Wade, Benjamin Franklin
Wade, Benjamin Franklin (1800–1878), radical Republican senator in the Civil War.Born in Massachusetts, Wade settled in Jefferson, Ohio, to practice law, was elected to the legislature as a Whig, and rose to become a presiding judge of the third Ohio district. In 1850, he was sent to the U.S. Senate by a combination of Whigs and Free Soilers.
An outspoken opponent of slavery, when the Civil War broke out, Wade, now chairman of the Committee on Territories, attempted to arrest the rout at the First Battle of Bull Run by putting his carriage across the road and turning back the retreating troops with his rifle, an experience that caused him to develop a great mistrust of West Point leadership. Also serving as chairman of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, he sought to further the antislavery cause by badgering President Abraham Lincoln to dismiss conservative generals in favor of their radical counterparts. In investigations of the battles of Bull Run, Balls Bluff, and the Seven Days' Battle, he attempted to induce Lincoln to dismiss Gen. George B. McClellan, and (unsuccessfully) in later hearings to retire Gen. George Gordon Meade, while vigorously defending Joseph Hooker, Dan Sickles, Benjamin F. Butler, and others. Wade also chaired investigations of the Fort Pillow Massacre and of Confederate atrocities against prisoners of war, the results of which were published as powerful propaganda for the Union cause.
In 1864, the senator was the co‐author of the Wade‐Davis Reconstruction bill, which was more radical than Lincoln's plan. As president pro tem of the Senate, Wade would have become president had Andrew Johnson been convicted in his impeachment trial. Wade was forced to retire in 1869 after the Democrats captured the Ohio legislature.
[See also Fort Pillow, Battle of; Reconstruction.]
An outspoken opponent of slavery, when the Civil War broke out, Wade, now chairman of the Committee on Territories, attempted to arrest the rout at the First Battle of Bull Run by putting his carriage across the road and turning back the retreating troops with his rifle, an experience that caused him to develop a great mistrust of West Point leadership. Also serving as chairman of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, he sought to further the antislavery cause by badgering President Abraham Lincoln to dismiss conservative generals in favor of their radical counterparts. In investigations of the battles of Bull Run, Balls Bluff, and the Seven Days' Battle, he attempted to induce Lincoln to dismiss Gen. George B. McClellan, and (unsuccessfully) in later hearings to retire Gen. George Gordon Meade, while vigorously defending Joseph Hooker, Dan Sickles, Benjamin F. Butler, and others. Wade also chaired investigations of the Fort Pillow Massacre and of Confederate atrocities against prisoners of war, the results of which were published as powerful propaganda for the Union cause.
In 1864, the senator was the co‐author of the Wade‐Davis Reconstruction bill, which was more radical than Lincoln's plan. As president pro tem of the Senate, Wade would have become president had Andrew Johnson been convicted in his impeachment trial. Wade was forced to retire in 1869 after the Democrats captured the Ohio legislature.
[See also Fort Pillow, Battle of; Reconstruction.]
Bibliography
Hans L. Trefousse , Benjamin Franklin Wade, Radical Republican from Ohio, 1963.
Hans L. Trefousse
More From encyclopedia.com
NEARBY TERMS
Wade, Benjamin Franklin