Benjamin Brown French (1800–1870) was a politician, telegraph business leader, Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Public Commissioner of Buildings in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He was a member of the

New Hampshire legislature The General Court of New Hampshire is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members. The upper house is the New Hampshire Senate with 24 memb ...

from 1831 until 1833. He moved to Washington, D.C., where he served as Clerk of the United States House of Representatives from 1845 until 1847 and was appointed Commissioner of Public Buildings. He compiled an album of

salt print The salt print was the dominant paper-based photographic process for producing positive prints (from negatives) from 1839 until approximately 1860. The salted paper technique was created in the mid-1830s by English scientist and inventor Henry ...

and

albumen print The albumen print, also called albumen silver print, was published in January 1847 by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, and was the first commercially exploitable method of producing a photographic print on a paper base from a negative. It us ...

photographs related to construction of the

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

dome and other sites. He was also involved in the burgeoning

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

industry developed by

Samuel Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...

and others. His journals were published posthumously in edited form as ''Witness to the Young Republic''. The August 30, 1845, issue of the Baltimore ''

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

'' led to the composition of a ballad by French about Luther Fuller who died aboard the steamboat ''Erie''. It was printed on September 5. French was very active in a number of clubs and societies, particularly

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. In the 1850s, he was Grand Master of the Knights Templar of the United States. He succeeded William S. Wood as Commissioner of Public Buildings in the fall of 1861. He was present at

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

's inauguration (and was president of the inaugural ball committee), and is reported to have physically restrained

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth th ...

, who had gained access to the capitol rotunda, and was trying to push through the crowd. French was also present for the

Gettysburg Address The Gettysburg Address is a Public speaking, speech that President of the United States, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, Soldiers' National Cemetery, ...

, and oversaw Lincoln's funeral. He gave the main speech April 14, 1868, at the dedication of the Abraham Lincoln statue at Washington's City Hall. He composed a hymn for the

consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg The Consecration of the Soldiers' National Cemetery was the ceremony at which U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. In addition to the 15,000 spectators, attendees included six state governors: An ...

Amos Tuck French Amos Tuck French (July 20, 1863 – November 15, 1941) was an American banker who was prominent in society. Early life French was born on July 20, 1863 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the son of Ellen (née Tuck) French (1838–1915) and Franci ...

was his great-grandson.

Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture ''The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monume ...

, the sculptor of the Statue of Abraham Lincoln at the

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...

, was French's nephew. His journals were donated to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

by an heir. His Capitol Hill home had been next to where the library was built. The journals were edited into a book and published as ''Witness to the Young Republic''. Historian

Joanne B. Freeman Joanne B. Freeman (born April 27, 1962) is a U.S. historian and tenured Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University. Having researched Alexander Hamilton both independently and collaboratively with mentors and peers for more tha ...

drew extensively upon these journals as a resource when writing her 2018 book, ''The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War''.

References

Further reading