Caleb P . Bennett Caleb Prew Bennett ( November 11 , 1758 – May 9 , 1836 ) was an American soldier and politician from Wilmington , in New Castle County , Delaware . He was a veteran of the American Revolution and the War of 1812 , and a member of the Democratic Party who served as Governor of Delaware . Early life and family . Bennett was born in Chester County , Pennsylvania , son of Joseph & Elizabeth Prew Willey Bennett . They moved to Wilmington when he was 3 years old . His father was a ship captain who sailed to the West Indies . Caleb Bennett married Catherine Britton in 1792 and they had thirteen children , Samuel Britton , Elizabeth , Caroline , Mary Ann , Henry Lisle , Livina , Joseph Eves , Susan , Charles Webb , William , Catherine , Edin R . , and Boadicea . They lived at 841 Market Street in Wilmington and were members of the Wilmington Friends Meeting . Military career . Bennett served as a lieutenant in the 1st Delaware Regiment , a unit of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War . He enlisted as a 17 year old in 1775 , and served throughout the war . Present at Valley Forge and the battles of Staten Island , Brandywine , Germantown , Monmouth , Camden , and Yorktown , he was wounded three times . After the disastrous Battle of Camden in August 1780 , when the 1st Delaware Regiment was decimated , Lt . Bennett was sent back to Delaware to recruit . A year later , as General George Washington and the French were gathering everyone possible for the Siege of Yorktown , Bennett rejoined the army , and recalled it as follows : On our arrival at Annapolis we embarked also , on board the " Marquis Lafayette . " When the troops were all on board , the fleet of transports , with two frigates , weighed anchor and preceded , with a fair wind , down the Chesapeake Bay till we arrived at Linhaven Bay , where the French fleet were moored . We passed the mouth of the York River , where lay two or three French frigates blockading the entrance . We lay that night at anchor with the fleet . Early next morning the transports proceeded up the James River ( all this time with a fair wind ) until we arrived in the neighborhood of Williamsburg , Virginia , where we landed and joined the troops assembled there . As soon as the troops had all concentrated , with General Washington at their head , we left Williamsburg and proceeded on our route for Yorktown , where the British troops had fortified themselves , under the command of Lord Cornwallis . The whole army arrived in the evening and took possession of the ground around the town , driving in their outpost , which we affected without much loss or inconvenience on our part ; accomplished the end we had in view , that was to form our camp so as to encircle the whole outworks . ” After the surrender Bennett ’ s orderly book noted that on “ November 4 , 1781 we joined General Gist ’ s Brigade , and began our march to join General Greene ’ s army in South Carolina . ” Bennett served for two more years in South Carolina , finally returning home January 17 , 1783 . During the War of 1812 he was Captain of the Artillery and Commander of the town of New Castle . According to Scharf , Bennett “ was placed in control of measures to be taken at New Castle and the battery that was erected close to the town . He was made colonel of the militia and soon had a well - disciplined force of infantry and artillery . ” But all did not go well for the veteran soldier . Brigadier General and Whig political rival John Stockton brought Bennett to a courts martial for failing to perform his duty . The charges were not proved , and the ever popular Bennett was acquitted . Governor of Delaware . In the mid 19th century politics in Delaware were divided between the majority Whigs and minority Democrats . The Whigs were the party in opposition to U . S . President Andrew Jackson , his political successors and their policies . They were for a strong Union , good banks and a protective tariff . As the primary heirs to the old Federalist Party in Delaware , their greatest strength was among the old stock , rural , agricultural population in Kent and Sussex County . Conversely , the Democrats were in support of Jacksonian policies , and found their strength in New Castle County and among Quakers , Ulster - Scots and the more recent immigrants . Bennett speculated in various businesses , including the ferry service across the Christiana River at Wilmington and the Governor Bedford house on the Strand in New Castle , which he turned into a hotel . He also served as treasurer of New Castle County from 1806 to 1832 . Having never sought political office previously , he was drafted by the Democrats , desperate to break the Federalist / Whig stranglehold on the governorship . In spite of his venerable veteran status , he was elected Governor in 1832 by only 54 votes , defeating U . S . Senator Arnold Naudain , the Whig candidate . Serving from January 15 , 1833 until his death in office on July 11 , 1836 , Bennett was the oldest person ever to start a term as governor in Delaware . He was also the first Governor elected under the Delaware Constitution of 1831 and , therefore , the first elected to a four - year term . For years Delaware ' s Governors had pleaded with the General Assembly to reform the state ' s penal system . Carol Hoffecker in " Democracy in Delaware " relates how Bennett continued the effort , asking the General Assembly in 1835 to " abolish imprisonment for debt , and the pillory , which yet remains a stigma to our county towns , and a disgrace to the statutes of the state in an age otherwise characterized by intelligence , progress and philanthropy . " Regardless of his efforts , nothing was changed . Hoffecker also describes how , in the increasingly highly charged national debate over the tariff and states rights , Bennett " denounced South Carolina ' s attempt to nullify a federal tariff . He called the nullification doctrine a rebellion based on " heresy . It was in union , " he reminded his audience , " that we wrested our liberties from the grasp of oppression . The union is our whole strength , our sole support . " Internal improvements continued during this period . The federal government assisted in the building of much needed breakwaters at Lewes , the Frenchtown & New Castle Railroad replaced its wooden rails with steel so they could support a new steam engine , and construction began on the Philadelphia , Baltimore and Wilmington Railroad and the Delaware Railroad . Death and legacy . Bennett died at Wilmington , while in office , and is buried there in the Friends Burial Ground , at Fourth and West Streets . He was the fifth Governor of Delaware to die in office . U . S . Representative William G . Whiteley remembered Bennett near the end of his life as " a tall spare old man wearing knee breeches . He lived in Wilmington in a house . . . and could be seen any summer afternoon sitting upon his front pavement engaged in what we boys did not think a very manly employment , knitting yarn stockings . " Others noted , " Notwithstanding his Jacksonian Democracy , and being a Quaker to boot , to the end of his life he wore ruffled shirts , white kid breeches , and a velvet coat with brass buttons . He also powdered his hair and wore a queue . " Almanac . Elections are held on the first Tuesday after November 1 . The Governor takes office the third Tuesday in January , and has a four - year term .