Carte de visite photograph of Humphreys in civilian clothes. Chest up view. Image is clear with good contrast. Photographer's backmark, French & Co., Vicksburg, Miss.

Benjamin Grubb Humphreys (August 26, 1808 – December 20, 1882) was an American politician from Mississippi. He was a general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War and served as Governor of Mississippi from 1865 to 1868, during Reconstruction.

Humphreys was enrolled at West Point in the same class as Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston. However, he was expelled in 1826 when he participated in a "Christmas frolic" that ended up turning into the Eggnog Riot. Upon his return to Mississippi, he was elected to the state senate, serving from 1839 to 1844. In 1846, he moved to Sunflower County, Mississippi, and developed a cotton plantation there.

Humphreys raised a company and was commissioned a captain in the Confederate States Army in 1861. Being part of the 21st Mississippi Infantry he was elected to the rank of colonel. Brigaded with other regiments under command of Brig. Gen. William Barksdale he fought in the Eastern Theater. At the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 Humphreys's regiment was part of the force that attacked Federal positions at the Peach Orchard, driving the defenders back toward Cemetery Ridge. Humphreys took command of the brigade after the death of Barksdale. He was subsequently promoted to brigadier general, and remained in command until he was wounded in the battle of Berryville, Virginia, on September 3, 1864. Humphreys returned home to Mississippi to convalesce, but was unable to return to active duty.

After the war, Southern politicians and Army officers were not automatically pardoned and were forbidden to hold public office. At the time of his candidacy for governor, Benjamin Humphreys was unpardoned, and President Andrew Johnson did not want him elected. Unwilling to withdraw his candidacy, on October 2, 1865, Humphreys was elected as a Democrat, but was not immediately recognized as the Governor of Mississippi. On October 26, 1865, Andrew Johnson authorized political office under the Reconstruction plan. Humphreys won re-election in 1868 and continued with a second term, but with the beginning of Congressional control of Reconstruction he was physically removed by occupying U.S. armed forces on June 15 of that year.

After his retirement from politics, Humphreys entered a career in insurance in Jackson, Mississippi. He continued there until his retirement in 1877, when he moved to his plantation in Leflore County, Mississippi, where he died in 1882. He is buried in Wintergreen Cemetery, Port Gibson, Mississippi.  [jet] [ph:L]

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