William B. Franklin

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William B. Franklin

William Buel Franklin (February 27, 1823 – March 8, 1903) was a career United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
officer and a Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the army that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S....
general in the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
. He rose to the rank of a corps

Corps

A Corps is either a large formation , or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service....
commander in the Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac

The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War of the American Civil War....
, fighting in several notable early battles in the Eastern Theater

Eastern Theater of the American Civil War

This article presents an overview of major military and naval operations in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War....
.

iam B. Franklin was born in York, Pennsylvania

York, Pennsylvania

York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in South Central Pennsylvania. The population was 40,862 at the United States Census 2000....
. His father, Walter S. Franklin

Walter S. Franklin (government)

Walter S. Franklin was a politician from Pennsylvania who was the seventh Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1833 until his untimely death in 1838....
, was Clerk of the United States House of Representatives

Clerk of the United States House of Representatives

The Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives is an officer of the United States House of Representatives whose primary role is acting as the House's chief record-keeper....
. One of his great-grandfathers, Samuel Rhoads

Samuel Rhoads

Samuel Rhoads was a leading citizen of 18th century Philadelphia. He designed Pennsylvania Hospital and was a master of the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia....
, was a member of the First Continental Congress

First Continental Congress

The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen Kingdom of Great Britain North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution....
from Pennsylvania.

Future President

President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
James Buchanan

James Buchanan

James Buchanan, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the last to be born in the 18th century....
, then a Senator, appointed Franklin to the United States Military Academy

United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational United States Service academies located at West Point, New York, New York....
in June 1839.

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Encyclopedia

William Buel Franklin (February 27, 1823 – March 8, 1903) was a career United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
officer and a Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the army that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S....
general in the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
. He rose to the rank of a corps

Corps

Army of the Potomac

The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War of the American Civil War....
, fighting in several notable early battles in the Eastern Theater

Eastern Theater of the American Civil War

This article presents an overview of major military and naval operations in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War....
.

Early life

William B. Franklin was born in York, Pennsylvania

York, Pennsylvania

York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in South Central Pennsylvania. The population was 40,862 at the United States Census 2000....
. His father, Walter S. Franklin

Walter S. Franklin (government)

Clerk of the United States House of Representatives

Samuel Rhoads

First Continental Congress

President of the United States

James Buchanan

United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational United States Service academies located at West Point, New York, New York....
in June 1839. Franklin graduated first in his class in 1843, before joining the Topographical Engineers and being sent to the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
for two years to survey the region. He then was assigned to duty in the administrative offices in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
He served under Philip Kearny

Philip Kearny

Philip Kearny, Jr., was a United States Army officer, notably in the Mexican-American War and American Civil War. He was killed in action in the 1862 Battle of Chantilly....
during the Mexican-American War and received a brevet

Brevet (military)

In the U.K. and U.S. military, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher Military rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank....
promotion to first lieutenant

First Lieutenant

First Lieutenant is a military rank.The rank of Lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank....
in the Battle of Buena Vista

Battle of Buena Vista

The Battle of Buena Vista , also known as the Battle of Angostura, saw the United States United States Army use artillery to repulse the much larger Mexico army in the Mexican-American War....
.

Upon his return from Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, Franklin served as a professor at West Point for three years before supervising the construction of several lighthouses along the Atlantic Coast

Atlantic Coast

The Atlantic Coast is any coast fronting the Atlantic Ocean. The term differentiates the coasts of countries or continents with coastlines on more than one body of water, such as North America, South America, Africa and Europe....
in New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a U.S. state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States of America. The state was named after the southern English Counties of England of Hampshire....
and Maine

Maine

The State of Maine is a U.S. state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, New Hampshire to the southwest, the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast....
. He married Anna L. Clarke, a native of Washington, D.C., in 1852. The couple had no children. In March 1857, he was named the supervisor of the Light House Board and oversaw the construction program across the nation.

In November 1859, he replaced Montgomery C. Meigs

Montgomery C. Meigs

Montgomery Cunningham Meigs was a career United States Army officer, civil engineer, construction engineer for a number of facilities in Washington, D.C., and Quartermaster General of the U.S....
as the engineer supervising construction of the United States Capitol

United States Capitol

The United States Capitol serves as the seat of government for the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States....
Dome. In March 1861, just before the outbreak of the Civil War, he was appointed as the supervising architect for the new Treasury Building in Washington.

Civil War

Soon after the beginning of the Civil War, Franklin was appointed colonel

Colonel (United States)

In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, Colonel is a senior field officer United States Military Officer military rank just above the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and just below the rank of Brigadier General ....
of the 12th U.S. Infantry

U.S. 12th Infantry Regiment

The 12th Infantry Regiment is a regiment of the United States Army. The Regiment has fought in seven wars from the American Civil War to Iraq War and has been awarded three Presidential Unit Citations, three Valorous Unit Awards and the Belgian Fourragere....
, but three days later, on May 17, 1861, he was promoted to brigadier general

Brigadier general (United States)

A brigadier general in the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, is a 1 star rank general officer, with the U.S....
of volunteers. He quickly rose from brigade to corps command in the Army of the Potomac and saw action in the Peninsula Campaign

Peninsula Campaign

The Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War was a major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War....
, the Battle of Antietam

Battle of Antietam

The Battle of Antietam , fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern United States soil....
, and the Battle of Fredericksburg

Battle of Fredericksburg

The Battle of Fredericksburg, fought in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, from December 11 to December 15, 1862, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate States Army Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major general Ambrose E....
. He was promoted to major general

Major general (United States)

In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a 2 star rank general officer rank, with the U.S....
on July 4, 1862. At Antietam, his VI Corps

VI Corps (ACW)

The VI Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War....
was in reserve and he tried in vain to convince Maj. Gen.

