Henry Connelly

Henry Connelly

Henry Connelly (* 1800 in Nelson County , Kentucky , † August 12, 1866 in Santa Fe , New Mexico ) was an American politician and governor of the New Mexico Territory from 1861 to 1866 .

Early years

Henry Connelly attended local schools in his home in Kentucky. He then studied medicine at Transylvania University until 1828 . He then worked for a short time as a doctor in Liberty ( Missouri ). After that he became the owner of a shop. In the late 1840s he moved to Peralta , New Mexico, where he became a very successful trader. In 1851 he was elected to the territorial parliament, in which he then spent almost ten years.

Territorial Governor of New Mexico

On September 4, 1861, Connelly was named the new Territorial Governor of New Mexico by President Abraham Lincoln . That was after the American Civil War broke out. Connelly was a supporter of the Union and an opponent of slavery . Due to its geographical location, the area was threatened by Confederate troops at the time. After all, the neighboring state of Texas was part of the confederation . Only a victory of the Union troops at Peralta in 1862 ended the threat to the country. Another problem of those days in New Mexico was the Indian question. In the past there had been repeated battles with the Indians. Connelly was quite radical on this. He presented the Indians with the alternative of either living on reservations or dying.

Between autumn 1862 and May 1863 the governor's state of health was so bad that he had to take vacation leave for this period. On July 16, 1866 he resigned from his office. Henry Connelly died in Santa Fe in August of the same year. He was married twice and had a total of six children.

Web links

• Henry Connelly in the database of Find a Grave (English)