William Worth Belknap (September 22, 1829 – October 12, 1890) was a lawyer, Union Army officer, government administrator in Iowa, and the 30th United States secretary of war, serving under President Ulysses S. Grant. Belknap was impeached on March 2, 1876, for his role in the trader post scandal but was acquitted by the Senate. Belknap was the first cabinet secretary in U.S. history to be impeached.
A native of New York, Belknap graduated from the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, in 1848, studied law with a Georgetown attorney, and passed the bar in 1851. He moved to Iowa, where he practiced law in partnership with Ralph P. Lowe. Belknap entered politics as a Democrat and served one term in the Iowa House of Representatives. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Belknap joined the Union Army. A tall burly man, Belknap was a natural Union Army leader and recruiter. A veteran of the Iowa Home Guard who had attained the rank of captain, he was commissioned as a major in the 15th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He took part in numerous engagements, including Shiloh, where he was wounded, and Corinth. He served as a regimental, brigade, division, and corps commander, and served in high-level staff positions. By the end of the war, Belknap had been promoted to brigadier general and received a brevet promotion to major general of volunteers.
After declining a regular Army commission, Belknap was appointed Iowa's Collector of Internal Revenue by President Andrew Johnson; he served with distinction for four years. In 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Belknap as Secretary of War. During his tenure, Belknap ordered portraits of all the previous secretaries, intending to create a complete collection in honor of the United States Centennial. In 1871, Belknap was investigated by Congress, after he was directly involved in the sale of arms and munitions to France, while the United States was ostensibly neutral during the Franco-Prussian War. The same year, Belknap had arranged aid for victims of the catastrophic Chicago Fire.
During the Reconstruction era, Belknap's War Department and the U.S. military worked under the supervision of President Ulysses S. Grant and the United States Attorney General's office to occupy the former Confederacy and attempt to implement changes in government and the economy, while protecting freedmen from an increasingly violent insurgency. Belknap supported Grant's Reconstruction policy, which most Democrats opposed.
In 1875, Grant, Belknap, and other members of Grant's administration secretly agreed to remove troops from the Black Hills after gold was discovered. The US had protected the area from white settlers as part of a US treaty with the Lakota. The withdrawal of troops allowed a gold rush of white settlers to take place, and the US took de facto possession after the Lakota refused to sell their sacred lands. In 1876, the trader post scandal at Fort Sill led to Belknap's sudden resignation, impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House, and trial by the Senate. While a majority of senators voted to convict, they lacked the two-thirds required, and Belknap was acquitted. Judge Arthur MacArthur Sr. dismissed Belknap's Washington D. C. federal trial. Belknap resumed practicing law in Washington; he continued to be popular among Iowa Civil War veterans and was active until he died of a heart attack in 1890. One historian described Belknap as a man of both virtues and flaws, a talented lawyer, administrator, and military officer, but whose personal corruption overshadowed his positive qualities. Historians have largely forgotten Belknap's heroic Union Civil War service.
Early life and career
William Worth Belknap was born in Newburgh, New York on September 22, 1829, the son of career soldier William G. Belknap and Anne Clark Belknap.Dictionary of American Biography (1936), William Worth Belknap Belknap's father fought with distinction in the War of 1812, the Florida War, and Mexican–American War."Belknap's Sudden Death", New York Times (October 14, 1890) Belknap attended the local schools in Newburgh, and graduated from the College of New Jersey at Princeton in 1848. In addition to attending Princeton with Hiester Clymer, the Democratic Congressman who later led the investigation into Belknap's War Department corruption, Belknap was a college contemporary of Grant's Secretary of Navy George M. Robeson, who was one year behind Clymer and Belknap at Princeton. After graduation, he studied law with Georgetown attorney Hugh E. Caperton. After passing an examination by Judge William Cranch in 1851, Belknap was admitted to the Washington, D.C. bar, and began looking for a place to settle and begin his career.
He moved west to Keokuk, Iowa, and entered into a partnership with Ralph P. Lowe. Deciding to make Iowa his permanent residence, in 1854, Belknap had a home built in Keokuk. He joined the Democratic Party and successfully ran for state office in 1856, serving in the Iowa House of Representatives from the 54th district between 1858 and 1860. Belknap was looked on as a rising Iowa Democratic leader. Belknap also joined a local company of the Iowa Home Guard, the Keokuk City Rifles, and he attained the rank of captain.
Marriages and family In 1854 Belknap married Cora LeRoy, who died in 1862. They had one child together, Hugh R. Belknap, who served as a U.S. representative from Illinois.Koster (2010), pp. 59–60. Belknap married Carita S. Tomlinson of Kentucky in January 1869; she died of tuberculosis shortly after childbirth in December 1870.
Belknap married again on December 11, 1873, to Amanda (née Tomlinson) Bower, his second wife's widowed sister. They had a daughter, Alice Belknap, born November 28, 1874. Alice Belknap was considered one of Washington society's most sought-after belles.Form: An Illustrated Weekly Pub. Every Sat. in the Interests of American Society at Home and Abroad In 1897 she reportedly converted to Judaism for her engagement to Paul May, an attaché of the Belgian legation in Washington. The engagement was broken the following year, and in June 1898 Alice Belknap married William Barklie Henry of Philadelphia.
