Benjamin Franklin Whittemore, also known as B. F. Whittemore (May 18, 1824 – January 25, 1894), was a minister, politician, and publisher in the United States. After his theological studies, he was a minister and then during the Civil War, a chaplain for Massachusetts regiments. Stationed in South Carolina at the end of the war, he accepted a position of superintendent of education for the

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...

. A Republican, he was elected a U.S. Representative from South Carolina. He was censured in 1870 for selling appointments to the United States Naval Academy and other military academies. He spent his later years in Massachusetts, where he was a publisher.

Early life and education

Born in

Malden, Massachusetts Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people. History Malden, a hilly woodland area north of the Mystic River, was settled by Puritans in 1640 on la ...

, Whittemore was the son of Susan Floyd and John Whittemore, who were married on June 22, 1823. They were both from Malden. He attended the public schools of Worcester, and studied at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

. Retrieved on 2008-11-04. Whittemore worked in mercantile establishments over the period that he studied theology.

Minister and chaplain

In 1859, he became a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church of the New England Conference. During the Civil War, Whittemore served as

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

of the 53rd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, and later with the

30th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment The 30th Massachusetts was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 30th Massachusetts was initially organized at Camp Chase in Lowell, Massachusetts by Benjamin F. Butler as the "Easter ...

, Veteran Volunteers.

Freedmen's Bureau

When the war ended, he was stationed in the Darlington district in South Carolina and he decided to stay there. From 1865 to 1867, he held the position of superintendent of education for the

. He established around 60 schools and churches and he met with freedmen and others in the community to develop educational programs. He founded the ''New Era'', a weekly newspaper, in Darlington in 1865. He was editor in 1865 and the following year James H. Norwood was the editor. The paper was "devoted to the restoration, reconstruction, and union of the States".

Career and Resignation

He served as delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1867 and was elected president of the Republican State executive board in 1867. He was elected to the

South Carolina Senate The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives. It consists of 46 senators elected from single member districts for four-year terms at the sa ...

in 1868, but resigned before the session to take a seat in Congress. He served as delegate to the

1868 Republican National Convention The 1868 Republican National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in Crosby's Opera House, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, on May 20 to May 21, 1868. Ulysses S. Grant won the election and became the 18th president of t ...

. Upon the readmission of South Carolina to the Union, Whittemore was elected as a Republican to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses and served from July 18, 1868, to February 24, 1870, when he resigned under the eminent threat of expulsion from the House. He was

censured A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spi ...

by the House of Representatives on February 24, 1870, for selling an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, United States Military Academy at West Point, and other military academies for up to $2,000 each appointment. He presented credentials of a second election to the same Congress on June 18, 1870, but the House declined to allow him to take his seat. Some of his constituents claimed that they had a right to vote in whoever they wanted, as long as they "met the constitutional qualifications of citizenship, age and residence." In response, Representative John A. Logan from Illinois stated that the House does have the right to reject a man of his character. "He is not merely a representative of the constituents who elect him, but his vote in this house is a vote for the whole nation. If Congress shall not have the power to exclude a man of that kind, then the rights of the people of the whole country may be destroyed." Whittemore was elected to the South Carolina senate on November 22, 1870. He served until 1877, when he resigned.

Reconstruction era violence

After the assassinations of S. G. W. Dill (d. June 4, 1868) and B. F. Randolph (d. October 16, 1868), the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

issued a letter that was printed in a newspaper warning Whittemore that he could meet the same fate as Dill, Randolph, and others. During the latter part of the Reconstruction era (1870 to 1877), there was increasing violence by Red Shirts,

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

insurgents who worked to suppress black voting. Democrats then regained power in the state legislature and began to pass laws to restrict voter registration and reduce the civil rights of freedmen. In 1876, South Carolina representative

Alfred Rush Alfred Rush (died May 13, 1876) was a state representative in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era, serving two non-consecutive terms between 1868 and 1876. Rush was one of four men who represented Darlington County, South Carolina, three ...

, an African American freedman, was assassinated near his home in Darlington County. Whittemore wrote a letter to Governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain expressing concern. He asked for a reward and investigation. The letter was signed by 17 more people, including the local sheriff, two judges, and officials. A reward was offered and an investigation completed, but no one was found guilty of the crime.

Later years

Whittemore returned to Massachusetts, settling in Woburn where he was a publisher.

Personal life

Whittemore married Mandanna Dora (M. Dora) Stone, the daughter of George and Betsey Stone, on August 22, 1854, in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Mandanna taught at the

Fitchburg High School Fitchburg High School is a public high school in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The school is part of the Fitchburg Public Schools district. History Fitchburg High School has existed in some capacity since 1830, when its fir ...

. They had two children. By 1860, Rev. B.F. Whittemore was a member of a masonic lodge in Connecticut. He was initiated at the Hiram Lodge in Virginia in 1865 and transferred to the Mount Horeb Lodge in Woburn, Massachusetts on January 7, 1880. His wife M. Dora Stone Whittemmore died in Woburn on June 7, 1872, at the age of 65. He died in Montvale, on January 25, 1894. He was interred in the Salem Street Cemetery in Woburn, as was his wife Mandanna (also Mandana) Dora Stone.