The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1877-06-19
eMisrfAat,n
"BENNY HAvENs, OHp'
Death of a National Celebrity.
"reminiscences of the Old Hos
telry at Highland Falls and Its
CHEEKY Host.

"reminiscences of the Old Hos
teIry at Highland Falls and Its
CHEEKY Host.
sBenny Havens, ohw is dead. On
last Saturday night he was stricken with
paralysis, and he fingered speechless, al.
most motionless, until Monday evening
at five o'clock, when he died at his home
at Highland Falls, three miles below
West Point, in the ninetieth year of his
age. Benny, as is widely known, kept
in the vicinity of the Academy here q
sort of tavern from the beginning of the
present century until eighteen years ago,
when he became involved in trouble with
the Government and gave up the busi-
ness.
His patrons were chiefly the Cadets.
They used to steal outside the grounds
on their half holiday, Saturday after
moons, and after roll call in the evenings,
to enjoy Bennys good cheer and to lis.
ten to his comical stories, for he was a
most eccentric character, possessed of
rich vein of native humor, and had an
inexhaustible fund of anecdotes, which
he used to relate with great vim. To
the heart of many gallant soldier ser
wing his country beneath the lonely
shadows of the Black Hills or the sultry
Gulf will come pang as he reads of
the old mans death and recalls the hap
py hours when light-hearted Cadet he
thronged with his comrades around
Benny's tavern board and in honor cho-
rused 'sBenny Havens, OH" He filed
as large space in the experience of
many Cadets as did their Professors, and
whenever group of officers meet to
talk over old times they never part
without relating the story of some frolic
or scrape at Benny's Aside from the
celebrity given to the old man by gen
Grafton after generation of Cadets, from
Maine to Georgia, and the thousands of
enlisted men stationed here from time to
time and then scattered abroad, he was
known to the public through the famous
convivial song which was composed and
sung in his honor by the Cadets:
Come, fill your glasses, fellows, and stand up
In row, p
To singing sentimentally we're going for to go;
In the army there's sobriety, promotion's very
slow,
So we'll sing our "reminiscences of Benny Ha-
vens, oh! @
So ran the first verse, and there were
about dozen in all when the song was
written, some fifty years or more ago,
by Lieutenant O'Brien, of the Eighth
Infantry, who perished afterward in
Florida, O'Brien, with some boon COM
panions, who made many visits to Ben
ny's, sang it to "The Wearing of the
Green" and it soon became popular
among the boys In the course of
years class after class added each a
verse to it, until lately it reached thirty
stanzas, and a few Cadets could be
found who knew it all 1t is the chief
lyric of the school, and when the lads
are in camp or at liberty they make the
hill ring with its chorus. Some of the
later verses celebrate the victories of
Grant, Sherman, Meade and Sheridan,
and lament the death Of General Scott.
The last authorized verse which was
added seemed to recognize the fact that
the "pome" was getting to be too un-
wieldy and to discourage any further
additions, for it runs:
When ife's troubled sea is over, and our last
battle through,
| If God permits as mortals then His blest do
| main to view,
Then shall we with glory crowned, in proud
celestial row,
The friends we've known and loved SO well a
! Benny Havens', OIL
In the vicinity of the Point Benny's
name has been household word for {
generation. His odd sayings are quo
ted, his droll stories are retold, and the
numerous adventures he encountered ir
supplying the Cadets with "spoon vic
tuals," as he called spirits, furnished
themes for many local traditions. There
is not an officer of rank in the army
from the Generals down, of whom Ben
nv had not reminiscence, and seldom
did one visit the Academy without GO
ling to pay his cottage visit. The ole
man believed and contended sturdily
that General Jackson and General Burn
side graduated in 1S47, and Henry He'll
also, afterwsrd General in the Con
federate Army, was member of th'
same class. Thew had a great friend
ship for Benny, and when they left for
mally presented him with cane, whicl
he priced very highly until his death -
In the hall of his cottage hangs pho
tograph of General Burnside in fatigu,
uniform, standing outside his tent. Th
picture was sent by the General himsel
: to the old man few years ago. Whel
: jeff Davis was Secretary of War b
paid an official visit to the Academy
, and he, in company with General Hardy
then Superintendent of the Post, paid
. visit to Benny Hayens, oh" and th
old man used to relate the incidents Q
, the visit with great minuteness after Ds
: Wis gained a wider notoriety as Pres
, dent of the Confederate States Ger
| eral Longstreet, who graduated in 1885,
: was also, when Cadet, constant pa
' ron of Benny's establishment, and nev'
e failed to call upon him when in this pa
| of the country. Only few years az