American Civil War
When the American Civil War started, Belknap remained loyal to the Union as a pro-war Democrat. He first saw action in the Battle of Athens as the captain of the Keokuk City Rifles, a company of the Iowa Home Guard. He enlisted in the Union Army as a volunteer on November 7, 1861, and commissioned as a major. On December 7 he was mustered in and tasked with raising and equipping the 15th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. Belknap was assigned to Companies F&S. A rugged, charismatic and handsome man, Belknap was well-suited to the rigors of being a soldier. At over six feet tall and 200 pounds, with blue eyes, and fair hair, mustache, and beard, Belknap was regarded a natural leader described as "a fine type of Saxon-American manhood". In addition, the public speaking skills and powers of persuasion he developed as a lawyer made him an effective recruiter. Belknap was a natural soldier, whose leadership skills, loud voice, and militia experience were assets in the training of newly enlisted privates.Ingersoll (1880), pp. 566–577
Shiloh, Corinth, and Vicksburg
In March 1862, Maj. Belknap and the 15th Iowa Volunteer Infantry were mustered into military action. Traveling by steamer from St. Louis, Belknap was sent to the front at the Battle of Shiloh; arriving at Pittsburgh Landing on April 6 joining the Army of the Tennessee, under the authority of Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Belknap and his men were ordered to the front to serve under Maj. Gen Benjamin M. Prentiss at the Hornet's Nest. Belknap and his raw 15th Iowa Volunteer Infantry troops were forced to fight like regular army veterans on Prentiss's depleted line. Belknap was slightly wounded in the shoulder, and his horse was shot and killed from under him. Afterwards he continued on the field on foot. Reinforced, the Union Army under General Grant, forced the Confederates to retreat back to Corinth, and Shiloh was considered a Union victory.
After Shiloh, Belknap served as acting commander of the 15th Iowa Volunteer Infantry at the Battle of Corinth. Col. Hugh T. Reid, commander of the 15th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, had been severely injured in the neck at Shiloh and removed from active duty.Belknap-Tyler (1887), p. 609 Col. Reid stated that at Shiloh Belknap, "was always in the right place at the right time, directing and encouraging officers and men as coolly as a veteran" At Corinth, Belknap was noted for his "conspicuous gallantry". After Corinth, Belknap and the 15th Iowa Volunteer Infantry for a time served on guard duty. Belknap was formally promoted from major to lieutenant colonel on August 20, 1862. Belknap was promoted from lieutenant colonel to colonel of the Iowa 15th Volunteer Infantry on June 3, 1863.
The Union capture of Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi, was vital and would split the Confederacy in two. Belknap's primary military operation took place at the Siege of Vicksburg until Confederate General John C. Pemberton surrendered to Union General Grant on July 4, 1863. Colonel Belknap, Fifteenth Iowa, was part of the Third Brigade of the Sixth Division serving under Major General John McArthur.
On December 24, 1863, Belknap was in command of the 11th Iowa Volunteer Infantry and the 15th Iowa Volunteer Infantry reinforcing Redbone, Mississippi, south of Vicksburg. On February 26, 1864, Belknap served as provost marshal of post in Canton, Mississippi.
Battle of Atlanta, Battle of Ezra Church, and March to the Sea
On June 8, 1864, Col. Belknap and the veteran 15th Iowa Volunteer Infantry were transferred to the 4th Division, XVII Corps at Ackworth, Georgia. On July 22, 1864, at the Battle of Atlanta, Belknap served with distinction, fighting against the 45th Alabama Infantry.Severance (2012), Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Alabama in the Civil War, p. 213 Belknap and his Iowa troops dug in and set up earthworks and a parapet around Bald Hill. The 45th Alabama infantry led by Confederate Col. Harris D. Lampley, assaulted the entrenched Union line two times but were repelled by massive Union gun power. On the second attempt, Lampley and his remaining men crossed over to the Union line for hand-to-hand combat. Lampley, who had been shot, cursed his men who had fallen or were retreating. In the midst of the fierce fighting the burly Belknap grabbed the wounded Lampley by the collar, spun him around to face the Confederate lines, and shouted, "Look at your men! They are dead! What are you cursing them for!?"Belknap-Tyler (1887), p. 24 Belknap took the wounded Lampley prisoner; he was held until his death on August 24.
William H. Chamberlain of the 81st Ohio Infantry Regiment later wrote: "The next day [July 23, 1864] I remember seeing Colonel Wm. W. Belknap of the 15th Iowa (afterward Brigadier-General and Secretary of War). He was a brawny, red-bearded giant in appearance, and it was told of him that he had captured a number of prisoners by pulling them over the breastworks by main force, so closely were the lines engaged."W. H. Chamberlin. "Hood's Second Sortie at Atlanta," in Johnson, Robert Underwood and Buel, Clarence Clough, edd., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. IV, p. 331. .