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Trader post scandal (1876)

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In 1870, Sec. Belknap's second wife, Carita, successfully lobbied her husband to appoint a New York contractor (Caleb P. Marsh) to the trader post at Fort Sill located in the Indian Territory. John S. Evans, however, had already been appointed to that position. To settle the question of ownership, regarding the tradership, an illicit partnership contract, authorized by Sec. Belknap, was drawn. The contract allowed Evans to keep the tradership at Fort Sill, provided that he pay $12,000 of the annual profits to Marsh. Evans would be allowed to keep the remaining profits. Marsh, in turn, was required to split half of his receipts from the contract, $6,000 per year, with Carita. However, Carita only lived to receive one payment. In 1870, she died from tuberculosis, shortly after giving birth.

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1861

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1869-10-25

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1829-09-22

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William Worth Belknap

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Republican

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1876-03-02

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1890-10-13

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General, Lawyer, Politician

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In 1870, Sec. Belknap's second wife, Carita, successfully lobbied her husband to appoint a New York contractor (Caleb P. Marsh) to the trader post at Fort Sill located in the Indian Territory. John S. Evans, however, had already been appointed to that position. To settle the question of ownership, regarding the tradership, an illicit partnership contract, authorized by Sec. Belknap, was drawn. The contract allowed Evans to keep the tradership at Fort Sill, provided that he pay $12,000 of the annual profits to Marsh. Evans would be allowed to keep the remaining profits. Marsh, in turn, was required to split half of his receipts from the contract, $6,000 per year, with Carita. However, Carita only lived to receive one payment. In 1870, she died from tuberculosis, shortly after giving birth. After Carita's death, Marsh continued to pay Sec. Belknap Carita's share of the profits, for the benefit of her child. Although the child died in 1871, Sec. Belknap continued to accept quarterly kickback payments from Marsh. When Sec. Belknap subsequently remarried, to Carita's sister Amanda, both Belknap and Amanda continued to accept the quarterly payments from Marsh. On February 29, 1876, the U.S. Congress launched an extensive investigation run by Democratic Rep. Hiester Clymer's Committee into Sec. Belknap's War Department. The investigation discovered through testimony that profits from the Fort Sill tradership were split between Sec. Belknap, Marsh, Evans, and two of Sec. Belknap's wives, Carita and Amanda. On March 1, 1876, Sec. Belknap appeared before the committee, but did not testify. The following morning, on March 2, 1876, in a White House meeting with President Ulysses S. Grant, Belknap tendered his resignation. The acceptance of Belknap's resignation by President Ulysses S. Grant was reported to Congress at 11:00am, but did not deter the Clymer Committee from voting out articles of impeachment, which were forwarded to the full House that same day. The subsequent vote for impeachment was unanimous, and was promptly forwarded to the Senate for trial. In May 1876, after lengthy debate, the Senate voted that Belknap, a private citizen, could be put on trial by the Senate. Although there was strong evidence Belknap willingly accepted unlawful quarterly payments from Marsh, Belknap was acquitted when the vote for conviction failed to achieve the required two-thirds majority. Most of the Senators voting against conviction expressed the belief that the Senate had overstepped its authority in attempting to convict a private citizen. The Congressional investigation by the House created a rift between President Ulysses S. Grant and Col. George A. Custer. Prior and during the investigation Col. Custer was associated with aiding and writing anonymous articles for the New York Herald that exposed trader post kickback rings and implied that Sec. Belknap was behind the rings. During the investigation Custer testified on hearsay evidence that President Grant's brother, Orvil, was involved in the trader post rings. This infuriated President Grant who then in retaliation stripped Custer of his command in the campaign against the Dakota Souix. Col. Custer however, lobbied Grant and was able to participate in the campaign against the Dakota Souix, however, Custer's reputation had been damaged. While attempting to restore his military prestige in the U.S. Army, Col. Custer was killed in action at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Sec. Belknap had allowed the sale of superior military weapons to hostile native Americans at trader posts, while having supplied soldiers in the U.S. Army defective military weapons. This upset the balance of fire power between Indians and U.S. soldiers and may have contributed to the defeat of the U.S. Military at the Battle of Little Big Horn. In 1876, after Belknap's resignation, Grant appointed Alphonso Taft, as Secretary of War. Taft initiated a new protocol which only allowed fort commanders to appoint traderships.