Henry Cornelius BURNETT, Congress, KY (1825-1866)

BURNETT Henry Cornelius , a Representative from Kentucky; born in Essex County, Va., October 5, 1825; moved with his parents to Kentucky in early childhood; attended the common schools and an academy at Hopkinsville, Christian County; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1847 and commenced practice in Cadiz, Ky.; clerk of the Trigg County circuit court 1851-1853; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fourth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1855-December 3, 1861); expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives on December 3, 1861, for disloyalty to the Union; colonel of the Eighth Regiment, Kentucky Infantry, in the Confederate army during the Civil War; president of the Kentucky southern conference in Russellville, October 29, 1861, and of the sovereignty convention in Russellville, November 18, which passed an ordinance of secession and organized a state government; representative from Kentucky to the provisional Confederate congress and served from November 18, 1861, to February 17, 1862; elected as a senator from Kentucky to the first and second Confederate congresses and served from February 19, 1862, to February 18, 1865; resumed the practice of law; died in Hopkinsville, Ky., October 1, 1866; interment in East End Cemetery, Cadiz, Trigg County, Ky.

Bibliography

Craig, Berry F. ``Henry Cornelius Burnett: Champion of Southern Rights.'' Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 77 (Autumn 1979): 266-74.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present