William Buel Franklin (February 27, 1823March 8, 1903) was a career

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

officer and a

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

general in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. He rose to the rank of a

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

commander in the

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confede ...

, fighting in several notable battles in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War. He also distinguished himself as a civil engineer before and after the war.

Early life and military career

William B. Franklin was born in

York, Pennsylvania York (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Yarrick''), known as the White Rose City (after the symbol of the House of York), is the county seat of York County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the south-central region of the state. The populatio ...

to Walter S. Franklin and Sarah Buel. His father was

Clerk of the United States House of Representatives The Clerk of the United States House of Representatives is an officer of the United States House of Representatives, whose primary duty is to act as the chief record-keeper for the House. Along with the other House officers, the Clerk is elec ...

from 1833 until 1838. One of his great-grandfathers, Samuel Rhoads, was a member of the First Continental Congress from Pennsylvania. Future

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

James Buchanan, then a Senator, appointed Franklin to the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

in June 1839. Franklin graduated first in the class of 1843 and joined the

Corps of Topographical Engineers The U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers was a branch of the United States Army authorized on 4 July 1838. It consisted only of officers who were handpicked from West Point and was used for mapping and the design and construction of federal ...

. His first assignment was to assist in the survey of the Great Lakes. Then, he was sent to the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

for two years to survey the region with the Stephen W. Kearny Expedition. He served under General John E. Wool during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

and received a brevet promotion to

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a ...

after the

Battle of Buena Vista The Battle of Buena Vista (February 22–23, 1847), known as the Battle of La Angostura in Mexico, and sometimes as Battle of Buena Vista/La Angostura, was a battle of the Mexican–American War. It was fought between the US invading forces, l ...

. Upon his return from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, Franklin was assigned various civil engineering duties in the War Department 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, ...

In 1857, he received promotion to captain and was named the Army Engineer Secretary of the Light House Board with the task to oversee the construction of several lighthouses along the Atlantic Coast in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

and

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. In November 1859, he replaced Montgomery C. Meigs as the engineer supervising construction of the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...

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. In 1852, Franklin married Anna L. Clarke, a daughter of

Matthew St. Clair Clarke Matthew St. Clair Clarke (1790 Greencastle, Franklin County, Pennsylvania - May 6, 1852 Washington, D.C.) was an American journalist, book author and politician. He was for seven terms Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. Life ...

who had preceded his father as Clerk of the House of Representatives. The Franklins had no children.

Civil War

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

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

of the 12th U.S. Infantry Regiment, but three days later, on May 17, 1861, he was promoted to

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

of volunteers.

Eastern Theater

Franklin became colonel of the 12th US Infantry on June 18, 1861. He commanded a brigade at Bull Run and afterwards became a division commander in the newly created

. Franklin was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on August 20 (backdated to May 17). In March 1862, the army was formed into corps, and Franklin was appointed to head the VI Corps, which he then led in the Peninsula Campaign. The VI Corps did not see extensive fighting in the

Seven Days Battles The Seven Days Battles were a series of seven battles over seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, comman ...

, aside from its 2nd Division which reinforced the V Corps at Gaines Mill. Franklin was one of two corps commanders (along with Erasmus Keyes of the IV Corps) who advocated retreat from Richmond rather than a counterattack. He was promoted to

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

on July 4, 1862. His command was with the main army and did not participate in the Northern Virginia Campaign. In the Maryland Campaign, he saw action against Gen.

Howell Cobb Howell Cobb (September 7, 1815 – October 9, 1868) was an American and later Confederate political figure. A southern Democrat, Cobb was a five-term member of the United States House of Representatives and the speaker of the House from 184 ...

at the

Crampton's Gap Crampton's Gap, also known as Crampton Gap, is a wind gap on South Mountain in Maryland. The gap connects Burkittsville in the Middletown Valley to the east with Gapland and Rohrersville in the Pleasant Valley to the west. Documentation o ...

during the

Battle of South Mountain The Battle of South Mountain—known in several early Southern accounts as the Battle of Boonsboro Gap—was fought on September 14, 1862, as part of the Maryland campaign of the American Civil War. Three pitched battles were fought for posses ...

. He cleared off the Crampton's Gap but did not advance further in order to strike the rear of the Stonewall Jackson's troops that were laying siege to

Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. It is located in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. stat ...

, which contributed to the factors causing the largest surrender of Federal forces during the Civil War that happened at the Battle of Harpers Ferry. During the Battle of Antietam, his VI Corps was in reserve and Franklin tried in vain to convince

Maj. Gen. Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Edwin V. Sumner to allow his corps to exploit a weak point in the Confederate center, but Sumner, who outranked him, refused. Franklin was a staunch ally of Major General

George B. McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...

, part of the reason he was not considered for command of the

following the latter's dismissal in November 1862. During the Battle of Fredericksburg, he commanded one of the three so-called ''grand divisions''—the ''Left Grand Division'', which consisted of the I and VI Corps. Franklin advanced against the Confederate right flank, commanded by Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, across the

Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the entir ...

to the south of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He failed to timely reinforce his subordinate Maj. Gen.

