Sgt. Berry Benson Died 6 pm Monday.
Beloved Augustan and Noted Confederate Soldier Passes Away At Ripe Old Age, FUNERAL 3:30 TODAY /FROM HIS RESIDENCE.
Soldier and Scout of Confederate Army and Brilliant and Big-Hearted Citizen.
Berry Benson died at 6 pm yesterday at his. home, Georgia Avenue, North Augusta. Sergeant Benson arose early' in the day, as was his custom. After breakfast he complained of feeling badly. A complaint of the kind was unusual from him. During the morning he decided to return to bed. He was not alarmed over his condition, nor was his household. As the afternoon set in, he became worse, and he further complained during the late afternoon, as he did not show sign of improvement, physicians were called in. As the early evening set in, he closed his eyes, as in sleep, and quietly passed away. - The end of a good-life had come. He had been pursuing his accustomed routine of late days, and up to yesterday, there was no indication that the end of his long life was at hand. He had just returned from Hampton, S. C., where he had been called as a witness in pending litigation. Following this trip there was no suggestion that his strength had been overtaxed. The funeral will take place, at 3:30 o'clock this afternoon from the residence, Rev. Marvin Williams officiating. Interment will be in Sunset Cemetery in North Augusta.
Typical Confederate Soldier.
Sergeant Benson was a typical Confederate soldier. When such a representation was desired to surmount the magnificent Confederate monument erected in. Augusta by the Ladles Memorial Association, it was made in Italy from a photograph of Berry Benson. Sergeant Benson enlisted when he was 18 years of age, joining the First South Carolina Infantry, attached to Jackson's Corps. He was a sharpshooter and did a great deal of scout duty. He was captured at Point Lookout, Md. He escaped, but was again captured and imprisoned in Washington, DC. From there he was transferred to Elmira Prison out of which he escaped by tunnelling. He was an ardent Confederate soldier. In the great reunion at Washington, D. C., he marched in the Parade in the uniform he wore while he was in the Confederate service and shouldering the musket which he shouldered when a soldier under the Stars and Bars. Likewise, in Richmond last year, he presented himself in the great parade of the Grey put on there, and he won all attention from the crowds who were onlookers.
Berry Greenwood Benson.
Berry Greenwood Benson was born in Hamburg, S. C, on Feb. 9, 1843. His father was Abraham Madison Benson. His mother was Mrs. Nancy Harmon Benson, of Edgefield, S. C. He was married Feb. 6, 1868, to Miss Jeannie Oliver, of Augusta. Mrs. Benson died April 32. 1900. Of his immediate family, the survivors are five children: Charlie G. Benson of Avon Park, Fla.; Arthur Benson, of North Augusta; Misses Jeanie and Olive Benson, of North Augusta, and Mrs. Eugene Rosen, of Washington, D. C. One brother survives him, Mr. Blackwood Benson, of Austin, Texas; and two sisters, Mrs. C. C. Carey and Mrs. S. G. Rook, of Atlanta. Sergeant Benson was a remarkable man. He was self-educated. He was an expert accountant. He accumulated a remarkable storage of information. His zero system in bookkeeping mathematics was accepted throughout the country. His contributions in poetry and prose, principally to the newspaper press, were of the highest merit. He: was one of the biggest hearted men who ever lived. . He could not bear to know of suffering. He opened his heart and his purse, however small it was, when, there was information of distress. He would deny himself absolutely to the end that a person in want or in distress be comforted. He hated hypocrisy and had no patience with make-believe. He was quaint in many things, he was unusual in some things, but he was gold in those things which stood for manliness, pure-heartedness, sympathy for fellow-man, encouragement for the down-and-out and support for the square deal. His pallbearers today will be six Confederate Veterans. His honorary pallbearers will be Dr. T. E. Oeriel, Edward B. Hook. Algernon Morgan, H. C. Middleton, Landon A. Thomas, Jr. Henry C. Parker.
