Henry Marie Brackenridge

Henry Marie Brackenridge (May 11, 1786 – January 18, 1871) was an American writer, lawyer, judge, superintendent, and U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania. Born in Pittsburgh in 1786, he was educated by his father, the writer and judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge, private tutors, and at the Pittsburgh Academy, now known as the University of Pittsburgh, before attending a French academy at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. He studied law and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1806, then practiced in Somerset, Pennsylvania. Brackenridge subsequently moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was a lawyer and journalist. In 1811, he became the first recorded tourist to present-day South Dakota, hosted by fur trader Manuel Lisa. Henry was appointed deputy attorney general and district judge of Louisiana in 1812. He played an intelligence role during the War of 1812, and in 1814 published a history of the war. In 1817 he was appointed secretary of a mission to South America.