Redfield Proctor
United States Senator fromVermont
In office November 2, 1891 – March 4, 1908
Preceded by	George F. Edmunds
Succeeded by	John Stewart
37thUnited States Secretary of War
In office March 5, 1889 – November 5, 1891
President	Benjamin Harrison
Preceded by	William Endicott
Succeeded by	Stephen Elkins
37thGovernor of Vermont
In office October 3, 1878 – October 7, 1880
Lieutenant	E. Pomeroy Colton
Preceded by	Horace Fairbanks
Succeeded by	Roswell Farnham
31stLieutenant Governor of Vermont
In office October 5, 1876 – October 3, 1878
Governor	Horace Fairbanks
Preceded by	Lyman G. Hinckley
Succeeded by	Pomeroy Colton
President pro tempore of the Vermont Senate
In office 1874–1875
Preceded by	Lyman G. Hinckley
Succeeded by	William W. Grout
Personal details
Born	(1831-06-01)June 1, 1831 Proctorsville, Vermont, U.S.
Died	March 4, 1908(1908-03-04) (aged 76) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Emily Dutton
Children	5, includingFletcher andRedfield
Education	Dartmouth College (BA,MA) Albany Law School (LLB)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	US Army
Years of service	1861–1863
Rank	Colonel
Commands	15th Vermont Infantry
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Redfield Proctor (June 1, 1831 – March 4, 1908) was a U.S.politician of theRepublican Party. He served as the37th governor of Vermont from 1878 to 1880, as thesecretary of war from 1889 to 1891, and as aUnited States senator for Vermont from 1891 to 1908.

Redfield Proctor was born on June 1, 1831. a native ofProctorsville, a village named after his family in the town ofCavendish inWindsor County, Vermont. His father, Jabez Proctor, was a farmer, merchant, and prominent localWhig politician. He was raised by his mother, Betsy Parker Proctor (1792–1871), from age 8 after the sudden death of his father. Proctor's first cousins on his mother's side includedIsaac F. Redfield andTimothy P. Redfield, both justices of theVermont Supreme Court.

After graduating fromDartmouth College in 1851, Proctor returned to Proctorsville, where he became first a businessman, and later a lawyer. He earned his master's degree fromDartmouth College and graduated fromAlbany Law School in 1859.^[1] He married Emily Jane Dutton in 1858, and moved toBoston,Massachusetts two years later. They had five children; Arabella G. Proctor Holden (1859–1905),Fletcher Dutton (1860–1911), Fanny Proctor (1863–1883)Redfield Jr. (1879–1957), and Emily Dutton Proctor (1869–1948). He was initiated intoDelta Upsilon fraternity as an honorary member by theMiddlebury College Chapter.

Upon the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War in 1861, Proctor returned to Vermont and enlisted in the3rd Vermont Infantry, was commissioned as lieutenant and quartermaster, and repaired to the front. In July of the same year he was appointed on the staff of GeneralWilliam F. ("Baldy") Smith, and in October was promoted and transferred to the5th Vermont Infantry, of which he was commissioned major. With this regiment he served nearly a year in the neighborhood ofWashington and on thePeninsula. In October 1862, Major Proctor was promoted to colonel of the15th Vermont Infantry,^[2] and participated in theGettysburg campaign, but was stationed in the rear and did not participate in the battle.

After being mustered out of military service in 1863, Proctor initially returned to practicing law, this time inRutland, Vermont. He entered into law partnership withWheelock G. Veazey. In 1869, he entered business again, taking a job as a manager in the Sutherland Falls Marble Company. In 1880, this company merged with another to become the Vermont Marble Company, over which Proctor served as president. Six years later, the area containing the company's marble quarries was split into a separate town calledProctor.

During these years, Proctor began his political career. In 1866 he became a selectman of the town of Rutland. In 1867 he represented his town in theVermont House of Representatives, serving as chairman of the committee on elections. Again a member of the House in 1868, he served as a member of the committee on ways and means. Elected to theVermont Senate in 1874, he was chosenpresident pro tempore.

