Richard Hanson Weightman
| Richard Hanson Weightman | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Mexico Territory's At-large district |
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In office March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853 Delegate |
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| Preceded by | district established |
| Succeeded by | José Manuel Gallegos |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 28, 1816 Washington, D.C. |
| Died | August 10, 1861 (aged 44) near Springfield, Missouri |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia |
| Occupation | newspaper editor |
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Richard Hanson Weightman (December 28, 1816 – August 10, 1861) was an antebellum delegate to the United States Congress from the Territory of New Mexico. He was also a district commander of the secessionist Missouri State Guard during the American Civil War, and was killed in action at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri.
Born in Washington, D.C., Weightman attended private schools there and in Alexandria, Virginia. He graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1834. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, 1835–1837 (but did not graduate). He subsequently studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1841 in the District of Columbia, but did not practice.
He moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and on May 28, 1846, was elected captain of Clark's Battalion, Missouri Volunteer Light Artillery, in the Mexican War. He served as Additional Paymaster, Volunteers, in the Army in 1848 and 1849. He moved to New Mexico Territory in 1851 and edited a newspaper in Sante Fe. He was appointed agent for Indians in New Mexico in July 1851. While in Santa Fe in August 1854, he killed François Xavier Aubry (December 3, 1824 – August 18, 1854) who was a French Canadian merchant and explorer of the American Southwest. When Aubry drew his revolver, Weightman stabbed Aubry with a Bowie knife.
Weightman was elected as a Democrat and the Territory's first Delegate to the Thirty-second Congress (March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853). He was not a candidate for reelection in 1852, but resumed newspaper work. He moved to Kickapoo and Atchison, Kansas, in 1858, and went to Independence, Missouri, in 1861.
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