Henry H. Bingham
| Henry Harrison Bingham | |
|---|---|
Henry Harrison Bingham
|
|
| Born |
December 4, 1841 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | March 22, 1912 (aged 70) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Place of burial | Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Allegiance |
United States of America Union |
| Service/branch |
United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1862–1866 |
| Rank |
 Brevet Brigadier General
|
| Unit | 140th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Medal of Honor |
| Other work | In 1890 San Francisco Supervisor Henry Bingham introduced a resolution to force residents into segregated neighborhoods. Believing Chinatown was “a cancer on the city,” and wanting to claim the prime real estate it occupied, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed the resolution with the Mayor’s approval. The Bingham Ordinance, as it came to be known, required all Chinese living or working in the city to move their homes and businesses within 60 days to an area reserved for slaughterhouses and other “unhealthful” businesses. Re Lee Sing was the first case to test the legality of the ordinance that would have displaced tens of thousands of Chinese. California Circuit Court Judge Sawyer struck down the law as a violation of the 14th Amendment. |
Henry Harrison Bingham (December 4, 1841 – March 22, 1912) was a Union Army officer in the American Civil War, who received the United States Military's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of the Wilderness.
After graduating from college Bingham accepted a commission as a first lieutenant for service in the American Civil War. While participating in the war he fought in several battles and served as Judge advocate.
After the Civil War ended he was postmaster of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1867 to 1872, a court clerk from 1872 to 1879, and a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania from 1879 to 1912.
Henry H. Bingham was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 4, 1841. He graduated from Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1862, where he became a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He later graduated from the law department of Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania.
Bingham enlisted in the Union Army and received a commission as a first lieutenant in the 140th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on August 22, 1862.
During the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1–3, 1863, he was serving as Captain and Judge-Advocate on the staff of Major General Winfield Scott Hancock's II Corps. During the battle he witnessed Pickett's Charge, and was near the "Angle" where the Confederates reached the "High Water Mark". He received the personal effects from the mortally wounded Confederate Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead and carried the news to General Hancock, Armistead's friend from before the war. Bingham was a Mason (Chartiers Lodge #297, Canonsburg, PA), and the story of how he provided assistance to the dying fellow Mason, General Armistead, was used in Masonic literature, and commemorated with the Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial at Gettysburg National Cemetery. On the other hand, recent scholarship in 2010 by Michael Halleran shows that while Armistead and Bingham were both Masons, Bingham's encounter with Armistead occurred while the mortally wounded Armistead was being carried from the field by several men and happened purely by chance not because of any appeal of Masonic significance. Bingham never claimed otherwise. Bingham did take Armistead's personal effects and forwarded them to Major General Winfield S. Hancock as Armistead had requested because Hancock was a pre-war friend. Bingham also was wounded on July 3, 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg.
...
Wikipedia