Richard Hanson WEIGHTMAN, Congress, NM (1816-1861)

WEIGHTMAN, Richard Hanson, a Delegate from the Territory of New Mexico; born in Washington, D.C., December 28, 1816; attended private schools in Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Va.; graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1834; attended the United States Military Academy at West Point 1835-1837; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1841 in the District of Columbia, but did not practice; moved to St. Louis, Mo., and on May 28, 1846, was elected captain of Clark’s Battalion, Missouri Volunteer Light Artillery, in the Mexican War; he served as Additional Paymaster, Volunteers, in the Army in 1848 and 1849; moved to New Mexico in 1851 and edited a newspaper in Santa Fe; appointed agent for Indians in New Mexico in July 1851; elected as a Democrat and the Territory’s first Delegate to the Thirty-second Congress (March 4, 1851-March 3, 1853); was not a candidate for reelection in 1852; resumed newspaper work; moved to Kickapo and Atcheson, Kans., in 1858, and went to Independence, Mo., in 1861; elected colonel, First Regiment Cavalry, Eighth Division, Missouri State Guard, Confederate States Army, June 11, 1861; promoted to command of First Brigade, Eighth Division, June 20, 1861; killed while commanding the First Brigade at Wilson Creek, Mo., August 10, 1861; interment on the battlefield near Springfield, Mo.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present