The Road to Civil War

Henry C. Burnett

(October 25, 1825 — October 1, 1866) Henry Cornelius Burnett, a Representative from Kentucky; born in Essex County, Va., October 5, 1825; moved with his parents to Kentucky in early childhood; attended the common schools and an academy at Hopkinsville, Christian County; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1847 and commenced practice in Cadiz, Ky.; clerk of the Trigg County circuit court 1851-1853; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fourth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1855-December 3, 1861); expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives on December 3, 1861, for disloyalty to the Union; colonel of the Eighth Regiment, Kentucky Infantry, in the Confederate army during the Civil War; president of the Kentucky southern conference in Russellville, October 29, 1861, and of the sovereignty convention in Russellville, November 18, which passed an ordinance of secession and organized a state government; representative from Kentucky to the provisional Confederate congress and served from November 18, 1861, to February 17, 1862; elected as a senator from Kentucky to the first and second Confederate congresses and served from February 19, 1862, to February 18, 1865; resumed the practice of law; died in Hopkinsville, Ky., October 1, 1866; interment in East End Cemetery, Cadiz, Trigg County, Ky. [Source: “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 - Present,” available at https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/B001120]

Member of Kentucky Delegation - The Road to Civil War [this display].

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