Chenoweth, Benjamin Davenport (1824–1898)

Benjamin Davenport Chenoweth, lawyer and Confederate cavalry officer, was born on February 28, 1824, in Martinsburg, Virginia, the son of John and Mary (Davenport) Chenoweth. He was raised in Frederick County and attended Dickinson College. By 1860 he was a lawyer in McLennan County, Texas. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Chenoweth enlisted for service as a private on May 22, 1862. Four days later he was elected major of the Twenty-first Cavalry Regiment. This unit was assigned to the Trans-Mississippi Department and was involved in Gen. John S. Marmaduke's Missouri Raid on October 25, 1863, skirmishes and actions in Louisiana and Arkansas. On April 8, 1864, at Sabine Cross Roads, Louisiana, Chenoweth was wounded in battle. Records cease to mention him after 1864. After the war he practiced law in Texas, in Mobile, Alabama and in Louisville, Kentucky. He married Jennie Foster in 1874. Chenoweth died in Houston July 13, 1898, and is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville.