Tracy was a lawyer active in Republican Party politics during the 1850s. He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Tioga Co.) in 1862.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and commanded the 109th New York Infantry Regiment. At the Battle of the Wilderness in May, 1864, he was able to rally his men and hold the Union line. For his actions he subsequently was awarded the Medal of Honor. His citation reads: Tracy "seized the colors and led the regiment when other regiments had retired and then reformed his line and held it."{{cite web

|access-date = January 6, 2010

|url = http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwarmz.html

|title = Medal of Honor recipients

|publisher = United States Army Center of Military History

|date = August 3, 2009

|archive-date = September 1, 2011

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110901223002/http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwarmz.html

|url-status = dead

}} Later that year, he became commandant of the Elmira prisoner of war camp, before being appointed Colonel of the 127th Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops, on August 23, 1864.[http://www.ranger95.com/civil_war_us/us_color_troops/infantry/127th_us_color_troop_inf.htm 127th U.S. Colored Troops Infantry: Roster], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308154014/http://www.ranger95.com/civil_war_us/us_color_troops/infantry/127th_us_color_troop_inf.htm |date=March 8, 2013 }}. Tracy was discharged from the volunteer service on June 13, 1865.Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}. p. 535 On January 18, 1867, President Andrew Johnson nominated Tracy for appointment to the brevet grade of brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on February 21, 1867.Eicher, 2001, p. 759

He resumed the practice of law after the war, and became active in New York state politics. He was United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 1866 to 1877. In December 1881, he was appointed by Governor Alonzo B. Cornell to the New York Court of Appeals to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of Judge Charles Andrews as Chief Judge after the resignation of Charles J. Folger. Tracy remained on the bench until the end of 1882 when Andrews resumed his seat after being defeated by William C. Ruger in the election for Chief Judge.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

In 1875, Tracy defended the well-known preacher Henry Ward Beecher during his highly publicized trial for adultery.{{cite web|last1=Tracy|first1=Benjamin|title=The Case of Henry Ward Beecher: Opening Address|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Lk8AAAAYAAJ&q=Henry+Beecher:++Opening+for+the+Defense&pg=PA1|website=Google Books|year=1875|access-date=10 April 2017}}

On March 5, 1889, Tracy was nominated by President Benjamin Harrison to become Secretary of the Navy and was confirmed by the Senate in a ten-minute session without objection.{{Cite news |date=5 March 1889 |title=HARRISON'S CABINET. |pages=1 |work=The Evening Star |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1889-03-05/ed-1/seq-1/ |access-date=18 May 2023}} He formally took office on March 6.{{Cite news |date=6 March 1889 |title=THE NEW CABINET. |pages=5 |work=The Evening Star |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1889-03-06/ed-1/seq-5/ |access-date=18 May 2023}}

On February 3, 1890, Tracy's wife and younger daughter died in a fire at their residence in Washington, D.C. His wife, Belinda, died by falling out a window in an attempt to escape the building, and his daughter, Mary, died from smoke inhalation. Tracy himself lost consciousness due to the smoke but was rescued by Chief Joseph Parris of the D.C. Fire Department. The secretary's elder daughter, Emma, and his granddaughter, Alice, sustained injuries from jumping out a window, but both survived. After regaining consciousness some time later, Tracy learned of the deaths of his loved ones from President Harrison.{{Cite news |date=3 February 1890 |title=FIRE AND DEATH. |pages=1 |work=The Evening Star |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1890-02-03/ed-1/seq-1/ |access-date=18 May 2023}}{{Cite news |date=3 February 1890 |title=TRACY TRAGEDY |pages=5 |work=The Washington Critic |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn2008058169/1890-02-03/ed-1/seq-5/ |access-date=18 May 2023}} A funeral was held at the White House several days later, and the bodies of the dead were buried in Rock Creek Cemetery.{{Cite news |date=5 February 1890 |title=THE DEAD LAID TO REST. |pages=5 |work=The Evening Star |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1890-02-05/ed-1/seq-5/ |access-date=18 May 2023}} Following a brief period of mourning, during which he received many messages of condolences from heads of state and other prominent individuals, Tracy returned to his official duties.{{Cite web |last=Dautel |first=S. |title=Benjamin Franklin Tracy |url=https://history.nycourts.gov/biography/benjamin-franklin-tracy/ |access-date=18 May 2023 |website=Historical Society of the New York Courts}}

