Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/266

240 member of the whig party, and was elected to the legislature in 1854, 1855, and 1856. He was a delegate to the Chicago convention of 1860, and afterward commanded the state volunteers as brigadier-general. He was elected to congress from New Hampshire, serving two terms, from 4 March, 1867, till 3 March, 1871. While in congress, Mr. Benton favored all efforts to reduce the expenses of the government and to equalize taxation. Although a clear and convincing public speaker, Mr. Benton rarely addressed the house.

BENTON, James Gilchrist, soldier, b. in Lebanon, N. H., 15 Sept., 1820; d. in Springfield, Mass., 23 Aug., 1881. His father, Calvin Benton, was a wool-merchant and introduced merino sheep into New England. The son was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1842, brevetted 2d lieutenant of ordnance, served at Watervliet, N. Y., arsenal until 1848, was promoted to the full rank of second lieutenant, 3 March, 1847, and transferred to the ordnance bureau in Washington, where he assisted in preparing the "System of Artillery for the Land Service" and the "Ordnance Manual." He was made first lieutenant, 25 March, 1848, served at Harper's Ferry armory in 1849, and in the San Antonio ordnance depot, Texas, from 1849 till 1852, was assistant inspector of arsenals and armories, and commanded the Charleston, S. C., arsenal in 1853. From this time until 1857 he was on special duty in Washington, engaged principally in making experiments that led to the adoption of the Springfield rifled musket in place of the old smooth-bore. He was also a member of the ordnance boards of 1854 and 1856, then promoted to a captaincy after fourteen years' continuous service, and appointed instructor of ordnance and gunnery at West Point, where he remained until the beginning of the civil war. He also designed the first wrought-iron sea-coast gun-carriage made in this country, which was adopted by the government, and has been in use ever since. In April, 1861, Capt. Benton went to Washington as principal assistant to Gen. James W. Ripley, chief of ordnance, was promoted major of ordnance in 1863, and in the same year became a member of the ordnance board, when he was put in command of Washington arsenal, where he remained until 1866. Soon after he assumed command, when an explosion took place in the old penitentiary, which had been transformed into a storehouse for ammunition, he entered the building, and, with the assistance of a single man, succeeded, with his feet and hands, in putting out the fire in the loose tow and rope-handles of the boxes before the arrival of the fire department. In July, 1864, he performed another act of valor on the occasion of a similar explosion, when he entered a magazine, stripped off his coat, threw it over an open barrel of powder that was in dangerous proximity to the flames, and carried the whole in his arms to a place of safety. For these services he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel and colonel, 13 March, 1865. Among the improvements made by Col. Benton in the arsenal grounds was cleaning the canal, an important sanitary measure; but the stirring of the muddy deposits engendered malaria, from the effects of which he never recovered. In June, 1866, he was ordered to the command of the national armory at Springfield, Mass., where he remained until his death. The various models of the Springfield rifle, known as the models of 1866, 1868, 1873, and 1879, were made under his direction. In 1873, with Cols. Laidley and Crispin, he went under orders from the U. S. government to Europe to collect information in regard to the construction of heavy cannon and other ordnance manufactures. His report on this matter, as well as his report on "Experiments made at the National Armory for the purpose of revising and improving the System of Small Arms," was published by the government "for use in the army and distribution to the militia." He never took out a patent tor his inventions, holding that, as he had been educated by the government, it was entitled to benefit in every way by his time and talents. Among his inventions was the application of electricity to determine velocity. Discovering, after a series of carefully conducted experiments, that the Navez electro-ballistic pendulum was too delicate and complicated for general purposes, he devised an apparatus with two pendulums of simple construction, known as the Benton electroballistic pendulum. This was adopted by the government, and came largely into use in private factories for testing powder. Among his other inventions were an improvement in callipers for inspecting shells ; a cap-filling machine; the thread velocimeter for determining the velocity of projectiles; a system for loading and manoeuvring barbette guns under cover from the enemy's fire, by depressing the muzzle of the piece and using a jointed ramrod; re-enforcing-cup for cartridge-case; and spring-dynamometer. He published "A Course of Instruction in Ordnance and Gunnery" (New York, 1861; 3d ed., 1873).

BENTON, Joel, author, b. in Amenia, Dutchess CO., N. Y., 29 May, 1832. He was educated at Amenia seminary, leavnig the school in 1851, and has devoted himself for the most part to philosophic and literary pursuits. As an essayist and as a poet he has contributed largely to periodical literature. Soon after Ralph Waldo Emerson's death he made valuable contributions to the study of his works, and published "Emerson as a Poet" (New York, 1883).

BENTON, Nathaniel Soley, politician, b. in Cheshire county, N. II., 19 Feb., 1792; d. in Little Falls, N. Y., 29 June, 1869. He was educated at Fryeburg academy, Maine, having for one of his instructors Daniel Webster, who was then principal of the institution. Enlisting in the war of 1812, as a private, he passed rapidly through the grades of ensign, lieutenant, and adjutant, and on two occasions while at Plattsburg acted as judge advocate-general. At the conclusion of the war he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and in 1816 removed to Little Falls, N. Y., entering on the practice of his profession. In 1821 he became surrogate of Herkimer co., but resigned in 1828 to take a seat in the state senate. From 1831 till 1841 he was U. S. district attorney for the northern district of New York, an office from which he was removed by President Harrison. In 1842 he received the appointment from Gov. Marcy of the judgeship of Herkimer co., he being the first in the series of judges in that county. In 1845 he was elected secretary of state, in which office he continued until by the adoption of the new state constitution a change was effected. At that time the state superintendency of the public schools was an ex officio duty of the secretary of state, but generally devolved on one of his deputies. Mr. Benton gave his personal attention to the whole department, and wrought many beneficial changes. From 1848 till 1855 he was out of office, when he transferred his allegiance to the American party, and was their candidate for canal commissioner, and again for lieutenant-governor. The party succeeded in 1855 in carrying the state; as well as electing a majority of the canal board