Benjamin Piatt Runkle
Template:Short description
Template:Infobox military person
Benjamin Piatt Runkle (September 3, 1836 – June 28, 1916) was an American military officer, Episcopal priest, and Freemason, who is noted as being one of the seven founders of Sigma Chi fraternity. Prior to joining the clergy, he served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.<ref>Template:Cite book
*Runkle's correct styling in this 1900 volume..."A Poem In Honor of the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Founding of Miami University By Benjamin Piatt Runkle, LHD, Class of 1857. I Major and Brevet Colonel US Army. Brevet Major General U.S. Volunteers, A Founder of the Sigma Chi..."</ref> He served as Chief Superintendent of Freedmen's Affairs in Kentucky, and was plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Runkle v. United States. Runkle also twice served as trustee of Miami University.
Early life
Runkle was born in West Liberty, Ohio, to Ralph Edwin Runkle and Hannah Isabella Piatt. He attended Geneva College and, later, Miami University, from which he graduated in July 1857.<ref name="Fisher1899">Template:Cite book</ref> While attending Miami University, Runkle became a Freemason as well as one of the seven founders of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
Runkle married Venitia Reynolds on June 4, 1857, and their daughter, Maud Elizabeth Runkle, was born on January 15, 1859, in Findlay, Ohio.<ref name="Fisher1899"/> After college, he studied law under General Samson Mason in Springfield and was admitted to the bar in July 1859.<ref name="MiamiU1917">Template:Cite book</ref> He was the 1860 Democratic candidate for the Ohio State Senate.<ref name="Fisher1899"/> Runkle volunteered for an Ohio militia company and, when the Civil War began, it became a part of the 13th Ohio Infantry.
Civil War
13th Ohio Infantry
Runkle was commissioned as a captain in the 13th Ohio Infantry on April 22, 1861, and served as such until November 8, 1861, when he was promoted to the rank of major after the Battle of Carnifex Ferry.<ref name=RUNKLEvUS>Template:Cite court</ref> In April 1862 the 13th Ohio, then in Virginia, made a forced march to join General Don Carlos Buell's forces in Kentucky, then continued with Buell's forces to the Battle of Shiloh. Upon arrival, the regiment led an attack that captured the Washington Artillery Battery of New Orleans. He was shot through the feet during a Confederate counter-attack, but continued until wounded again with a shot through the right jaw.<ref name="Society1986">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="CaldwellJones2010">Template:Cite book</ref> He was thought to be mortally wounded, and Whitelaw Reid, then a correspondent for the Cincinnati Gazette, had seen Runkle's wounds and filed a glowing obituary saying in part "He died a hero. Green grows the grass above his grave."<ref name="CaldwellJones2010"/> Runkle not only survived but outlived Reid, and in turn praised him in an obituary. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in May 1862.
45th Ohio Infantry
After recovering from his wounds, on August 19, 1862, he was commissioned Colonel of the 45th Ohio Infantry. The regiment was ordered to Cynthiana, Kentucky, where it remained until General Kirby Smith's advance following the Confederate victory at the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky on August 30, 1862, forced the 45th Ohio, along with the 99th Ohio Infantry, to pull back to the Ohio River at Covington, Kentucky, where they participated in the Defense of Cincinnati. In mid– February the regiment was mounted at Danville, Kentucky, and Colonel Runkle commanded the brigade formed by the mounted 45th Ohio along with the 7th Ohio Cavalry and 10th Kentucky Cavalry regiments.<ref name=RUNKLEvUS/><ref name=Paris>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Runkle's men broke the enemy line at the Battle of Dutton's Hill in Somerset, Kentucky on March 30, 1863, and he was thanked for his gallantry on the field by Quincy Gillmore, the commanding general, who gave Colonel Runkle's command entire credit for the victory.<ref name="Fisher1899"/><ref name="VeteranReserve">Template:Cite book</ref> Fought in the Battle at Monticello, Kentucky on May 1, 1863, where Confederate forces under General Pegram were driven from the field.
