Benjamin Piatt Runkle Benjamin Piatt Runkle ( September 3 , 1836 – June 28 , 1916 ) was one of the seven founders of Sigma Chi fraternity at Miami University , and led a regiment and a brigade in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He served as Chief Superintendent of Freedmen ' s Affairs , State of Kentucky and was plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Runkle v . United States . Runkle was an Episcopal rector and twice served as trustee of Miami University . Early life . Runkle was born in West Liberty , Ohio to Ralph Edwin Runkle and Hannah Isabella Piatt . He attended Geneva College and later , Miami University from which he graduated in July 1857 . It was while attending Miami University that Runkle became one of the founders of the Sigma Chi fraternity . In Sigma Chi he is remembered most for his pugnaciousness ; he threw his Delta Kappa Epsilon ( DKE ) badge on the table in disgust in the pivotal meeting between the founders of Sigma Chi and Whitelaw Reid . He stood up to Reid and said , " I didn ' t join this fraternity to be any one ' s tool . And that , sir , is my answer ! " ( Years after this heated meeting with Reid , Runkle said that had the situation been explained to him further and had Reid approached the situation in a more respectful way , there probably would have been a more reasonable resolution and , in effect , no Sigma Chi fraternity . ) It is also said that he once was temporarily suspended from school for fighting in chapel with a Beta Theta Pi brother who publicly sneered at his badge . Runkle married Venitia Reynolds on June 4 , 1857 and their daughter , Maud Elizabeth Runkle , was born January 15 , 1859 in Findlay , Ohio . After college , he studied law under General Samson Mason in Springfield and was admitted to the bar in July , 1859 . He was the 1860 Democratic candidate for the Ohio State Senate . Runkle volunteered for an Ohio militia company and when the Civil War began it became a part of the 13th Ohio Infantry . Civil War . 13th Ohio Infantry . Runkle was commissioned as a Captain in the 13th Ohio Infantry April 22 , 1861 , and served as such until November 8 , 1861 , when he was promoted to Major after the Battle of Carnifex Ferry . In April 1862 the 13th Ohio , then in Virginia , made a forced march to join General Don Carlos Buell ' s forces in Kentucky , then continued on with Buell ' s forces to the Battle of Shiloh . Upon arrival , the regiment led an attack that captured the Washington artillery Battery of New Orleans . He was shot through the feet during a Confederate counter - attack , but continued until wounded again with a shot through the right jaw . He was thought to be mortally wounded , and Whitelaw Reid , then a correspondent for the Cincinnati Gazette , had seen Runkle ' s wounds and filed a glowing obituary saying in part " He died a hero . Green grow the grass above his grave . " Runkle not only survived but outlived Reid , and in turn praised him in an obituary . 45th Ohio Infantry . After recovering from his wounds , on August 19 , 1862 he was commissioned Colonel of the 45th Ohio Infantry . The regiment was ordered to Cynthiana , Kentucky where it remained until General Kirby Smith ’ s advance following the Confederate victory at the Battle of Richmond , Kentucky on August 30 , 1862 , forced the 45th Ohio , along with the 99th Ohio Infantry , to pull back to the Ohio River at Covington , Kentucky where they participated in the Defense of Cincinnati . In mid – February the regiment was mounted at Danville , Kentucky and Colonel Runkle commanded the brigade formed by the mounted 45th Ohio along with the 7th Ohio Cavalry and 10th Kentucky Cavalry Regiments . Runkle ' s men broke the enemy line at the Battle of Dutton ' s Hill in Somerset , Kentucky on March 30 , 1863 and he was thanked for his gallantry on the field by Quincy Gillmore , the commanding General , who gave Colonel Runkle ' s command entire credit for the victory . Fought in the Battle at Monticello , Kentucky on May 1 , 1863 where Confederate forces under General Pegram were driven from the field . In June 1863 he served on the staff of Ohio governor David Tod and led Ohio Militia units in response to Morgan ' s Raid . He later commanded the 3rd brigade of the 4th Division of the XXIII Corps in Kentucky and Tennessee and participated in Sherman ' s Atlanta Campaign at the battles of Rocky Face Ridge and Resaca . Runkle was honorably mustered out July 21 , 1864 and on August 29 , 1864 , he accepted appointment as Lieutenant Colonel of Veteran Reserve Corps where he served until the war ended . Freedmen ’ s Bureau . While in the Veteran Reserve Corps , Runkle