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Benjamin Wade (October 27, 1800 – March 2, 1878) was a Radical Republican US Senator representing the state of Ohio during the period of the American Civil War. He chaired the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, among other committees. He also served as President pro tempore of the Senate, and so was next in line to the presidency during the Andrew Johnson Administration. Wade's role in the impeachment of Johnson was seen as distasteful by many, Republican and Democrat, precisely because he had a unique interest in the trial's outcome.
Benjamin Wade in Fort Pillow[]
In April 1864, Benjamin Wade and Congressman Daniel Gooch were sent by the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War to a United States Army hospital in Tennessee to interview survivors of the Fort Pillow "Massacre" in order to compile a report on the action for the Committee. In his interviews, Wade pressured the survivors to exaggerate the brutality of Nathan Bedford Forrest's troops and to implicate Forrest himself in the atrocities for propaganda's sake.
Benjamin Wade in "Must and Shall"[]
Following the Great Rebellion, Benjamin Wade was one of the Radical Republicans who supported President Hannibal Hamlin's plan to impose a harsh punishment upon the South.
Political offices (OTL) | ||
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Preceded by Thomas Ewing , Sr. |
United States Senator from Ohio 1851-1869 |
Succeeded by Allen G. Thurman |
Preceded by Lafayette Foster |
President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate 1867-1869 |
Succeeded by Henry Anthony |
Preceded by Solomon Foot |
Dean of the United States Senate 1866-1869 |
Succeeded by Charles Sumner |
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