Bennet, Valentine (1780–1843)

Valentine Bennet, soldier and pioneer, was born in Massachusetts in 1780 to a Puritan family. He fought in the War of 1812, lived for a time in New York, Louisiana, and Ohio, and married in 1817. Shortly after the death of his wife he made provision for his children and set out for Texas, where he settled at Velasco in November 1825. In 1832 he took a leading part in the battle of Velasco, where he was severely wounded in the face and hip. He moved to Gonzales in 1834 and in 1835 was one of the eighteen men who defied Domingo de Ugartechea's order in the battle of Gonzales.

Bennet was elected lieutenant when the Gonzales militia was organized, and from that time on he was in the thick of the Texas Revolution. He participated in the battle of Concepción in October 1835 and the siege of Bexar in December. He held the rank of assistant quartermaster and received honorable mention from Gen. Edward Burleson for efficiency in keeping the army well supplied. Later, as quartermaster of the revolutionary army, he was kept busy supplying beef for Sam Houston's growing forces as the general retreated from Gonzales to the battleground of San Jacinto. After the battle of San Jacinto Bennet remained with the army. Early in 1838, after a three-month furlough, he brought his son back to Texas with him. On December 25, 1838, he brought his daughter to live in his home in Gonzales.

In 1841 he was commissioned a major in the quartermaster's department of the Army of the Republic of Texas and was sent on the Texan Santa Fe expedition. Among the other Santa Fe prisoners he suffered many indignities and cruelties at the hands of his Mexican guards; in August 1842 the prisoners were released, and Bennet returned to Texas. He reentered the Texas army when Gen. Adrián Woll invaded Texas; subsequently, he took part in the Somervell expedition. He died at the home of his daughter on July 24, 1843, and was buried in the old cemetery at Gonzales.