Samuel Benton was born on October 18, 1820, probably in middle Tennessee's Williamson County. He married a "Miss Knox" and was survived by her and a child. Gen. Benton was a prominent lawyer in Holly Springs and also published a newspaper there, The Mississippi Times, Number I of which appeared in April 1853. In politics he was an Old Line Whig but a States Right man also as befits one of his political persuasion. He was a member of both the Union Convention of 1855 and the Mississippi Secession Convention of 1861. He served on the Ways and Means Committee at the Secession Convention. In 1852 he served in the Mississippi state legislature.