Seaborn Jones, Jr.- a distinguished jurist, politician, planter, business entrepreneur, and military leader-was born in Augusta, Georgia, in 1788. Admitted to the bar in 1808, he practiced law in Milledgeville and served in the Georgia Senate. During the War of 1812, he served as an aide to Governor Peter Early, holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel; later (1825) while acting as an aide to Governor George M. Troup, he accompanied General Marquis de Lafayette into western Georgia. He moved to that area about 1828 and, within a few years, built a suburban estate, El Dorado (St. Elmo after the 1870s). While he owned cotton-producing land in other counties, Colonel Jones never grew that staple at El Dorado (St. Elmo). His wife's family (Mary Howard, whom he married in 1810) was also important in the establishment of Columbus. Jones created a flourishing law practice in Columbus, which later included both his son, John Abraham who was killed at Gettysburg, and his son-in-law, Henry L. Benning. Jones also invested in businesses such as City Mills, a grist mill which he began in 1828. A staunch Democrat, Jones served two terms in the U.S. Congress, 1833-1835 and 1845-1847; by 1860 he was a "fire-eating" (pro-secessionist) Democrat. At age 74, he served for a year in the Confederate army before an illness forced him to resign. He died two years later in 1864.

Henry L. Benning, best known as a Confederate general, was born in Columbia County, Georgia, and moved with his father, a prosperous planter to Harris County in 1832. Two years later he finished first in class at the University of Georgia. He read law under former Governor George W. B. Towns in Talbotton, moving to Columbus in 1835, was admitted to the bar, married Seaborn Jones's daughter (Mary Howard) in 1839, and entered his father-in-law's firm. While successful by almost any measure, Benning always felt he should have had a more distinguished political career and always envied his classmate Howell Cobb, who served as Speaker of the U. S. House and whose grades had not been as high as Benning's. In 1840, Benning lost a race for the General Assembly. Ten years later, he attended the Nashville Convention and advocated secession; espousing the same philosophy Benning was soundly defeated in the 1851 Congressional race by Unionist James Johnson. The state legislature elected Benning to the Supreme Court in 1853. There, he claimed that state supreme courts were "coequal" with U. S. Supreme Court, but Benning was removed from the court by the legislature because of his involvement with a bank scandal. Benning supported secession in the Georgia Convention and went to Richmond to urge Virginia to follow suit. When war came, he raised the 17th Georgia Infantry and therefore, served as its Colonel. He served in 21 engagements starting with the Seven Days in the summer of 1862. He commanded Robert Toombs's brigade when Toombs was absent, which was frequent. At Sharpsburg, his unit held the high ground beyond the bridge over Antietam Creek and inflicted heavy casualties on Ambrose Burnside's troops, thus earning Benning the nickname of "Old Rock." He led an attack on Little Round Top on the second day at Gettysburg. Later, his troops were shifted to the West where they participated in the Confederate break-through at Chickamauga and later in the battle of Knoxville. In May 1864 he was wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness, but returned to the army before Petersburg. By that time he was commanding a division and would have been promoted to Brigadier had the war had not ended. After the war, Benning returned to Columbus and resumed the practice of law, dying on his way to the court in 1875.

Biographies of Jones and Benning can be found in the Dictionary of Georgia Biography and in older biographical works of famous Georgians.