Tracy was noted for his role in the creation of the "New Navy", a major reform of the service, which had fallen into obsolescence after the Civil War. Like President Harrison, he supported a naval strategy focused more on offense, rather than on coastal defense and commerce raiding. A major ally in this effort was naval theorist Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, who had served as a professor at the new Naval War College (founded 1884). In 1890, Mahan published his major work, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783—a book that achieved an international readership. Drawing on historical examples, Mahan supported the construction of a "blue-water Navy" that could do battle on the high seas.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

Tracy also supported the construction of modern warships. On June 30, 1890, Congress passed the Naval Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1891 (also known as the Battleship Act of 1890), a measure which authorized the construction of three battleships.{{Cite web|url=https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/artifact/naval-appropriations-act-fiscal-year-1891-battleship-act-1890-june-30-1890|title=Naval Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1891 (Battleship Act of 1890), June 30, 1890|website=U.S. Capitol Visitor Center|language=en|access-date=2019-02-14}} The first three were later named {{USS|Indiana|BB-1}}, {{USS|Massachusetts|BB-2}}, and {{USS|Oregon|BB-3}}. The battleship {{USS|Iowa|BB-4}} was authorized two years later.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

In the 1896 presidential election, Tracy was a presidential elector for William McKinley and Garret Hobart.{{Cite book|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc1.cu54374480|title=Proceedings of the Electoral College of the State of New York, January 11th, 1897|year=1897|location=Albany|pages=29|hdl=2027/nnc1.cu54374480}}

After leaving the Navy Department, Tracy again took up his legal practice. In 1896 he defended New York City Police commissioner Andrew Parker from accusations of negligence and incompetence by fellow commissioner Theodore Roosevelt in a performance that significantly embarrassed Roosevelt.Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. 555 He also helped end the Venezuela Crisis of 1895 by assisting Venezuela in negotiating a settlement to their boundary dispute with Great Britain.

Tracy was the Republican candidate to be the first Mayor of Greater New York City when the five boroughs consolidated in 1898. He came in third behind Democrat Robert A. Van Wyck and Seth Low of the Citizens' Union, winning 101,863 of the 523,560 votes cast in the election of 1897. Tracy was the president of the New York State Agricultural Society in 1897 and 1898, during which time he invited Van Wyck to attend the society's annual fair.{{Cite web|title=NYS Agricultural Society|url=https://www.nysagsociety.org/history/|access-date=September 19, 2020|website=www.nysagsociety.org|at=NYSAS Past Presidents (2019)}}{{Cite news|title=STATE AGRICULTURAL FAIR.; Mayor Van Wyck Lays Aside His Declared Rule and Accepts an Invitation.| work=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1898/06/17/102563493.html?zoom=16|access-date=2020-10-18|language=en}}

On April 3, 1900, seven men from the International Banking and Trust Company were elected as directors of the North American Trust Company. They included president Oakleigh Thorne of the International, as well as Tracy.{{cite news |author= |title=Trust Companies Combine; International Banking and Trust to Unite with North American. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1900/04/04/archives/trust-companies-combine-international-banking-and-trust-to-unite.html | work=The New York Times |location=New York City, New York, United States |date=April 4, 1900|pages=11|access-date=July 12, 2017}}

Family and death

In 1851 Benjamin Tracy married Belinda E. Catlin (1832–1890), a sister of General Isaac S. Catlin. They had four children: “Frank” Brodhead Tracy (1856–1945); Emma Eloise Tracy (1862–1934) who married Ferdinand Suydam Wilmerding (1850–1877) (their daughter Alys christened the USS Maine); Mary “Maisie” Farrington Tracy (1864–1890); and Benjamin Franklin Tracy III (d. 1895);

