(1830–1915), soldier, jurist, secretary of the navy

A small‐town lawyer and Republican politician from Tioga County, New York, Tracy served in the state legislature before raising and commanding troops in the Civil War. He received a Medal of Honor (1897) for gallantry at the Battle of the Wilderness despite subsequent controversial administration of the Elmira, New York, prison camp. Elmira, with its prisoner death rate of 25 percent, held the distinction of being the worst Union prison, although more as a result of War Department policy and bureaucracy than Tracy's management. Moving to Brooklyn in 1865, he served as federal district attorney from 1866 to 1873, and chief justice of the state court of appeals in 1881 and 1882. Tracy's major contribution to national security came as secretary of the navy (1889–93) during Benjamin Harrison's presidency.

Tracy publicly championed Alfred T. Mahan's doctrine of seapower. He launched the navy upon battle fleet construction in support of that doctrine, as well as introducing a prototype military‐industrial complex through close relationships between government and the steel industry. He encouraged technology transfer from Europe, and shrewdly negotiated with Congress for increased naval budgets. He modernized operational planning through establishment of a policy board, organized the first tactical squadron of evolution for fleet maneuver training, and abolished the spoils system in navy yards in order to reform the shore establishment. His ventures in overseas naval base acquisitions in Samoa, Haiti, and Santo Domingo, as well as his response to revolutions in Chile and Hawaii, proved more controversial than successful. Tracy's active retirement included service in the boundary dispute over British Guiana and chairman of the greater New York Charter Commission in 1897.

[See also Navy, U.S.: 1866–98; Prisoner‐of‐War Camps, Civil War.]

Bibliography

• B. Franklin Cooling, Benjamin Franklin Tracy; Father of the Modern American Fighting Navy, 1979.
• Paola E. Coletta, Benjamin F. Tracy, in Coletta, ed., American Secretaries of the Navy, 1980

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.

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For more information on Benjamin Franklin Tracy, visit Britannica.com.

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).

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