Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Franklin, William Buel 1823-

Military officer; born in York, Pa., Feb. 27, 1823, graduated at West Point in 1843. In the

William Buel Franklin.

engineer service, he was actively engaged when the war with Mexico broke out. He served on the staff of General Taylor at the battle of Buena Vista, and was brevetted first lieutenant. Serving as Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at West Point for four years, he occupied the same chair, and that of Civil Engineering, in the New York City Free Academy, in 1852. In May, 1861, he was appointed colonel of the 12th Infantry, and in July was assigned the command of a brigade in Heintzelman's division. He was in the hottest of the fight at Bull Run; was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers in September, and appointed to the command of a division of the Army of the Potomac. Franklin did excellent service in the campaign of the Virginia Peninsula, and on July 4, 1862, was promoted to major-general. He served under McClelland in Maryland, and under Burnside at Fredericksburg, and in 1863 was assigned to the Department of the Gulf, under Banks. In March, 1865, he was brevetted major-general in the regular army, and, resigning in March, 1866, engaged in manufacturing and engineering. In 1889 he was United States commissioner-general for the Paris Exposition.