Hush The Cannon’s Roar: The Life & Times of Bennet Riley: Defender of Buffalo

Please join us next week (March 4th) for our 1st First Wednesday of the year! Thomas Schobert will be presenting “The Life and Times of General Bennet Riley, Buffalo’s Unsung Military Hero” One of Buffalo’s least remembered yet most historically significant heroes was Major General Bennet C. Riley. He served in the U.S. Army for 40 years from the War of 1812 through the Mexican War and culminated with his serving as the last military governor of California during the famous “California Gold Rush”.  In the early 1840s, Riley was commanding officer of the Buffalo Barracks, an army post located on what is now the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site. The experience of Riley during his time here and his interactions with notable Buffalonians convinced him to return here after his military service was finished.