George M. Robeson

Who was George M. Robeson?

George Maxwell Robeson was an American Republican Party politician and lawyer from New Jersey who served as a Union army general during the American Civil War, and then as Secretary of the Navy during the Grant Administration. During the 19th Century, Sec. Robeson's seven years in office as Secretary of Navy was second in time length only to Sec. Gideon Welles's tenure. Robeson, as Secretary of Navy, was an industrious administrator and through his strong departmental leadership was able to contain the established Naval officer hierarchy. Sec. Robeson supported and developed the early stages of submarine and torpedo technology in keeping U.S. harbors safe from foreign attack. Sec. Robeson secured $50,000 in Congressional funding for the 1871 Polaris expedition led by Capt. C. F. Hall. Secretary Robeson investigated the death of Capt. Hall after the return of the Polaris crew in 1873. During Reconstruction, Sec. Robeson was a scholarly and forceful advocate of President Grant and the Radical Republican agenda to end the Southern vestiges of slavery having supported the citizenship and voting rights for the African American freedmen. In 1874, Sec.