Benjamin Franklin Tracy

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Tracy, Benjamin Franklin (1830–1915) U.S. army officer, jurist, and secretary of the navy. Born in Tioga County, New York, Tracy earned a Congressional Medal of Honor commanding the 109th New York Regiment in the Battle of the Wilderness. Worn out after that campaign, he returned home to recuperate, and agreed to administer the draft rendezvous and prisoner-of-war camp at Elmira. He had to deal with riots and protests over the draft and overcrowding and malnourishment among the prisoners. After the war Southern Congressmen compared the conditions at Elmira to Andersonville, but Tracy had tried to improve the situation as best he could. He went back to his legal career until he was chosen by President Benjamin Harrison to be secretary of the navy in 1889. Tracy seized upon broad political support, new technology, and the seapower theories of Alfred Thayer Mahan to secure the first true battleships of the steel navy along with other vessels. Tracy became the administration's most prominent advocate for an expansionist foreign policy, which also benefited his navy. He also improved training and administration of the service before he left office in 1893. The press called him “the father of the fighting navy,” and his fleet performed admirably in the Spanish-American War. He died in Brooklyn from complications after experiencing an automobile accident on his way to a Grand Army of the Republic parade.

Benjamin Franklin Tracy 1830–1915, American lawyer, cabinet member, and soldier, b. Owego, N.Y. He was admitted to the bar in 1851 and later served (1853–59) as district attorney of Tioga co., N.Y. He helped organize (1854) the Republican party in his county and served (1862) in the state assembly. In the Civil War he recruited volunteers for the Union army, was wounded in battle, and was mustered out as brigadier general. Tracy served as U.S. district attorney (1866–73) for the eastern district of New York and was defense counsel to Henry Ward Beecher in the adultery suit brought against him by Theodore Tilton. He was (1881–82) judge of the New York court of appeals before becoming Secretary of the Navy (1889–93) under President Benjamin Harrison. Tracy was (1896) chairman of the commission that drafted the charter for Greater New York and served (1899) as counsel for Venezuela in the arbitration of the boundary dispute with Great Britain.

Bibliography: See study by B. F. Cooling (1973).