Benjamin F . Tracy Benjamin Franklin Tracy ( April 26 , 1830 – August 6 , 1915 ) was a United States political figure who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1889 through 1893 , during the administration of U . S . President Benjamin Harrison . Biography . He was born in the hamlet of Apalachin located in the Town of Owego , New York on April 26 , 1830 . Tracy was a lawyer active in Republican Party politics during the 1850s . He was a member of the New York State Assembly ( Tioga Co . ) in 1862 . During the Civil War , he commanded the 109th New York Infantry Regiment . He was awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6 , 1864 . According to the official citation , Tracy " seized the colors and led the regiment when other regiments had retired and then reformed his line and held it . " Later that year , he became commandant of the Elmira prisoner of war camp , before being appointed Colonel of the 127th Infantry , U . S . Colored Troops , on August 23 , 1864 . Tracy was discharged from the volunteer service on June 13 , 1865 . On January 18 , 1867 , President Andrew Johnson nominated Tracy for appointment to the brevet grade of brigadier general of volunteers , to rank from March 13 , 1865 , and the U . S . Senate confirmed the appointment on February 21 , 1867 . He resumed the practice of law after the war , and became active in New York state politics . He was United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 1866 to 1877 . In December 1881 , he was appointed by Governor Alonzo B . Cornell to the New York Court of Appeals to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of Judge Charles Andrews as Chief Judge after the resignation of Charles J . Folger . Tracy remained on the bench until the end of 1882 when Andrews resumed his seat after being defeated by William C . Ruger in the election for Chief Judge . Tracy was noted for his role in the creation of the " New Navy " , a major reform of the service , which had fallen into obsolescence after the Civil War . Like President Harrison , he supported a naval strategy focused more on offense , rather than on coastal defense and commerce raiding . A major ally in this effort was naval theorist Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan , who had served as a professor at the new Naval War College ( founded 1884 ) . In 1890 , Mahan published his major work , " The Influence of Sea Power upon History , 1660 – 1783 " — a book that achieved an international readership . Drawing on historical examples , Mahan supported the construction of a " blue - water Navy " that could do battle on the high seas . Tracy also supported the construction of modern warships . On June 30 , 1890 , Congress passed the Navy Bill , a measure which authorized the construction of three battleship s . The first three were later named , , and . The battleship was authorized two years later . Tracy ' s wife and child perished in a fire at their residence in Washington , DC in 1890 . After leaving the Navy Department , Tracy again took up his legal practice . In 1896 , he defended New York City Police Commissioner Andrew Parker against Commission President Theodore Roosevelt ' s accusations of negligence and incompetence , in a performance that significantly embarrassed Roosevelt . ( ref . Edmund Morris , The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt , p . 555 ) He also helped negotiate a settlement to the boundary dispute between Venezuela and Great Britain which had culminated in the Venezuela Crisis of 1895 . Tracy was the Republican candidate to be the first Mayor of Greater New York City when the five boroughs consolidated in 1898 . He came in third behind Democrat Robert A . Van Wyck and Seth Low of the Citizens ' Union , winning 101 , 863 of the 523 , 560 votes cast in the election of 1897 . Tracy died at his farm in Tioga County , New York on August 6 , 1915 at 3 : 30 am at the home of his daughter . Namesake . was named for him , as was the town of Tracyton , Washington . Tracy Arm is a fjord in the U . S . state of Alaska that bears his name .