Richard Gentry
Richard Gentry | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by George Caleb Bingham. | |
| Mayor of Columbia, Missouri | |
| In office 1821 | |
| Member of the Missouri Senate | |
| In office 1826–1830 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 25, 1788 Boonesborough, Kentucky, United States |
| Died | December 25, 1837 (aged 49) Near Lake Okeechobee, Florida, United States |
| Resting place | Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, United States |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Ann Hawkins Gentry |
| Children | 4 |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service | Kentucky Militia Missouri Militia |
| Years of service | 1808-1837 |
| Rank | Captain (Kentucky Militia) Major General (Missouri Militia) |
| Battles/wars |
|
Richard Gentry (August 25, 1788 – December 25, 1837) was an American politician, slave owner, and soldier who was killed in Florida during the Seminole Wars. The Missouri county of Gentry is named for him.[1] He was the first mayor and founder of Columbia, Missouri.
Early life
Richard Gentry was born August 25, 1788, in Madison County, Kentucky (then part of Virginia) to parents Richard and Jane (Harris) Gentry, who were both of English descent. His father was a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, and had been present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis and his forces at the Siege of Yorktown. His father was also "wealthy in lands and slaves"[2] and owned a plantation in Kentucky. Young Richard grew up a child of the frontier, skilled in hunting and tracking, skills that would well serve him later in his military career. At age 19, Richard Gentry was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 19th Regiment of the Kentucky Militia and quickly promoted to Captain just three years later in 1811. On February 13, 1810, Gentry married Ann Hawkins, also of Madison County. They would eventually have four children.[2]
War, new frontier, and politics
Gentry served under General (and future U.S. president) William Henry Harrison in the Great Lakes region during the War of 1812. At the Battle of the Thames, Gentry and his soldiers charged through the British line and attacked the enemy from the rear resulting in their surrender. In 1816 Gentry left Kentucky with his family and several slaves to move to the new Missouri Territory,[3] first settling in St. Louis County for a brief time before moving on upriver to the area around Franklin. Gentry was part of a wave of Southern settlers who migrated to Missouri with their slaves and formed the region of Little Dixie. In 1820 Gentry was one of the founders of Smithton, the village that would become Columbia, Missouri, and built the first home there for his family. Gentry defeated William Jewell to be elected Columbia's first Mayor. Gentry owned a farm near Columbia where his slaves would work.[4]
In 1820 Richard Gentry shot and killed Henry Carroll over a land dispute in Howard County. Gentry claimed that he had killed Carroll in a pistol duel, while his detractors claimed that he murdered Carroll unprovoked by shooting him in the back. Gentry hired his personal friend Thomas Hart Benton, a future Senator of Missouri, to be his defense lawyer. Gentry was later acquitted of the murder in 1821.[4]
Richard Gentry was commissioned as a Colonel in the new Missouri Militia in 1822, and four years later in 1826 elected to a term in the Missouri Senate. President Andrew Jackson appointed Gentry as Postmaster for Columbia, Missouri in 1830, a post he held until his death.[5] In 1832 during the Black Hawk War Gentry was given a commission of Major General and sent with a large force of troops to the northern border of Missouri to prevent a threatened raid by the Sauk and Fox tribes.
Final battle and death
President Martin Van Buren asked Missouri for volunteers in 1837 to help fight against the Seminole tribe in Florida who were resisting Indian Removal. Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton agreed to send a regiment of the Missouri Militia to Florida, and he boasted that the Missourians would turn the tide of the war because of their experience on the western frontier.[6] Richard Gentry was chosen to lead the Missouri Militia against the Seminoles, and he was given another commission as Colonel. Gentry used his own money to pay for the equipment of his troops. The women of Columbia stitched a large unit flag for Gentry's troops, which had symbolism of the Stars and Stripes and patriotic slogans on it.[6] On October 15, 1837, Gentry rode out of Columbia with his family physician and friend Dr. William Duncan who made a prophetic observation, "I fear this is our last meeting Richard ....If you are in battle you will be killed."
Richard Gentry and the Missouri Militia assembled at Jefferson Barracks, where Senator Thomas Hart Benton gave them a speech before sending them off.[7] They then boarded onto steamboats and shipped down the Mississippi River until they reached New Orleans. The Missourians then embarked to Florida, where Gentry and his men were put under the command of US Army officer Zachary Taylor. Gentry and his troops were led by Zachary Taylor on a long march into South Florida to look for Seminoles. On December 25, 1837, they located and attacked a large gathering of Seminoles on the northern shore of Lake Okeechobee, which began the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. For the second time in his life Gentry would be entering combat under the command of a future U.S. president, this time Zachary Taylor. Richard Gentry and the Missouri Militia were the first US troops sent into battle, as Zachary Taylor ordered them to charge directly at the Seminole position. While leading his men Gentry was shot in the stomach by the Seminoles, which made him collapse, and he died of his wounds shortly after the battle.[6] Weeks later in January 1838, the news arrived from Florida that Gentry, age 49, had been killed by the Seminoles at Lake Okeechobee on Christmas Day, 1837.[8] Several years later Gentry's body would be brought back to Missouri and reburied in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery near St. Louis, Missouri.[9] One of Richard Gentry's sons named Nicholas Hawkins Gentry would side with the Confederacy in the Civil War and die fighting at the Battle of Wilson's Creek.[2] Another of Gentry's sons named Thomas Benton Gentry would marry Mary Eliza Todd, a cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln. Gentry's grandson North Todd Gentry would go on to be Missouri Attorney General.
Further reading
Hunt, Doug. "Reckless: The Life and Death of Richard Gentry". 2010
References
- ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 136.
- ^ a b c The Gentry Family in America: 1676 to 1909 by Richard Gentry. New York.Grafton Press.Copyright, 1909.
- ^ Gentry, Thomas Benton (1899). Souvenir of General Richard Gentry: A Missouri Pioneer and Soldier.
- ^ a b "Richard and Ann Hawkins Gentry". SHSMO Historic Missourians. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
- ^ Dictionary of Missouri biography. Edited by Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kennth H. Winn. University of Missouri Press, 1999.
- ^ a b c Tucker, Phillip (2022-03-04). "A Forgotten Sacrifice: Richard Gentry, Missouri Volunteers, and the Battle of Okeechobee". Florida Historical Quarterly. 70 (2).
- ^ Mahon, John K. (2017-11-29). History of the Second Seminole War, 1835–1842. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-1-947372-26-9.
- ^ The Battle of Okeechobee Commemorative Edition 2008
- ^ The Gentry Family in America: 1676 to 1909by Richard Gentry. New York. Grafton Press. Copyright, 1909.
External links
- Colonel Richard Gentry, American Military Officer & Politician at Find a Grave
