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My name is Thomas Hart Benton. I was born in Hillsboro, North Carolina on March 14, 1782. My father died when I was very young and my mother moved my family to Tennessee. The lands were a few miles south of Nashville and had been purchased by my father before he died. My brother, mother, and I, along with our slaves, farmed this land which became known as Widow Benton's Settlement. When I was in my late teens, I studied law and became a lawyer. I became friends with Andrew Jackson, a future president of the United States. I served in the Tennessee government. I had a disagreement with Jackson because he was a second for the opponent of my brother in a duel. At the time of the duel, I was in Washington, D.C. on business for Mr. Jackson. I thought Mr. Jackson was wrong for doing this and so I left Nashville with only a few hundred dollars in my pocket. I headed west and I arrived in St. Louis in 1815. The people of St. Louis spoke mostly French, so I learned to speak the language. Later on in my life, I also learned how to speak Spanish, Latin, and Greek. I seemed to have a talent for learning other languages. General William Clark, who headed the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804, introduced me into St. Louis society. I became a lawyer and part owner of the St. Louis Enquirer. I lived at Second and Washington on a lot full of magnificent forest trees. I had a large practice, but politics became much more interesting to me. In 1820, when I was thirty-eight, I was elected to become one of two Senators of the new state of Missouri. Missouri was considered a Southern state and slavery was allowed. One year later, I married Elizabeth McDowell. We had several children. I became friends with Andrew Jackson again because we shared similar political views and were supporters of the Union, not the Confederacy. I fought a duel on Bloody Island not once, but twice against Charles Lucas, the son of J.B.C. Lucas. Lucas owned much of the land in St. Louis. I killed him. Now, in my later years, I am sorry for it and am thankful it is illegal to duel. |
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My nickname, Old Bullion, was given to me because I supported a sound currency based on gold and silver. This is another idea Jackson and I shared. I favored westward expansion and the Pacific Railroad. The railroad would link St. Louis to California on the west and New York and Washington, D.C. on the east. After thirty years as a Senator, I lost reelection because I no longer believed slavery was acceptable. It is wrong for one person to own another. I was a large, muscular man of six feet in my prime. My memory was better than that of most people I knew. In public life I was self-assertive and aggressive. I believed in what I said and would not back down. I had a terrible temper and would only support ideas and actions in which I truly believed. At home, I was gentle and loving. I loved my wife and my children. My wife became an invalid and I was always there to help her and talk with her. When she died, my daughter and I lived in Washington, D.C. where I wrote books and political papers. When I died on April 9, 1858, in Washington, my body was returned to St. Louis. The people of St. Louis gave me a very impressive funeral and a grand parade. I was buried in Bellefountaine Cemetery with a small granite memorial. I did not worry much about money, so when I died, I left little of an inheritance. In 1902, the state of Missouri erected an impressive red granite memorial about my grave. The people of Missouri gave me the great honor of being one of two Missourians to have our bust statues placed in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capital Building in Washington, D.C.. Thank you, St. Louis and the State of Missouri. My heart belongs to you. |
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