serviceyears branch death_date width term birth_date death_place profession preceded battles rank succeeded birth_place jr/sr party unit state article_title birth_name
1813-1815 united states army 5 march 1859 200px march , 1857 4 , 1851 & ndash ; march 4 9 december 1790 st. louis , missouri politician , lawyer thomas hart benton war of 1812 first lieutenant trusten polk frederick , maryland united states senator whig , opposition 36th regiment-maryland infantry missouri henry s. geyer
 henry sheffie geyer
henry s. geyer

henry sheffie geyer -lrb- december 9 , 1790march 5 , 1859 -rrb- was a politician , lawyer , and soldier from missouri .
born in frederick , maryland , he was instructed privately , studied law , was admitted to the bar in 1811 and practiced law in frederick .
during the war of 1812 he served as a first lieutenant in the thirty-sixth regiment , maryland infantry from 1813 to 1815 ; in the latter year he settled in st. louis , missouri and resumed the practice of law .
he was a member of the territorial assembly in 1818 and a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1820 .
from 1820 to 1824 he was a member of the missouri house of representatives and again in 1834-1835 , serving as speaker on two occasions .
he authored the geyer act of 1839 establishing public education in missouri as well as the university of missouri .
geyer was elected as a whig to the u.s. senate and served from march 4 , 1851 , to march 4 , 1857 ; he was not a candidate for reelection and resumed the practice of law in st. louis .
he was attorney for the defendant slave-owner in the dred scott case .
geyer died in st. louis in 1859 ; interment was in bellefontaine cemetery .
geyer road in st. louis is named in his honor .