George G. Meade George Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer best known for decisively defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. H ...

and lost an opportunity to break through the Confederate positions. 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. Others who were there would disagree that Franklin executed his orders exactly. "Had the left grand division vigorously performed its part in the earlier movement, can any one doubt the result? I cannot think so. Had Meade, Reynolds, or Hancock been in command on the left that day, I feel confident that Fredericksburg would have been recorded a glorious victory instead of a horrible slaughter." As political intrigue swept the Union Army after the Battle of Fredericksburg and the infamous Mud March, Franklin allegedly became a principal instigator of the ''

cabal A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state, or another community, often by intrigue and usually unbeknownst to those who are outside their group. T ...

'' 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. When

Joseph Hooker Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879) was an American Civil War general for the Union, chiefly remembered for his decisive defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Hooker had serv ...

took command of the army that February, Franklin resigned his command, refusing to serve under him. During the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, Franklin was home in York, Pennsylvania, and assisted Maj. Granville Haller in developing plans for the defense of the region against an expected enemy attack.

Trans-Mississippi Theater

Eventually, Franklin was reassigned to the

Department of the Gulf The Department of the Gulf was a command of the United States Army in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and of the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. History United States Army (Civil War) Creation The department was co ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

under Gen.

Nathaniel P. Banks Nathaniel Prentice (or Prentiss) Banks (January 30, 1816 – September 1, 1894) was an American politician from Massachusetts and a Union general during the Civil War. A millworker by background, Banks was prominent in local debating societies, ...

. In September 1863, he tried to capture

Sabine Pass Sabine Pass is the natural outlet of Sabine Lake into the Gulf of Mexico. It borders Jefferson County, Texas, and Cameron Parish, Louisiana. History Civil War Two major battles occurred here during the American Civil War, known as the First and ...

during the Second Battle of Sabine Pass. The operation ended abruptly after the combined Union Army and Navy invasion force of four gunboats and seven troop transports under Franklin's command lost two warships. In March–May 1864, Franklin participated in the ill-fated Red River Campaign under

Banks A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

to occupy eastern

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

as commander of XIX Corps. On 8 April 1864, he was wounded in the leg at the

Battle of Mansfield A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

but stayed with the troops. After the Battle of Pleasant Hill he was replaced by Maj. Gen.

William H. Emory William Hemsley Emory (September 7, 1811 – December 1, 1887) was a prominent American surveyor and civil engineer in the 19th century. As an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers he specialized in mapping the United State ...

as his condition grew steadily worse. In July 1864, being on medical leave, he was captured by Maj. Harry Gilmor's Confederate partisans in a train near Washington, D.C., 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 to serve in any more senior commands, even with the assistance of his

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

classmate, friend, and future president, Ulysses S. Grant.

Postbellum

Following the Civil War, General Franklin relocated to Hartford, Connecticut, and became the vice-president of the Colt Firearms Manufacturing Company serving in that capacity until 1888, as well as serving on the boards of several other manufacturing companies, including being a vice president of a Hartford area insurance company. Between 1872 and 1880, he supervised the construction of the

Connecticut State Capitol The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the Ho ...

, and served on other commissions, where his engineering experience proved helpful for the public. He contributed to expanding Hartford's public water service, among other engineering achievements. For two years he also served as adjutant general of the Connecticut state militia. In 1872, Franklin was approached by a Pennsylvania and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

faction of the Democratic Party to run against Horace Greeley for the party's nomination as President of the United States, a task he declined, citing a need for party unity. He was a delegate to the 1876 Democratic National Convention. During the 1876 presidential election, he served as elector for Samuel J. Tilden. In June 1888, after his retirement from Colt Firearms, he was named as the U.S. Commissioner-General for the Paris Exposition of 1889, when he was made a grand officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. Between 1880 and 1899, he was president of the Board of Managers of the

National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was established on March 3, 1865, in the United States by Congress to provide care for volunteer soldiers who had been disabled through loss of limb, wounds, disease, or injury during service in ...

. William Franklin died in Hartford, Connecticut on March 8, 1903 of complications of senility and was buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery (York, Pennsylvania). He was one of a relatively few general officers in the Civil War to live into the 20th century.

Recognition

In 1861, Franklin was elected a Hereditary Member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati. He became a member of the

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or simply the Loyal Legion is a United States patriotic order, organized April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Army. The original membership was composed of members ...

. In 1887, he joined the Aztec Club of 1847 and was also a member of the Connecticut Society of Colonial Wars. Th
York County History Center
General William Buel Franklin Collection
''York County Heritage Trust'' in York, Pennsylvania, preserves many of his papers and personal effects from the Civil War.

References

External links

''National Park Service''

''Civil War Trust'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, William B. 1823 births 1903 deaths Connecticut Adjutant Generals Military personnel from Connecticut Presbyterians from Pennsylvania American people of English descent People from York, Pennsylvania Union Army generals Connecticut Democrats People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War American military personnel of the Mexican–American War Members of the Aztec Club of 1847 United States Military Academy alumni Franklin military family Colt's Manufacturing Company