Henry Gaston Bunn

Henry Gaston Bunn (June 12, 1838 – July 17, 1908) was an American lawyer, soldier, and politician who served as Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Life and career

Henry Gaston Bunn was born in 1838 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, to David (?-1858) and Elizabeth (née Thomas) Bunn but his family moved to Fayette County, Tennessee, in 1844 and to Ouachita County, Arkansas, in 1846. His Anglo-Saxon grandparents had emigrated from England at an early but unknown time of American history.

In February 1859, he started attending Davidson College where he was a member of Eumenean Society. He enlisted as a private in the Confederate States Army, subsequently a lieutenant and eventually become a commander of the 4th Arkansas Infantry Battalion in November 1862, under the command of Evander McNair. Bunn was wounded and captured at the Battle of Pea Ridge but escaped alive and found his team again where they joined General Earl Van Dorn's army, crossing the east side of the Mississippi River where they ultimately joined forces with General P. G. T. Beauregard's troops. Bunn was also involved in the Battle of Farmington, Mississippi, and joined Edmund Kirby Smith in the Battle of Richmond in Kentucky, during which he was promoted to colonel. Bunn also participated in the Battle of Stones River and, with General Joseph E. Johnston, the Siege of Vicksburg and Atlanta campaign in Georgia. On July 28, 1864, he was wounded at the Battle of Ezra Church until recovering in February 1865 His time with the ear ended when General Johnston's army surrendered and he chose to pursue a career in law.

Studying law in Arkansas. he was admitted to the bar in 1866. From 1873 to 1874, he served as State Senator, becoming involved in the Brooks–Baxter War, In 1896 he was nominated by the Democratic state convention and elected that September where he served eight years.

In the early 1900s, he was involved in a confrontation with then-Attorney General Jeff Davis after Davis started removing his coat and Bunn criticized him for that, saying "a gentleman would not appear in his shirt sleeves before the Supreme Court". Later, Davis retorted to audiences, asking if he could remove his coat because the "five jackasses" at the Supreme Court would not allow it. Meanwhile, the Arkansas Gazette praised Bunn for his "ability as a jurist and for his honesty and integrity". This was not the first time Bunn and Davis caused a stir, the previous year in 1903, Bunn was the lone naysayer involving Davis's veto of over 300 bills. In 1904, he opened and operated a private law practice with W. E. Patterson until Bunn's death in 1908.

On September 6, 1865, he married Louisa E. Holmes, daughter of Colonel W. T. M. Holmes killed in the Confederate War. With her death on July 5, 1866, he married Aralee Connolly, also a daughter of a Confederate Army soldier, with whom he had nine children but only five survived. Bunn was buried at Oakland Cemetery in Camden, Arkansas.