Stephen Benton Elkins

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Stephen Benton Elkins

39th United States Secretary of War
In office December 17, 1891 – March 4, 1893
Preceded by	Redfield Proctor
Succeeded by	Daniel S. Lamont

Born	September 26, 1841 New Lexington, Ohio, USA
Died	January 4, 1911 Washington, D.C., USA
Political party	Republican
Profession	Politician

Stephen Benton Elkins (September 26, 1841–January 4, 1911) was an American industrialist and political figure. He served as the Secretary of War between 1891 and 1893. He served in the Congress as a Delegate from the Territory of New Mexico and a Senator from West Virginia.

Elkins was born near New Lexington, Ohio and moved with his family to Westport, Missouri in the mid-1840s. He graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1860 and taught school in Cass County, Missouri.

Elkins entered the Union Army as a captain of militia in the 77th Missouri Infantry. With the help of a former student, the future outlaw Cole Younger, Elkins escaped from Quantrill's Raiders. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1864, at which point he crossed the plains to New Mexico. He entered the practice of law at Mesilla, and was elected to the territorial legislature in 1864 and 1865. He was appointed territorial district attorney for a term from 1866 to 1867. It was at this time, 1866, that he married his first wife Sarah Jacobs.

In 1867, Elkins served as attorney general of the territory and later as U.S. district attorney from 1867 to 1870. He was elected territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress in 1872, and reelected in 1874, serving from March 4, 1873 to March 3, 1877. In 1875, he met and married his second wife, Hallie Davis, and continued to practice law. He founded and was president of the Santa Fe National Bank, and pursued broad business interests in land, rail, mining, and finance.

Around 1890, he moved to Elkins, West Virginia, a town he had founded earlier, to pursue coal and rail interests. He served as Secretary of War in the Benjamin Harrison administration from December 17, 1891 to March 5, 1893. Amongst his goals were that the rank of lieutenant general be revived, and also that noncommissioned officers receive higher pay to improve the quality of the service. He also broadened the intelligence functions of the Division of Military Information. After his service as Secretary, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1895, serving the state of West Virginia, and was re-elected twice. In the Senate, he held the positions of chairman of the Committee on the Geological Survey (Fifty-sixth and Fifty-ninth Congresses), and of member of the Committee on Interstate Commerce (Fifty-seventh through Sixty-first Congresses). Elkins served as Senator until his death in Washington, D.C. in 1911, and is interred in Maplewood Cemetery of Elkins, West Virginia.

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Preceded by Redfield Proctor	United States Secretary of War 1891–1893	Succeeded by Daniel Scott Lamont
Preceded by Johnson N. Camden	Class 2 U.S. Senator from West Virginia 1895–1911	Succeeded by Davis Elkins