War Secretary Belknap Impeached for Selling Military Post Traderships

The House of Representatives votes to impeach Secretary of War William W. Belknap on March 2, 1876—just minutes after he races to the White House, hands President Grant his resignation, and bursts into tears. Belknap becomes the first cabinet secretary in U.S. history to be impeached for his role in the “trader post scandal” or “Indian Ring,” a scheme where he and his wives received over $40,000 in kickback payments over several years from a Fort Sill tradership contract. The scandal exposes how Gilded Age officials convert government appointments into personal profit streams while maintaining lavish lifestyles far beyond their official salaries.

The corruption scheme began in 1870 when Belknap was granted sole power to appoint and license “sutlers” with ownership rights to highly lucrative traderships at U.S. military forts on the Western frontier. Belknap’s luxury-loving first wife assisted wheeler-dealer Caleb Marsh by getting her husband to select one of Marsh’s associates to operate the Fort Sill trading post in Indian territory. In exchange, Belknap and Marsh received bribes to maintain the post-trader’s position—funding the Belknaps’ extravagant Washington parties and elegantly attired first and second wives. Many questioned how Belknap managed such grand lifestyle on his $8,000 government salary; by February 1876, Representative Hiester Clymer’s Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War investigation revealed the answer.

The Senate trial begins April 5, 1876, with senators arguing for weeks over jurisdiction since Belknap already resigned. Belknap’s defense argues the Senate lacks jurisdiction; the Senate rules 37-29 that it does. With 40 votes needed for conviction, votes on five counts produce 35, 36, 36, 36, and 37 yes votes—all falling short of the two-thirds majority required. All Senators agree Belknap took the money from Marsh, but 23 voting for acquittal claim jurisdictional concerns. Grant’s speedy acceptance of Belknap’s resignation undoubtedly saved him from conviction. Belknap is never prosecuted further and dies in 1890. The scandal, combined with the Whiskey Ring and Credit Mobilier, defines the Grant administration as an era of systematic Republican corruption—undermining public faith in Reconstruction governments and providing Democrats ammunition to demand “reform” that will end federal protection of Black civil rights.