Thomas W. Bennett (territorial governor)

Thomas Warren Bennett ( born February 16, 1831 Union County, Indiana, † February 2nd 1893 in Richmond, Indiana ) was an American politician and from 1871 to 1874 governor of the Idaho Territory. From 1875 to 1876 he was a delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early years and political rise

Thomas Bennett attended the common schools and then studied at the Indiana Asbury University, now DePauw University, Jura. After his 1855 was admitted to the bar he began in Liberty to work in his new profession. Bennett was a member of the Republican Party. From 1858 until the outbreak of the Civil War he was a member of the Senate of Indiana. During the war he rose in the ranks of the Union army up to brigadier general. Between 1864 and 1867 he was again in the Senate of Indiana, and from 1869 to 1870 he was mayor of Richmond.

Territorial governor and member of Congress

In September 1871 Thomas Bennett was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to the new territorial governor in Idaho. This office he held until 4 December 1874. In the meantime he had resigned from the Republican Party and elected as an independent candidate for delegate in the U.S. Congress. This mandate he could exercise between March 4, 1875, and June 23, 1876. On this day he had to give up his post because of an election challenge by Stephen S. Fenn was granted, who took over his position.

Further CV

After his time in Congress Bennett was again a lawyer in Richmond. From 1877-1883 and again in 1885-1887 he was again mayor of this city, where he died in 1893.