Humphreys, Benjamin Grubb, 1808-1882

Benjamin Grubb Humphreys was governor of Mississippi from 1865 to 1868, during the first three years of Reconstruction. Born on August 26, 1808, in Claiborne County, Mississippi, Humphreys spent many years in the north as a boy, attending school in New Jersey and then being appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Enrolled in the same class as Robert E. Lee, Humphreys was expelled shortly afterwards for his participation in the “Eggnog riot” (or “grog mutiny”)—an alcohol-fueled ruckus at West Point on the night of December 24-25, 1826, that resulted in the removal of twenty students.

Humphreys returned to Mississippi where he studied law and helped his father on the family plantation. He married Mary McLaughlin in 1832. The couple had two children before Mary died in 1835. He remarried in 1839 to Mildred Maury and had at least ten more children.

In the 1830s, Humphreys entered local politics as a Whig, serving as a state representative and then as a member of the Mississippi senate from 1839 to 1844. He purchased land to establish a cotton plantation in Sunflower County, Mississippi, in 1846, and helped establish the town of Itta Bena.

During the lead up to the Civil War, Humphreys opposed secession. However, after Mississippi declared its separation from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America, he volunteered for military service and was eventually elected colonel of the Twenty-first Mississippi Infantry. Humphreys and his regiment served within Brigadier General William Barksdale’s brigade in the eastern theater, notably seeing action at the Peach Orchard during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. Barksdale was killed during the battle, and Humphreys was promoted to brigadier general to take his place. He remained in command of the brigade until September 1864 when he was wounded at Berryville, Virginia. He spent the rest of the Civil War recuperating from his wounds.

Humphreys became active in the immediate postwar political scene in Mississippi. He won election for governor in October 1865 during Mississippi’s effort to earn readmission into the Union under President Andrew Johnson’s lenient Reconstruction plan. However, Humphreys was among the former southern leaders initially denied presidential pardon by Johnson. Although Johnson soon relented, sending a pardon to Humphreys, the Mississippi legislature’s passage of highly discriminatory laws (known as the Black Codes) against recently emancipated African Americans sparked a fierce backlash by Republicans in the United States Congress, who then refused to admit Mississippi back into the Union. Federal authorities instituted a stricter Reconstruction program, which included oversight by military officials. Humphreys remained governor, as Reconstruction did not disassemble Mississippi’s civil government. However, Humphreys did not enjoy the full authority of a traditional state executive. His white supremacist views and opposition to Black civil rights put him in frequent opposition to Republican Reconstruction goals. He won reelection in 1868, but soon afterwards was ejected from office by federal authorities when Radical Republicans took more direct control of Reconstruction.

Following his removal as governor in 1868, Humphreys left politics and began working in insurance in Jackson, Mississippi. He retired in 1877 and died in December 1882 and is buried in Wintergreen Cemetery at Port Gibson, Mississippi.

(Wikipedia; David Sansing, “Benjamin Grubb Humphreys: Twenty-sixth Governor of Mississippi: 1865–1868,” Mississippi History Now; “Benjamin Grubb Humphreys,” HarpWeek)

Benjamin Grubb Humphreys belonged to the following social groups: