Major General William B. Franklin (USA)

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Major General William Buel Franklin (USA)

William Buel Franklin was born in York, Pennsylvania on 27 February 1823. Senator James Buchanan appointed Franklin to the United States Military Academy in 1839. Franklin graduated first in the class of 1843 and joined the Corps of Topographical Engineers. He assisted in the survey of the Great Lakes and surveyed the Rocky Mountains with Stephen W. Kearny. During the Mexican-American War, he served under General John E. Wool and received a brevet promotion to first lieutenant after the Battle of Buena Vista.

In 1857, he was promoted to captain and was named the Army Engineer Secretary of the Light House Board with the task to oversee construction of several lighthouse along the Atlantic Coast in New Hampshire and Maine. In November 1859, he replaced Montgomery C. Meigs as the engineer supervising construction of the United States Capitol Dome. In March 1861, he was appointed supervising architect for the new Treasury Building.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Franklin was appointed colonel of the 12th U.S. Infantry, but three days later, on 17 May 1861, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. At the First Battle of Bull Run, he commanded the 1st Brigade of Samuel P. Heintzelman’s 3rd Division. He then became a division commander in the new Army of the Potomac. In March 1862, the army was formed into corps, and Franklin was appointed to command VI Corps, which he led in the Peninsula Campaign. He was promoted to major general on 4 July 1862.

He saw action against Gen. Howell Cobb at Crampton’s Gap during the Battle of South Mountain in September 1862. He cleared off Crampton’s Gap but did not advance further to strike the rear of Stonewall Jackson’s troops laying siege to Harpers Ferry. The large garrison was forced to surrender.

During the Battle of Antietam, VI Corps was in reserve and Franklin tried in vain to convince wing commander Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner to allow his corps to exploit a weak point in the Confederate center.

Because he was a staunch ally of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, he was not considered for command of the Army of the Potomac following McClellan’s dismissal in November 1862. During the Battle of Fredericksburg, he commanded the Left Grand Division consisting of I and VI Corps. Franklin advanced against the Confederate right flank, commanded by Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson, across the Rappahannock River to the south of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He failed to timely reinforce his subordinate Maj. Gen. George G. Meade and lost an opportunity to break through. 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 Mud March, Franklin allegedly became 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 War and keeping him from field duty for months. Franklin refused to serve under new commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, resigning and returning home. During the Gettysburg Campaign, Franklin was in York, Pennsylvania and assisted Maj. Granville Haller in developing defensive plans for the region against an expected enemy attack.

Franklin was reassigned to the Department of the Gulf in New Orleans under Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks. In September 1863, he tried to capture Sabine Pass. The operation ended abruptly after the combined Union Army and Navy invasion force lost two warships.

In March-May 1864, he participated in the ill-fated Red River Campaign to occupy eastern Texas as commander of XIX Corps. On 8 April 1864, he was wounded at the Battle of Mansfield but stayed with the troops. After the Battle of Pleasant Hill, he was replaced by Maj. Gen. William H. Emory as his condition grew steadily worse. In July 1864, 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 classmate and friend, Ulysses S. Grant.

Following the war, Franklin relocated to Hartford, Connecticut, and became the vice-president of the Colt Firearms Manufacturing Company until 1888. He served on the boards of several other manufacturing companies. From 1872 to 1880, he supervised the construction of the Connecticut State Capitol and served on other commissions where his engineering experience proved helpful. He contributed to expanding Hartford’s public water service, among other engineering achievements.

In 1872, he was approached by a Pennsylvania and New Jersey faction of the Democratic Party to run against Horace Greeley for the party’s nomination as President of the United States, but he declined citing a need for party unity. He was a delegate to the 1876 Democratic National Convention. He served as an elector for Samuel J. Tilden in the 1876 Presidential Election.

In June 1888, he was named U.S. Commissioner-General for the Paris Exposition of 1889. From 1880 to 1889, he was president of the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. William B. Franklin died in Hartford, Connecticut on 8 March 1903.

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