Henry Bell Van Rensselaer (May 14, 1810 – March 23, 1864) was an American military man, an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and a politician who served in the United States Congress as a Representative from the state of New York. Early life Henry Van Rensselaer was born at the manor house in Albany, New York. His father was Stephen Van Rensselaer III, the patroon of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, who was also a United States Representative and founder of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The Van Rensselaers belong to the King family of Massachusetts and New York City. His mother, Cornelia Paterson, was the daughter of William Paterson, who served as Governor of New Jersey and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1831. Career He was appointed a brevet Second Lieutenant of the Fifth Regiment, United States Infantry on July 1, 1831, and resigned January 27, 1832. He then engaged in agricultural pursuits near Ogdensburg, New York, and served as a military aide to Governor William H. Seward from 1839 to 1840. Upon his father's death in 1839, Van Rensselaer, as the fifth son, inherited the wild lands in St. Lawrence County along the St. Lawrence River. His eldest brother, Stephen Van Rensselaer IV inherited the manor on the Albany side of the Hudson River. Van Rensselaer was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh United States Congress, and served from March 4, 1841 to March 3, 1843. He was subsequently president of several mining companies, including the American Mineral Company and the Consolidated Franklinite Company. He was a director of the Northern Railroad (later the Rutland Railroad), but resigned to help found the Ogdensburg, Clayton and Rome Railroad. U.S. Civil War Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, he reentered the military service with the rank of colonel in the Union Army, and was appointed chief of staff to General Winfield Scott as a brigadier general. After Scott's retirement, Van Rensselaer was reappointed as a colonel, and from November 1861 until his death, he served as an inspector general of several corps and departments including the 1st Army Corps, Department of the Rappahannock, 3rd Army Corps and Department of the Ohio. Personal life On August 22, 1833, Van Rensselaer married Elizabeth Ray King (1815–1900), daughter of