William W. Belknap

William Worth Belknap (born September 22, 1829 in Hudson , New York , † October 13, 1890 in Washington, DC ) was an American major general , lawyer and the 30th Secretary of War of the United States under President Ulysses S. Grant . He was the only Minister of War to be removed from office due to impeachment by the House of Representatives .

Life

Belknap was born on September 22, 1829 in Hudson on the eastern border of New York. He graduated from Princeton University in 1848 and then studied law at Georgetown University . Then he was admitted to the bar in 1851 and was in Keokuk ( Iowa active) as legal counsel. In 1857 he was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives for a one-year term .

He joined the 15th Iowa Infantry as a major on the Union side in 1861 and fought in the battles at Shiloh , Corinth, and Vicksburg during the Civil War . Belknap was promoted to Brigadier General of the Union Army and was given command of the 4th Division. In this role he participated in General William T. Sherman's operations in Georgia and North and South Carolinas . He left the military in 1865 with the rank of major general.

He was married a total of three times, after the deaths of his first two wives Cora LeRoy and Caroline Tomlinson (1836-1870), he married Amanda Tomlinson Bower (1840-1916), the widowed sister of his second wife. In 1866 he was named Iowa Tax Controller, a position he held until 1869.

On October 25, 1869, he was appointed Secretary of War in his cabinet by President Grant . His predecessor was John Aaron Rawlins . During this time, he proposed to Congress that May 1 be the start of the fiscal year and made efforts to protect Yellowstone National Park .

Belknap was guilty of corruption and bribery and in 1870 sold weapons from state depots to France for his benefit . Therefore, in 1876 he was convicted of gross bribery and removed from his office. Although he confessed, he was acquitted of any punishment by the Senate , in which the Republican Party dominated, for lack of jurisdiction in the Senate. Alphonso Taft followed him into the office of Minister of War .

Belknap first moved to Philadelphia , but then returned to Washington to return to practice as a lawyer. He died of a heart attack on October 13, 1890 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery .

literature

Edward S. Cooper: William Worth Belknap: An American Disgrace. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2003, ISBN 0838639909
Lurton Dunham Ingersoll: A History of the War Department of the United States: With Biographical Sketches of the Secretaries , BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, ISBN 0559378661

Web links

Commons : William W. Belknap - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Belknap, William W.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Belknap, William Worth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American general, lawyer, and politician
DATE OF BIRTH	September 22, 1829
PLACE OF BIRTH	Hudson , New York
DATE OF DEATH	October 13, 1890
Place of death	Washington, DC