Major General

Major General or Major-General is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of Sergeant Major General. A Major General is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of Lieutenant General and senior to the ranks of Brigadier and Brigadier General....
Edwin V. Sumner to allow his corps to exploit a weakened position in the Confederate

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was a military organization whose primary mission was to provide the necessary forces and capabilities to support the National Security and defense of the Confederate States of America during its brief existence from 1861 to 1865....
center. At Fredericksburg, he commanded the "Left Grand Division" (two corps, under Maj. Gens. John F. Reynolds

John F. Reynolds

John Fulton Reynolds was a career United States Army officer and a General officer in the American Civil War. One of the Union Army's most respected senior commanders, despite having a relatively limited amount of combat experience in the war, he played a key role in committing the Army of the Potomac to the Battle of Gettysburg and was kill...
and William F. Smith

William Farrar Smith

William Farrar Smith , was a civil engineer, a member of the police commission, and Union army General officer in the American Civil War....
), which failed in its assaults against the Confederate right, commanded by Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson

Stonewall Jackson

Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War, and probably the most well-known Confederate commander after General Robert E....
. Army of the Potomac commander Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside blamed Franklin personally for this failure, although he appears to have executed his orders exactly.

As political intrigue swept the Union Army after Fredericksburg and the infamous Mud March, Franklin was alleged to be a principal instigator of the "cabal" against Burnside's leadership. Burnside caused considerable political difficulty for Franklin in return, offering damaging testimony before the powerful U.S. Congress Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War and keeping him from field duty for months. During the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign

Gettysburg Campaign

File:Meade and Lee.jpgThe Gettysburg Campaign was a series of battles fought in June and July 1863, during the American Civil War. After his victory in the Battle of Chancellorsville, Confederate States Army Full General Robert E....
, Franklin was home in York, Pennsylvania, and assisted Maj.

Major

In many European languages, the term Major refers to a military rank, denoting seniority at one of usually various levels of rank, for example: "Sergeant-Major" denoting the most senior ranking sergeant of a large military unit; "Captain-Major", denoting a mid-level command status Officer ...
Granville Haller in developing plans for the defense of the region versus an expected enemy attack.

Franklin was reassigned to corps command in the Department of the Gulf and participated in the ill-fated 1864 Red River Campaign

Red River Campaign

The Red River Campaign or Red River Expedition consisted of a series of battles fought along the Red River in Louisiana during the American Civil War from March 10 to May 22, 1864....
. He was wounded in the leg at the Battle of Mansfield

Battle of Mansfield

The Battle of Mansfield, also known as the Battle of Sabine Crossroads or Pleasant Grove, on April 8, 1864, in De Soto Parish, Louisiana, was the first major clash of the Union Army's Red River Campaign during the American Civil War....
in Louisiana

Louisiana

The State of Louisiana is a U.S. state located in the U.S. Southern States of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans....
. Returning from the field with his injury, he was captured by Maj. Harry Gilmor

Harry Gilmor

Harry W. Gilmor served as Baltimore Police Department in the 1870s, but he was most noted as a Confederate States Army cavalry officer during the American Civil War....
's Confederate partisan

Partisan (military)

A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation. The term can apply to the field element of resistance movements that opposed Nazi Germany rule in several countries during World War II, or those who after the war fought the Soviet Union in the Eastern blo...
s in a train near Washington, D.C., in July 1864, but escaped the following day. The remainder of his army career was limited by disability from his wound and marred by his series of political and command misfortunes. He was unable serve in any more senior commands, even with the assistance of his West Point

United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational United States Service academies located at West Point, New York, New York....
classmate, friend, and future president, Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant, born Hiram Ulysses Grant , was an United States general and the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States ....
.

Postbellum

Following the Civil War, General Franklin relocated to Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford is the Capital of the Connecticut. It is located in Hartford County, Connecticut on the Connecticut River, north of the center of the state, south of Springfield, Massachusetts....
, and became the general manager of the Colt Firearms Manufacturing Company

Colt's Manufacturing Company

Colt's Manufacturing Company is a United States firearms manufacturer founded in 1847. It is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of dozens of different firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century....
until 1888, as well as a director on the boards of several manufacturing concerns. He supervised the construction of the Connecticut State Capitol Building, and served on various boards and commissions, where his engineering experience proved helpful in expanding Hartford's public water service.

In 1872, Franklin was approached by a Pennsylvania and New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
faction of the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party . It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world....
to run against Horace Greeley

Horace Greeley

Horace Greeley was an United States editor of a leading History of American newspapers, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party , a reformer, and a politician....
for the party's nomination as President of the United States, a task he declined, citing a need for party unity. He was vice president of a Hartford area insurance company, and a delegate to the 1876 Democratic National Convention

Democratic National Convention

The Democratic National Convention is a series of U.S. presidential nominating convention held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party....
. In June 1888, after his retirement from Colt Firearms, he was named as the U.S. Commissioner-General for the Paris Exposition of 1889

Exposition Universelle (1889)

The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a World's Fair held in Paris, France from May 6, to October 31, 1889.It was held during the year of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event traditionally considered as the symbol for the beginning of the French Revolution....
.

William Franklin died in Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford is the Capital of the Connecticut. It is located in Hartford County, Connecticut on the Connecticut River, north of the center of the state, south of Springfield, Massachusetts....
, and is buried near his birthplace in York, Pennsylvania, in Prospect Hill Cemetery. The York Country Heritage Trust preserves many of his papers and personal effects from the Civil War.

William B. Franklin

Early life

Civil War

Postbellum

See also

Further reading

External links