File:Benjamin F. Tracy's body carried from Trinity Church.jpgTracy died at his farm in Tioga County, New York, on August 6, 1915, at 3:30 pm at the home of his daughter following a stroke.{{cite news |date=August 7, 1915 |title=Gen. Benj. F. Tracy Dies In 86th Year. Soldier, Statesman, Jurist Had Been in Coma Since Paralytic Stroke. Father Of Fighting Navy. As Secretary Under Harrison He Took the Department Out of Politics. Funeral Monday. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1915/08/07/archives/gen-benj-f-tracy-dies-in-86th-year-soldier-statesman-jurist-had.html |access-date=2010-10-04 |quote=General Benjamin Franklin Tracy, Secretary of the Navy under President Harrison, died at 3:30 yesterday afternoon at the home of his daughter, ...}}{{cite news |title=Gen. Benjamin F. Tracy Dead |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/djreprints/access/108965266.html?dids=108965266:108965266&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+07,+1915&author=&pub=Wall+Street+Journal&desc=Gen.+Benjamin+F.+Tracy+Dead&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104014604/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/djreprints/access/108965266.html?dids=108965266:108965266&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+07,+1915&author=&pub=Wall+Street+Journal&desc=Gen.+Benjamin+F.+Tracy+Dead&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |quote=General Tracy was born in Owego, NY, April 28, 1830. He was admitted to the Bar in 18... and was elected to the New York Assembly in 18.2. ...|work=The Wall Street Journal |date=August 6, 1915 |access-date=2010-10-04 }} A funeral was held at Trinity Church in Manhattan on August 9, and he was buried in a family plot in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.{{Cite news |date=10 August 1915 |title=MILITARY HONORS FOR GEN. B. F. TRACY |pages=11 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1915/08/10/archives/military-honors-for-geh-b-f-tragy-detachment-of-soldiers-and.html |access-date=18 May 2023}}

Medal of Honor citation

File:medal of honor old.jpg

Rank and organization: Colonel, 109th New York Infantry.

Place and date: At Wilderness, Va., 6 May 1864.

Entered service at: Owego, N.Y.

Born: 26 April 1830, Owego, N.Y.

Date of issue: 21 June 1895.

Citation:

Seized the colors and led the regiment when other regiments had retired and then reformed his line and held it.{{cite web

|access-date=November 13, 2013

|url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwarmz.html

|title=Medal of Honor recipients

|publisher=United States Army Center of Military History

|archive-date=September 1, 2011

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901223002/http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwarmz.html

|url-status=dead

}}

Namesake

{{USS|Tracy|DD-214}} was named for him, as was the town of Tracyton, Washington.{{cite book|last=Meany|first=Edmond S.|title=Origin of Washington geographic names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027074981;view=1up;seq=331|year=1923|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle|page=315}}

Tracy Arm is a fjord in the U.S. state of Alaska that bears his name.

The Tracy Glacier, having its terminus near the head of the Inglefield Fjord in northwestern Greenland, was named after him by Robert Peary.

Notes

References

Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}.
{{ACMH}}
{{NHC}}
{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Tracy, Benjamin Franklin|volume=27|page=127}}

External links

{{Wikisource|Harper's Weekly Editorials by Carl Schurz/The Blindness of Party Spirit|The Blindness of Party Spirit}}

{{Internet Archive author |sname=Benjamin F. Tracy |sopt=t}}
{{cite web |access-date=September 29, 2010 |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/biblio/biblio7/biblio7a.htm |title=The Spanish–American War: Historical Overview and Select Bibliography |author=Michael J. Crawford |author2=Mark L. Hayes |author3=Michael D. Sessions |date=November 30, 1998 |publisher=Naval Historical Center |archive-date=October 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111014233645/http://www.history.navy.mil/biblio/biblio7/biblio7a.htm |url-status=dead }}
{{cite web |access-date=September 29, 2010 |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/history/history3.htm |title=The Navy: The Oceanic Period, 1890–1945 |author=Michael A. Palmer |publisher=Naval Historical Center |date=September 22, 2004 |archive-date=January 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108203300/http://www.history.navy.mil/history/history3.htm |url-status=dead }} (Copyright notice from Naval Historical Center website: "Used by permission of Charles Scribner's Sons, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Macmillan from Encyclopedia of the American Military, John E. Jessup, Editor in Chief. Vol. I, pp. 365-380. Copyright c 1994, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1633 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. [The views expressed in this history are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy or the U.S. government.]")
{{cite web |access-date=September 29, 2010 |url=http://www.americanpresident.org/history/benjaminharrison/cabinet/SecretaryoftheNavy/BenjaminFTracy/h_index.shtml |title=Secretary of the Navy: Benjamin F. Tracy (1889–1893) Brief biography from AmericanPresident.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001214116/http://www.americanpresident.org/history/benjaminharrison/cabinet/SecretaryoftheNavy/BenjaminFTracy/h_index.shtml |archive-date=October 1, 2006 |url-status=dead }}

{{Gutenberg|no=13529|name=The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. Mahan}} Project Gutenberg link to Mahan's The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783