Benjamin Bristow Benjamin Helm Bristow ( June 20 , 1832 – June 22 , 1896 ) was an American lawyer and Republican Party politician who served as the first Solicitor General of the United States and as a U . S . Treasury Secretary . As the United States first Solicitor General , Bristow aided President Ulysses S . Grant and Attorney General Amos T . Akerman vigorous and thorough prosecution and destruction of the Ku Klux Klan in the Reconstructed South . Sol . Gen . Bristow advocated African American citizens in Kentucky be allowed to testify in a white man ' s court case and that education was for all races to be paid for by public funding . As Secretary of the Treasury , Bristow promoted gold standard currency and by President Grant ' s order thoroughly prosecuted and shut down the notorious Whiskey Ring , a tax evasion scheme that depleted that national Treasury . As a strong reformer , Secretary Bristow was one of the most popular Grant Cabinet members among other reformers in the nation . Secretary Bristow was also behind the Resumption of Specie Act of 1875 , that helped stabilize the economy during the Panic of 1873 . A native of Kentucky , Bristow was the son of a prominent Whig Unionist and attorney . Having graduated Jefferson College in Pennsylvania in 1851 , Bristow studied law and passed the bar in 1853 , working as an Attorney until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 . Fighting for the Union , Bristow served in the army during the American Civil War and was promoted to Colonel . Wounded at the Battle of Shiloh , Bristow recuperated and would be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel . In 1863 , Bristow was elected Kentucky state Senator serving only one term . At the end of the Civil War , Bristow was appointed assistant to the U . S . District Attorney serving in the Louisville area , In 1866 , Bristow was appointed U . S . District attorney serving in the Louisville area . In 1870 , Bristow was appointed the United States first U . S . Solicitor General , who aided the U . S . Attorney General by arguing cases before the U . S . Supreme Court . In 1874 , Bristow was appointed U . S . Secretary of the Treasury by President Ulysses S . Grant . In June 1876 , due to friction over Bristow ' s zealous prosecution of the Whiskey Ring and rumor that Bristow was interested in running for the U . S . Presidency , Bristow resigned from President Grant ' s Cabinet . During the Presidential Election of 1876 , Bristow made an unsuccessful attempt at gaining the Republican Presidential ticket , running as a Republican reformer ; the Republicans , however , chose Rutherford B . Hayes . After the 1876 Presidential election , Bristow returned to private practice in New York forming a successful law practice in 1878 , often arguing cases before the U . S . Supreme Court until his death in 1896 . Early life . Born in Elkton , Kentucky , Bristow was the son of Francis Bristow , a Whig member of Congress in 1854 - 1855 and 1859 - 1861 . He graduated at Jefferson College , Washington , Pennsylvania , in 1851 , studied law under his father , and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1853 . Marriage and Kentucky law practice . On November 21 , 1854 , Bristow married Abbie S . Briscoe . In 1858 , Bristow moved to and practiced law in Hopkinsville , Kentucky . American Civil War . At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 , Bristow joined the Union Army . On September 21 , 1861 he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 25th Kentucky Infantry . In April 1862 , he was severely wounded by an exploding shell at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee and temporarily forced to retire from field duty in order to recover from his injury . After his recuperation , Lt . Col . Bristow returned to field service during the summer of 1862 and helped recruit the 8th Kentucky Cavalry . On September 8 , 1862 Bristow was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel over the 8th Kentucky Cavalry . Lt . Col . Bristow assumed command of the 8th Kentucky Cavalry in January , 1863 after Col . James M . Shackleford , the previous commander , was promoted Brigadier General . On April 1 , 1863 Lt . Col . Bristow was promoted to Colonel and continued his command over the 8th Kentucky Cavalry . In July , 1863 Col . Bristow and the Kentucky 8th Cavalry assisted in the capture of John Hunt Morgan during his July 1863 raid through Indiana and Ohio . Kentucky state senator . On September 23 , 1863 Col . Bristow , was honorably discharged from service in the Union Army ; having been elected Kentucky State Senator by Christian County . Bristow had not known he had been elected and served one term as State Senator until 1865 , having resigned office . Senator Bristow supported all Union war effort legislation , the Presidential election of Abraham Lincoln in 1864 , and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment that outlawed slavery . U . S . District Attorney . In 1865 , Bristow was appointed assistant to the United States Attorney . In 1866 , Bristow was appointed District Attorney for the Louisville , Kentucky district . As district attorney , he was renowned for his vigor in enforcing the 1866 U . S . Civil Rights Act . Bristow served as District Attorney until 1870 and spent a few months practicing law in partnership with future United States Supreme Court Justice John Harlan . First U . S . Solicitor General . Prosecuted