexas State Archives Muster Record Index CardTexas State Archives Muster Record Index Card
Format: image/png
Image dimensions: 672 × 370 pixels
File size: 204 KB
Type: Document
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MilitaryPower of Attorney Record to Get Texas Ranger Pay
Format: application/pdf
File size: 230 KB
Type: Document
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Military
FirstTexasCasualtiesGettysburg.pdf
Format: application/pdf
File size: 179 KB
Type: Newspaper
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EventPay Record of RO Bennett (With Signature)Pay Record of RO Bennett (With Signature)
Format: image/jpeg
Image dimensions: 1,271 × 2,092 pixels
File size: 396 KB
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EventLand Patent Record From Trinity Co (With Signature)Land Patent Record From Trinity Co (With Signature)
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Image dimensions: 846 × 1,394 pixels
File size: 512 KB
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MarriageConfederate Widow's Pension in 1909Confederate Widow's Pension in 1909
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Image dimensions: 2,034 × 3,547 pixels
File size: 723 KB
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MilitaryPOW Release from Point Lookout MDPOW Release from Point Lookout MD
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Image dimensions: 742 × 317 pixels
File size: 249 KB
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EventLand Patent for Richmond Found in Texas Archives
Format: application/pdf
File size: 1,815 KB
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Confederate ScriptLetter of Approval for Land
Format: application/pdf
File size: 1,410 KB
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Confederate ScriptConfederate Script Certificate 1585 from Texas General Land Office
Format: application/pdf
File size: 626 KB
Type: Certificate
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EventFlle 052196 from Texas Land Office
Format: application/pdf
File size: 6,238 KB
Type: Manuscript
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EventFile 052208 From Texas Land Office
Format: application/pdf
File size: 6,639 KB
Type: Manuscript
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DeathListen to Effie talk about how her Grandpa Bennett died.
Format: audio/mpeg
File size: 656 KB
Type: Audio
DeathRO Bennett Headstone ApplicationRO Bennett Headstone Application
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Image dimensions: 2,016 × 3,280 pixels
File size: 287 KB
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Media objectFlag of First Texas, Hoods Brigade, Army of Northern VaFlag of First Texas, Hoods Brigade, Army of Northern Va
Format: image/jpeg
Image dimensions: 102 × 99 pixels
File size: 5 KB
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Media objectLone Star Flag carried by First Texas BrigadeLone Star Flag carried by First Texas Brigade
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Image dimensions: 107 × 110 pixels
File size: 5 KB
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Media objectPoint Lookout POW Exchange RecordPoint Lookout POW Exchange Record
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Image dimensions: 1,546 × 1,460 pixels
File size: 479 KB
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Media objectAntique Photo of Richmond Oliver BennettAntique Photo of Richmond Oliver Bennett
Format: image/jpeg
Image dimensions: 1,268 × 1,819 pixels
File size: 109 KB
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Media objectCropped Image of RO BennettCropped Image of RO Bennett
Format: image/jpeg
Image dimensions: 562 × 691 pixels
File size: 21 KB
Type: Photo
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Media objectListen to Effie talk about how her Grandpa Bennett died.
Format: audio/mpeg
File size: 656 KB
Type: Audio
Media objectLetter of Approval for Land
Format: application/pdf
File size: 1,410 KB
Type: Document
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Media objectPower of Attorney Record to Get Texas Ranger Pay
Format: application/pdf
File size: 230 KB
Type: Document
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Media objectEffie talks about her Grandma Bennet and the Bennet land.
Format: audio/mpeg
File size: 1,235 KB
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Media objectSarah Jane with daughter Rosa and grandchildren Omie and Opal KennedySarah Jane with daughter Rosa and grandchildren Omie and Opal Kennedy
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Image dimensions: 973 × 768 pixels
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Media objectPages From Richmond/Sarah Bennett Family Bible
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File size: 352 KB
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Media objectRichmond Oliver Bennett Family in 1890sRichmond Oliver Bennett Family in 1890s
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Image dimensions: 3,267 × 2,248 pixels
File size: 1,980 KB
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