OBITUARY NOTICES. 
371 
a cadet at the United States Military Academy in 1845, and 
served actively in the army from graduation, in 1849, to his 
retirement, in 1891, for about 42 years. He occupied an emi¬ 
nent position in his military career, and was identified with 
the important work of the Ordnance Department during this 
period, and attained distinction in a civil capacity as a writer 
and an authority on military law. 
His ancestors on both sides were of Spanish origin, and 
were among the first settlers of Saint Augustine. His father 
was a highly respected citizen of that place, and for a long 
time surveyor of the port. Young Benet passed through four 
years at the Hallowell school at Alexandria, Virginia, and 
then entered the junior class of the University of Georgia 
at the age of sixteen. It was intended that he should, on 
graduating from the university, enter the profession of law, 
but before completing his course there he was offered and 
accepted an appointment to the Military Academy, where he 
maintained a high standing and graduated number three in 
his class. He was the first cadet from the State of Florida, 
which was admitted to the Union March 3, 1845. His in¬ 
telligence, good habits, discipline of mind, and well-balanced 
physical and mental temperament were well developed during 
his student days, and served as elements of strength in his 
responsible and successful career through life. 
On graduation he was assigned directly to the ordnance, 
as a brevet second lieutenant. His studious habits were pre¬ 
served and his literary tastes made manifest, not only in the 
line of his chosen profession, but in that of his early predi¬ 
lection for the law. A translation from the French of Jornini’s 
account of the campaign of Waterloo was made by him and 
published in 1853, and his treatise on “ Electro-ballistic ma¬ 
chines and the Schultz chronoscope ” was published in 1873. 
When on duty at West Point, as assistant professor of geog¬ 
raphy, history, and ethics, he prepared his well-known treatise 
on military law and the practice of courts-martial, which was 
published in 1862 and afterward carried through several 
editions. This book was an authority on military law dur- 