Ku Klux Klan . In 1870 , Congress created the U . S . Department of Justice , in part , to aid in the enforcement of U . S . Congressional Reconstrution laws and U . S . Constitutional amendments . On October 4 , 1870 , Bristow was appointed the first incumbent U . S . Solicitor General by President Ulysses S . Grant and served until November 12 , 1872 having resigned the office . Sol . Gen . Bristow and U . S . Attorney General Amos Akerman prosecuted thousands of Klan ' s men that resulted in a brief two year quiet period during the turbulent Reconstruction Era in the South . In 1873 President Grant nominated him Attorney General of the United States in case then Attorney General George H . Williams was confirmed as Chief Justice of the United States , a contingency which did not arise . Kentucky civil rights and education speech . In 1871 , Sol . Gen . Bristow traveled to his native Kentucky state and in a speech advocated African American civil rights . Bristow advocated that blacks be given the right to testify in juries . At this time Kentucky law forbid the 225 , 000 black U . S . citizens from testifying in any civil or criminal case involving a white man . He stated the Kentucky law that denied African Americans the right to testify in a white man ' s case had roots in slavery and was a " monstrous and grievous wrong to both races . " Sol . Gen . Bristow stated that the Ku Klux Klan Act and the previous Civil Rights acts passed by the U . S . Congress were designed to protect the " humblest citizens " from lawbreakers . Bristow stated he would , " tax the rich man ' s property to educate his poor neighbor ' s child " , and he would " tax the white man ' s property to educate the black man ' s child . " Sol . Gen . Bristow advocated free universal education and all property in Kentucky be taxed to pay for schools . Secretary of the Treasury . Internal reforms made . On June 3 , 1874 President Grant appointed Bristow Secretary of the Treasury after William A . Richardson was removed in light of the Sanborn incident . As Treasury Secretary , he initiated a much - needed internal reorganization of the Treasury Department , dismissing the Second - Comptroller for inefficiency , shaking up the detective force , and consolidating collection districts in the Customs and Internal Revenue Services . Prosecuted Whiskey Ring corruption . He prosecuted the so - called " Whiskey Ring , " which was headquartered in St . Louis , and which , beginning in 1870 or 1871 , had defrauded the federal government out of a large part of its rightful revenue from the distillation of whiskey . Distillers and revenue officers in St . Louis , Milwaukee , Cincinnati and other cities were implicated , and the illicit gains , which in St . Louis alone probably amounted to more than $ 2 , 500 , 000 in the six years ( 1870 – 1876 ) were divided between the distillers and the revenue officers , who levied assessments on distillers ostensibly for a Republican campaign fund to be used in furthering Ulysses S . Grant ' s re - election . Prominent among the ring ' s alleged accomplices at Washington , D . C . was Orville E . Babcock , private secretary to President Grant , whose personal friendship for Babcock led him to indiscreet interference in the prosecution . Through Bristow ' s efforts more than 200 men were indicted , a number of whom were convicted , but after some months ' imprisonment were pardoned . Largely owing to friction between himself and the president , Bristow resigned his portfolio in June 1876 ; as Secretary of the Treasury he advocated the resumption of specie payments and at least a partial retirement of " greenback s " ; and he was also an advocate of civil service reform . Presidential run , New York attorney , and death . Bristow was a prominent reforming candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1876 ( see U . S . presidential election , 1876 ) . He was defeated at the Republican convention ; Rutherford B . Hayes having received the nomination . During the 1876 Republican Presidential Convention , Stalwart members of the Republican party , friends of President Grant , believed Bristow had been disloyal to Grant during the Whiskey Ring prosecutions , by going after Babcock . Rumor spread that Bristow had prosecuted the Whiskey Ring in an attempt to gain the 1876 Presidential Republican nomination . Bristow , however , proved to be a loyal statesman and had desired to keep President Grant and the nation from scandal . When Sec . Bristow testified in front of a congressional committee on the Whiskey Ring , he would not give any specific information regarding his conversations with President Grant , having claimed executive privilege . Bristow was upset over not winning the Republican presidential nomination and over the rumor he had been disloyal to President Grant . Bristow retired from politics , never again to run for political office . After 1878 he practiced law in New York City and on October 16 he established the law partnership of " Bristow , Peet , Burnett , & Opdyke . " Bristow was a prominent leader of the Eastern bar and was elected the second President of the American Bar Association in 1879 . Having remained an advocate of Civil Service reform , Bristow was vice President of the " Civil Service Reform Association " . Bristow often ably argued in front of the U . S . Supreme Court . In 1896 , Bristow suffered appendicitis and died at his home on June 22 , 1896 .