Henry B. Banning

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Henry Blackstone Banning (November 10, 1836 – December 10, 1881) was a lawyer and three-term U.S. Representative from Ohio, as well as an infantry officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Born in Bannings Mills, Ohio, Banning attended the Clinton district school, Mount Vernon Academy, and Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, where he studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1857 and commenced practice in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in April 1861 in the Union Army as a private. He was commissioned as a captain in Company B of the Fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on June 5, 1861. He served as colonel of the 87th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, starting June 25, 1862.

Banning was honorably mustered out October 4, 1862. He re-enlisted and was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 125th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry on January 1, 1863. He transferred to the 121st Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry on April 5, 1863, being promoted to colonel of that regiment on November 10, 1863. He took part in the battles of Rich Mountain, Romney, Blue Gap, Winchester, Cross Keys, Chickamauga, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Rome, Kennesaw Mountain, Dallas, Peachtree Creek, Jonesboro, and Nashville.

He resigned from the army on January 1, 1865, to return home to Ohio. Banning was brevetted as a brigadier general and major general of volunteers March 13, 1865.

Banning served as member of the State House of Representatives in 1866 and 1867. He moved to Cincinnati, in 1869 and resumed the practice of law. He was elected as a Liberal Republican to the Forty-third Congress and as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth Congress and Forty-fifth Congresses, serving from (March 4, 1873 until March 3, 1879). He served as chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs in the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1878 to the Forty-sixth Congress, and for election in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress. He then returned to his legal practice in Cincinnati.

Henry Banning died in Cincinnati on December 10, 1881. He was interred in Spring Grove Cemetery. He is buried not far from his brother-in-law, fellow former Civil War general Byron Kirby.

Camp 207, Ohio Sons of Union Veterans, was founded in 1903 and named in General Banning's honor and memory. It is still active in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Banning was inducted to the Ohio Veteran's Hall of Fame in November 2004 by Ohio Governor Bob Taft. The Hall of Fame recognizes Buckeyes who continue to contribute to their community, state, and nation after their military service.