was assigned to work at the Freedmen ' s Bureau where he served as Chief Superintendent of the Freedmen ' s Bureau for Memphis , Tennessee . He served in that position during the violent Memphis Riots of 1866 on May 1 , 1866 , where , since he had few troops at his disposal , he was powerless to protect the black Union veterans who had been mustered out of the army the previous day . On January 7 , 1869 , Runkle became the head Superintendent of Freedmen ' s Affairs , State of Kentucky . Since the government had announced plans to terminate Freedmen ' s bureau operations in Kentucky , Runkle and his caretaker staff presided over bureau school closings and the dispersal of the remaining funds , which were completed in the summer of 1870 , although the veterans ' claim offices remained open through June 1872 . While serving as both an active duty Army Major and as a disbursing officer of the Bureau of Refugees , Freedmen , and Abandoned Lands for the State of Kentucky in 1870 , he was placed on the retired list as Major , but continued as a disbursing officer , until he was arrested for trial before a court - martial for financial irregularities on the part of his sub - agents for " alleged failures to pay , or to pay in full " . Court - martial . The court - martial found Runkle guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman and of violating the March 2 , 1863 , c . 67 , § 1 , Act of Congress . His sentence was imprisonment , payment of a fine , and dismissal from the army , where he had been serving on the retired list and drawing retired pay . The Secretary of War , W . W . Belknap , reviewed the proceedings and in 1873 issued an order approving Runkle ' s conviction , but in consideration of his war service and wounds , granted Runkle executive clemency in the name of the President and eliminated the fine and prison sentence . However , his dismissal from the army remained in effect . Under the law at that time , any court martial sentence involving an officer ' s dismissal in peacetime needed to be confirmed by the President and there was no indication in this order that the conviction was confirmed by President Ulysses S . Grant himself . On the same day that he was cashiered , Runkle petitioned President Grant , complaining that his sentence had not been confirmed by the President . This petition , was referred by Grant to the Judge Advocate General for review . President Grant did nothing further in the matter , and it remained open when President Rutherford B . Hayes came into office . Hayes then took it up as unfinished business and entered an order of disapproval , revoking the 1873 order dismissing Runkle . Supreme Court Case – Runkle v . United States . On the authority of the executive order , Runkle was given retirement pay – both from the date of the Hayes order going forward and back pay to the date he was dismissed . In 1882 , he made a claim for additional longevity pay , which was referred to the Court of Claims . In the Court of Claims , however , the government challenged his right to any pay at all , asserting that Hayes did not have the right to revoke the 1873 order confirming Runkle ' s dismissal , and demanded Runkle reimburse the government for the pay he had received following Hayes ' disapproval of the court - martial decision . Runkle appealed to the Supreme Court , which found in his favor , ruling that Runkle was never legally dismissed from the army , and was entitled to his longevity pay , as well as that which he already received for his regular pay , both before and after the order of Secretary Belknap was revoked . Later life . When he retired from military service in 1870 , Runkle was a Major and brevetted colonel in the regular Army . From 1879 – 1880 he studied at the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Gambier , Ohio and from 1880 – 1885 served as rector of parishes at Galena , Ohio , Midland , Michigan , Minneapolis , Minnesota and Greencastle , Indiana . Runkle married his second wife , Lalla McMicken , February 10 , 1894 in Los Angeles , California . Runkle was the only founder of Sigma Chi to become Grand Consul , serving as the seventh national president from 1895 - 1897 . Runkle held commands at the Peekskill Military Academy , the Military School in Freehold , New Jersey , and at the Miami Military Institute in Germantown , Ohio from 1902 to 1909 . He served as trustee of Miami University from 1863 – 1872 and from 1912 until his death . Runkle died at his home in Hillsboro , Ohio on June 28 , 1916 , the fraternity ' s sixty - first birthday . He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery , Section 1 , Grave 240 , in Virginia .