BELKNAP'S SUDDEN DEATH
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HIS LIFELESS BODY DISCOVERED
IN HIS ROOM.
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THE EX-SECRETARY OF WAR DIES
ALONE OF HEART DISEASE--HIS
ARMY AND POLITICAL CAREER.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13.--Gen. W.W. Belknap,
Secretary of War during President Grant's Ad-
ministration, was found dead in his bed at about
9 o'clock this morning. It is believed that death
occurred between 1 o'clock Saturday night and
9 o'clock Sunday morning.
For some time it had been the General's habit
to meet a few friends at the home of Dr. Hill,
who lives less than a square away, for a social
game of cards. Last Saturday night he was
with them as usual and remained until nearly
midnight, when he returned to his apartments
in the Evans Building, at 1,420 New-York Ave-
nue, and presumably retired immediately. He
was never again seen alive.
About 8:30 o'clock this morning John W. Cam-
eron, his business associate, arrived at the build-
ing, and, taking the mail for himself and the
General from the box on the first floor, proceed-
ed to the second floor, where their offices and
the General's apartments are situated. He had
separated the General's mail from his own,
which he began reading, when the servant girl
who keeps the rooms in order rapped at the
door and inquired if Gen. Belknap was out of
the city, saying that she had several times since
Sunday morning tried the doors, but found them
locked.
Mr. Cameron, startled at what the girl had
said, immediately tried the doors himself, but
they were locked. The janitor was summoned,
and, bringing up a stepladder, looked through the
transom over the door leading from the public
hall into the General's sitting room. He could
see the General's hat on the table, and his coat
and waistcoat apon the chair standing near. The
stepladder was then placed against the door
leading into his bedroom. The bed was then
seen, and the General lying partly uncovered
on it. His left arm was bent rigidly toward the
head, and his left hand was tightly clinched, as
though death had come while he was in a con-
vulsion. The bedclothes were somewhat dis-
arranged, as if there had been a slight struggle
for breath.
A physician was summoned, and after making
a brief examination he expressed the opinion
that death had resulted from a stroke of apo-
plexy. The Coroner soon afterward arrived and
took the body in charge. The autopsy disclosed
the fact that the immediate cause of death was
inflammation of the inner lining of the heart.
For some years Gen. Belknap has been an al-
most constant sufferer from gout, and in Feb-
ruary last he had so severe an attack that he
hardly left his room for three months or more.
During that time he lost in flesh between thirty
and forty pounds, and since then he has been in
poor health. In consequence of his long illness
his business has suffered and this had worried
him at times. Mr. Cameron last saw the Gen-
eral at about 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon. He
seemed somewhat depressed, but before Mr.
Cameron left him, he had in a measure regained
his usual cheerfulness.
Mrs. Belknap, who was at Newport and other
Eastern seaside resorts during the Summer
months, but who has been in New-York City
during the last few weeks, was summoned by
telegraph, as was also the General's son, Hugh,
who lives in Chicago, where he is employed in
the offices of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Company.
As soon as the death of Gen. Belknap was
known at the War Department, Acting Secretary
Grant ordered the flag on the building to be put
at half mast in honor of the ex-Secretary, and
gave directions that the building be draped in
black for the customary period. He also com-
municated with the family of the dead man, to
offer whatever assistance they might desire
from the department in the arrangements for
the funeral. As soon as the funeral arrange-
ments are completed, an order will be issued
closing the department on the day of the funeral.
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William Worth Belknap was born in Newburg,
N.Y., Sept. 22, 1829. He was the son of Gen.
William Goldsmith Belknap, who served with
distinction in the war of 1812 and in the Florida
and Mexican wars. William Worth Belknap
was graduated from Princeton College in the
Class of '48. He studied law in Georgetown,
D.C., but subsequently removed to Keokuk,
Iowa, where he permanently located and prac-
ticed his profession, in partnership with Ralph
B. Lowe, who was afterward Governor of Iowa
and Judge of the Supreme Court. At this time
Gen. Belknap was a Democrat, and as such he
was elected to the State Legislature. He served
one term, that of 1857-8.
At the outbreak of the civil war he entered
the army as Major of the Fifteenth Iowa In-
fantry. He served with his regiment in the
Army of the Tennessee, and participated in the
battle of Shiloh, the siege and battle of Corinth,
the siege of Vicksburg, the siege of Atlanta, and
the battles of Atlanta on July 21, 22, and 28.
After the capture of Atlanta he marched with
Sherman to the sea and finally to Washington.
He had meantime risen through the grades and
had been promoted to the rank of Brigadier
General for special gallantry in the memorable
battle of July 22, when he fought with his regi-
ment from either side of the same breast-
works. He was brevetted Major General March
13, 1865, and was mustered out Aug. 24, 1865.
After the war he was appointed Internal
Revenue Collector for the First District of Iowa,
a position that he held from 1865 to Oct. 13,
1869, when he was called into Gen. Grant's
Cabinet as Secretary of War. He retained his
office, through Gen. Grant's second Adminis-
tration, until March 7, 1876, when he resigned,
in consequence of charges of official corruption.
He was impeached and tried before the Senate
of the United States, the specific charge against
him being that he had promised to appoint
Caleb P. Marsh of New-York to maintain a
trading establishment at Fort Sill, Indian Ter-
ritory, a military post of the United States. on
consideration of a certain sum of money to be
paid quarterly to Belknap or Belknap's wife.
The evidence showed conslusively that Marsh
appointed one John S. Evans as his substitute
after Marsh and Evans has entered into a
written agreement for Evans to pay Marsh an
annual sum of money in proportion to the num-
ber of soldiers quartered at the post. This
contract was carried out with the knowl-
edge and consent of Belknap as Secretary
of War, and it was further proved that Evans
paid the moneys to Marsh as agreed and that
Marsh turned over to Belknap the larger part of
such moneys. This arrangement continued
from Oct. 10, 1870, to March 2, 1876, and the
whole amount of money received from Marsh
by Belknap in consequence of it was $24,450.
Belknap was represented before the Senate in
answer to the impeachment by Matthew Car-
penter, Judge Jeremiah S. Black, and Mont-
gomery Blair, who pleaded that inasmuch as
Belknap had resigned the office of Secretary of
War before the articles of impeachment were
drawn the Senate had no jurisdiction in the
matter. On this technical plea Belknap escaped,
thirty-five Senators voting that he was guilty
and twenty-five voting to acquit him. It re-
quired a two-thirds vote for absolute conviction.
Gen. Belknap spent the later years of his life
in Washington. He was twice married, and his
second wife, who was a Miss Tomlinson of Keo-
Kuk, survives him.
Maintained by Sue Greenhagen.
E-mail:
greenhsh@morrisville.edu