John L. Pennington

John L. Pennington (* around 1821 in New Berne, Wake County, North Carolina; † July 11, 1900 in Anniston, Alabama ) was an American politician and from 1874 to 1878 the fifth Governor of the Dakota Territory.

Early years

The exact date of birth of Pennington is unknown. Two sources give 1821 as year of birth, while the North Dakota Historical Society starting from the year 1829. Sure is the birthplace of New Berne in North Carolina. There Pennington attended the local schools. There is no evidence for further education. For most of his life he worked as a newspaper editor in the print media. In Raleigh, North Carolina, he completed an apprenticeship with the newspaper " Raleigh Star." In the years 1856 and 1857, he founded his own newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina and in Raleigh. During the American Civil War, he remained in the South, but supported the North. after the Civil War Pennington came as a so-called Carpetbagger to Alabama. as a member of the Republican Party, he was until 1873 a member of the house of Representatives from Alabama. on January 1, 1874 Pennington was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as the new governor of the Dakota territory.

Territorial Governor

John Pennington exercised his new office until the year 1878. In this period the country was ravaged by a plague of locusts. But the governor refused financial support to the affected farmers by the state because he underestimated the impact of the plague. The other central theme of his term of office were gold discoveries in the Black Hills. This area was actually promised the Sioux Indians and white settlers was legally prohibited from entering the region. Nevertheless, many fortune seekers flocked to the area sacred to the Indians. They were supported by a military expedition led by George A. Custer, the military penetrated in 1874 in the Black Hills and the land for the gold rush opened illegally. In the meantime, called for the new settlers even the elimination of their territory and the creation of a new state under the name of " Lincoln ." This plan they could not prevail, however. Pennington was not particularly popular as a governor and as negative reports about him the President Rutherford B. Hayes reached, Pennington was replaced in 1878.

Further CV

After his release, Pennington was appointed by his successor, William Alanson Howard finance minister of the territory. In 1885 he founded in Yankton newspaper "Weekly Telegram ." In 1883, in Sioux he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of South Dakota Falls., Where he was against the division of the territory into two states of North and South Dakota. This opinion but he could not prevail. in 1891 he left Yankton and South Dakota. he went back to the southern states, where he pursued his journalistic work again. John Pennington died in July 1900 in Alabama.