ing out of the War of 1812 he joined the army, becoming the aide-de-camp to General Jackson, and continued in this position until an unfortunate difficulty occurred between himself and his brother Jesse on one side and General Jackson and General Coffee on the other. This occurred at a Xashville inn, and resulted in Jackson receiving a pistol shot wound in the arm and in Benton being thrown downstairs. However, Jackson and Benton afterward became close friends, as we shall see later. After this occurrence Benton was made a Colonel of a Tennessee regiment .and later Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirty-ninth Infantry, although he was never engaged in any actual fighting. It is an his torical fact, however, that thirty-five years later he was appointed by President Pierce commanding General in the time of the Mex ican War; but the Senate refused to confirm the appointment. While a member of the Tennessee Legis lature, Mr. Benton secured the enactment of a law giving to slaves charged with crim inal offenses the right of trial by jury. Thus early do we get a glimpse of his leaning towards freedom; thus do we see a dispo sition on his part—though a slave owner— to cemove some of the harsher features inci dent to slavery as then existing. ?Ie removed to Missouri in 1813. first set tling in Ste. Geneviève, an old French vil lage about thirty-five miles from St. Louis, and opened an office to practice law. That office, built of cypress logs, still stands as one of the ancient landmarks. This place soon proved too small for one of Benton's nature, so he shortly afterward located in St. Louis. At this time he wrote a great deal for the press, a part of the time conducting a Demo cratic journal, called the St. Louis Inquirer. He took a lively interest in politics, wrote and delivered many addresses in favor of the admission of Missouri into the Union. In 1820 a convention was held to form a new constitution, and under it a Legislature con vened in November of that year which elected Mr. Benton Senator, although the
State was not admitted until August, 1821. His first election was hotly contested, he re ceiving barely one majority. The deciding vote was cast by a man named Rails, who was quite ill, and had to be carried by four stout negroes into the room where the elec tion was held. After locating in St. Louis Mr. Benton was retained in many important land suits, and his conduct was such with reference to this class of litigation as to render him very popular with the people. The condition of land titles was generally bad, based as they were in many cases on "concessions" of land by the old French and Spanish Governments, which had to be ratified by Congress, subject to certain conditions. These conditions, through ignorance of the occupants, were in many cases omitted, and many lawyers favored a technical construction calculated to defeat these titles, while Benton favored a liberal policy, and opposed defeating titles on purely technical grounds. He favored the confirmation of every honest claim, and when elected to the Senate had hundreds of cases under his charge. He recognized, however, that further legislation by Congress would be necessary to protect claimants of land; so he called all his clients together and informed them that his duties as Senator would conflict with the relation of attorney, and he refused either to continue in charge of the cases, or to name his suc cessor. Here was an opportunity to have amassed wealth had he remained in charg-e of these cases. It may be stated in this connection that during all his official life, especially when in such close and confidential relations with President Jackson as to be able, had he been so disposed, to dictate almost any appoint ment in the President's gift, he never per mitted any person connected with him byblood or marriage to accept any moneyed appointment under the Government, nor would he favor any applicant for a Govern ment contract, though a political friend. After Mr. Benton's election to the Sen