In 1876 Proctor was electedlieutenant governor, and in1878 was nominated by the Republicans and elected Governor of Vermont. He remained active in state politics after stepping down as governor. He was delegate-at-large to theRepublican National Convention in 1884, and also in 1888. In the latter year he was chairman of the Vermont delegation, and seconded the presidential nomination ofBenjamin Harrison.

In 1888, he was again elected to the Vermont House. Following the 1888 presidential election, the Vermont legislature unanimously recommended him for a cabinet position, and in March 1889,President Benjamin Harrison chose Proctor to be hisSecretary of War.^[3] At the War Department, Proctor made a mark with his managerial skill and reforming zeal, with which he modernized the Army and improved the living conditions of enlisted soldiers.

From President Harrison State of the Union Address, Dec 1892:

The report of the Secretary of War exhibits the results of an intelligent, progressive, and businesslike administration of a Department which has been too much regarded as one of mere routine. The separation of Secretary Proctor from the Department by reason of his appointment as a Senator from the State of Vermont is a source of great regret to me and to his colleagues in the Cabinet, as I am sure it will be to all those who have had business with the Department while under his charge.

In the administration of army affairs some especially good work has been accomplished. The efforts of the Secretary to reduce the percentage of desertions by removing the causes that promoted it have been so successful as to enable him to report for the last year a lower percentage of desertion than has been before reached in the history of the Army. The resulting money saving is considerable, but the improvement in the morale of the enlisted men is the most valuable incident of the reforms which have brought about this result.^[4]

Proctor left the War Department in November 1891 to become a United States Senator, filling the vacancy caused by the resignation ofGeorge F. Edmunds. As a Senator he served as chairman of theU.S. Senate Committee to Establish a University of the United States from 1891 to 1893, theCommittee on Agriculture and Forestry (1895–1909), and theCommittee on Military Affairs (1905–1907). He remained a Senator for the rest of his life,^[5] and was an effective advocate in the Senate for high tariffs and the gold standard, as well as an influence on the military policies of theMcKinley andTheodore Roosevelt administrations.

Proctor died inWashington, D.C., on March 4, 1908. He is interred at South Street Cemetery,Proctor, Vermont. Two of Proctor's children,Fletcher D. Proctor andRedfield Proctor, Jr., served asGovernors of Vermont, as did his grandsonMortimer R. Proctor.His 1867 Rutland residence is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.

• List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1900–1949)

• Bell, William Gardner (1992)."Redfield Proctor".Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army.United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 70-12. Archived fromthe original on December 14, 2007.
• Bowie, Chester Winston. "Redfield Proctor: A Biography" (PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin - Madison; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1980. 8018101).
• Garraty, John A. and Mark C. Carnes, eds.American National Biography, vol. 17, "Proctor, Redfield". New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Ullery, Jacob G. compiler, Men of Vermont: An Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters and Sons of Vermont, (Transcript Publishing Company, Brattleboro, VT, 1894), Part II, pp. 327.
• Wayne Soini. "The Cuban Speech: The United States Goes to War with Spain, 1898." Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2013.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRedfield Proctor.

• Works by or about Redfield Proctor at theInternet Archive

• United States Congress."Redfield Proctor (id: P000547)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-14
• Redfield Proctor atFind a Grave
• Govtrack US Congress
• Redfield Proctor, late a senator from Vermont, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate. 1909.

• 1831 births
• 1908 deaths
• Dartmouth College alumni
• Republican Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives
• Republican Party Vermont state senators
• Presidents pro tempore of the Vermont Senate
• Lieutenant governors of Vermont
• Republican Party governors of Vermont
• United States secretaries of war
• Republican Party United States senators from Vermont
• People of Vermont in the American Civil War
• Union army colonels
• 2nd Vermont Brigade
• Benjamin Harrison administration cabinet members
• People from Proctor, Vermont
• 20th-century United States senators
• 19th-century United States senators
• 19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly

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