Background

Henry Lawrence Burnett was born on December 26, 1838 in Youngstown, Ohio, the son of Henry and Nancy (Jones) Burnett, and a descendant of William Burnet, colonial governor of New York, 1720-28.

Education

At fifteen, determined upon getting an education, Henry stole away from home, equipped with a bundle of clothing, forty-six dollars, and copies of Thaddeus of Warsaw and The Lady of Lyons, and walked about one hundred miles to Chester Academy. Admitted to the school, he remained for two or three years, when he entered the Ohio State National Law School, from which he graduated with the degree of LL. B. in 1859.

Career

In the same year he began the practise of law at Warren. On the outbreak of the Civil War he became active in support of the Union. At one of these meetings he was challenged by a man in the audience with the question, "Why don't you enlist?" "I will, " he promptly replied. He at once volunteered in Company C of the 2nd Ohio Cavalry, of which he was chosen captain on August 23. With his regiment he was sent to Missouri and saw service in the actions at Carthage, Fort Wayne, and Gibson, later taking part in the campaigns in southern Kentucky.

In the fall of 1863, with the rank of major, he was appointed judge-advocate of the Department of the Ohio. A year later at Governor Morton's request, he was sent to Indiana to prosecute members of the Knights of the Golden Circle and later took part in the cases growing out of the Chicago conspiracy to liberate the Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas.

In these trials he obtained seven convictions. He was also prominent in the trial of L. P. Milligan for treason before a military commission. He was brevetted a colonel of volunteers March 8, 1865, and in the omnibus promotions of March 13 was brevetted a brigadier-general. In the prosecution of the assassins of Lincoln he served under Judge-Advocate Joseph Holt with General John A. Bingham as a special assistant, and seems to have borne a major part in the preparation of the evidence.

After the trials he moved to Cincinnati, where he practised law with Judge T. W. Bartley until 1869, and then with Ex-Governor J. D. Cox and John F. Follett until 1872.

He was for a time counsel for the Erie railroad, and was engaged in many noted cases, including the litigation over the Emma mine, in which he acted as attorney for the English bondholders.

In January 1898 McKinley appointed him federal district attorney for the southern district of New York, and on the completion of his four-year term he was reappointed by Roosevelt.

In his later years he spent much of his time at his country home, Hillside Farm, Goshen, New York, where he kept a large stable of harness horses which he drove on the track of the Goshen Driving Club. In the middle of November 1915, while at the farm, he was taken ill with pneumonia. Despite his serious condition he insisted on being taken by train to his city home, where, two months later, he died.

Achievements

• For his distinguished service, Henry Burnett was brevetted Brigadier General of United States Volunteers on March 13, 1865. After the war, he served as Special Judge Advocate for the Lincoln Assassination Trial. In 1872, he moved to New York to practice law and was appointed Federal District Attorney, southern district of New York by President William McKinley in 1898. Probably his greatest case was that of the Rutland Railroad Company against John B. Page: in the closing argument he spoke for sixteen hours with a "consummate ability" that stamped him "the peer of the greatest advocate of the age".

Works

More photos

• book

  • Reply of the judge advocate HL Burnett

    (Reply of the judge advocate HL Burnett: to the pleas of t...)

  • Reply of the Judge Advocate H.L. Burnett to the pleas of the counsel for the accused to the jurisdiction of the Military Commission, convened by ... Walsh ... and 7 others charged with co

    (This volume is produced from digital images from the Corn...)

  • Some incidents in the trial of President Lincoln's assassins ; and, The controversy between President Johnson and Judge Holt

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Some Incidents In The Trial Of President Lincoln's Assassins: The Controversy Between President Johnson And Judge Holt

    ( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)

  • History Of The Ohio Society Of New York, 1885-1905...

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Reply of the judge advocate, H.L. Burnett: to the pleas of the counsel for the accused ... in the case of the United States vs. Charles Walsh ...

    (Title: Reply of the judge advocate, H.L. Burnett : to the...)

Politics

He was an organization Republican, a participant in the party councils, and was on especially close terms with McKinley who used to call him "Lightning Eyes Burnett. "

Connections

Burnett was married three times. His last wife was Agnes Suffern Tailer, of a prominent New York family, who survived him.

Father:

Henry Burnett

Mother:

Nancy (Jones) Burnett

1st wife:

Grace "Kittie" Hoffman Burnett

1842–1864

2nd wife:

Sarah Gibson Lansing Burnett

1846–1877 (m. 1867)

colleague:

John F. Follett

colleague:

J. D. Cox

colleague:

T. W. Bartley

judge

Partner:

W. S. Opdyke

Partner:

William Peet

Partner:

James Emott

judge

Partner:

B. H. Bristow

Partner:

E. W. Stoughton

In New York he was in partnership with E. W. Stoughton, with B. H. Bristow, William Peet, and W. S. Opdyke, and with Judge James Emott.

Son:

Lansing Burnett

1869–1893

3rd wife:

Agnes Suffern Tailer Burnett

1858–1932 (m. 1882)

References

• The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and Its Expiation: -1909