Other commands
From July 1863 to January 1864, while recovering from wounds, he served on the staff of Ohio governor David Tod and led Ohio Militia units in response to Morgan's Raid.<ref name=SigmaChi>Template:Cite book</ref> He later commanded the 3rd Brigade of the 4th Division of the XXIII Corps in Kentucky and Tennessee and participated in Sherman's Atlanta campaign at the battles of Rocky Face Ridge and Resaca.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Runkle was honorably mustered out July 21, 1864, and on August 29, 1864, he was appointed lieutenant colonel in the Veteran Reserve Corps where he commanded the 21st Regiment until the war ended.<ref name=RUNKLEvUS/><ref name=SigmaChi/>
Freedmen's Bureau
While in the Veteran Reserve Corps, Runkle was assigned to work at the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen's Bureau) where he served as Chief Superintendent of the Freedmen's Bureau for Memphis, Tennessee.<ref name="Rosén2009">Template:Cite book</ref>
On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Runkle for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from November 9, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on March 12, 1866.<ref>Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. Template:ISBN. p. 756.</ref>
He served as the Chief Superintendent of the Freedmen's Bureau for Memphis, Tennessee during the violent Memphis Riots of 1866 on May 1, 1866, where, since he had few troops available, he was powerless to protect the black Union veterans who had been mustered out of the army the previous day.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On January 7, 1869, Runkle became the head Superintendent of Freedmen's Affairs, State of Kentucky. Since the government had announced plans to terminate Freedmen's Bureau operations in Kentucky, Runkle, and his caretaker staff presided over bureau school closings and the dispersal of the remaining funds, which were completed in the summer of 1870, although the veterans' claim offices remained open through June 1872.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Lucas2003">Template:Cite book</ref> While serving as both an active duty army major and as a disbursing officer of the Freedmen's Bureau for the State of Kentucky in 1870, he was placed on the retired list as major, but continued as a disbursing officer until he was arrested and tried before a court-martial for financial irregularities on the part of his sub-agents for "alleged failures to pay, or to pay in full".<ref name=RUNKLEvUS/><ref name="Peirce1901">Template:Cite book</ref>
Court-martial
The court-martial found Runkle guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman and of violating the March 2, 1863, c. 67, § 1, Act of Congress. His sentence was imprisonment, payment of a fine, and dismissal from the army, where he had been serving on the retired list and drawing retired pay. The Secretary of War, William W. Belknap, reviewed the proceedings and in 1873 issued an order approving Runkle's conviction, but in consideration of his war service and wounds, granted Runkle executive clemency in the name of the President and eliminated the fine and prison sentence. However, his dismissal from the army remained in effect. Under the law at that time, any court-martial sentence involving an officer's dismissal in peacetime needed to be confirmed by the President, and there was no indication in this order that the conviction was confirmed by President Ulysses S. Grant himself.<ref name=RUNKLEvUS/>
On the same day that he was cashiered, Runkle petitioned President Grant, complaining that his sentence had not been confirmed by the President.<ref name="GrantSimon1991">Template:Cite book</ref> This petition was referred by Grant to the Judge Advocate General for review. Runkle objected to the court-martial specifically because President Grant had appointed the officers who served on it.<ref name=Kastenberg>Template:Cite journal</ref> Initially, General Joseph Holt, the Judge Advocate General, determined that the court-martial conformed to the Articles of War and that because the president, as commander in chief, had an inherent authority to convene courts-martial, Grant's role in Runkle's trial was sound. It remained open when President Rutherford B. Hayes came into office, as President Grant had done nothing further in the matter. On the advice of Holt's successor, General William McKee Dunn, Hayes then picked it up as unfinished business and registered an order of disapproval, revoking the 1873 order dismissing Runkle.<ref name=RUNKLEvUS/><ref name=Kastenberg/>
Supreme Court Case – Runkle v. United States
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} On the authority of the executive order, Runkle was given retirement pay – both from the date of the Hayes order going forward and back pay to the date he was dismissed. In 1882, he claimed additional longevity pay, which was referred to the Court of Claims. In the Court of Claims, however, the government challenged his right to any pay at all, asserting that Hayes did not have the right to revoke the 1873 order confirming Runkle's dismissal, and demanded Runkle reimburse the government for the pay he had received following Hayes' disapproval of the court-martial decision. Runkle appealed to the Supreme Court, which found in his favor, ruling that Runkle was never legally dismissed from the army, and was entitled to longevity pay, as well as the regular pay he already received, both before and after Secretary Belknap's order was revoked.<ref name=RUNKLEvUS/>
Later life
When he retired from military service in 1870, Runkle was a major and brevetted colonel in the Regular Army. From 1879– to 1880 he studied at the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Gambier, Ohio, and from 1880–1885 served as rector of parishes at Galena, Ohio, Midland, Michigan, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Greencastle, Indiana.<ref name="MiamiU1917"/> Runkle married his second wife, Lalla McMicken, February 10, 1894, in Los Angeles, California.<ref name="McDowells">Template:Cite book</ref> Runkle was the only founder of Sigma Chi to become Grand Consul, serving as the seventh national president from 1895 to 1897.<ref name="Fisher1899"/>
Runkle held commands at the Peekskill Military Academy, the Military School in Freehold, New Jersey, and at the Miami Military Institute in Germantown, Ohio from 1902 to 1909. He served as trustee of Miami University from 1863–1872 and from 1912 until his death. Runkle died at his home in Hillsboro, Ohio on June 28, 1916, the fraternity's sixty-first birthday.<ref name="MiamiU1917"/> He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 1, Grave 240, in Virginia.<ref>Arlington National Cemetery</ref>
See also
References
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- 1836 births
- 1916 deaths
- Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
- Sigma Chi founders
- Miami University alumni
- Miami University faculty
- People from Logan County, Ohio
- People of Ohio in the American Civil War
- Union army colonels
- United States Army officers
- United States Army personnel who were court-martialed
- People from Hillsboro, Ohio