Redfield Proctor Redfield Proctor ( June 1 , 1831March 4 , 1908 ) was a U . S . politician of the Republican Party . He served as the 37th Governor of Vermont from 1878 to 1880 , as Secretary of War from 1889 to 1891 , and as a United States Senator for Vermont from 1891 to 1908 . Biography . Proctor was a native of Proctorsville , a village named after his family in the town of Cavendish in Windsor County , Vermont . His father , Jabez Proctor , was a farmer , merchant , and prominent local Whig politician . He was raised by mother from age 8 after sudden death of father . After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1851 , Proctor returned to Proctorsville , where he became first a businessman , and later a lawyer . He earned his master ' s degree from Dartmouth College in 1854 and from Albany Law School in 1859 . He married Emily Jane Dutton in 1858 , and moved to Boston , Massachusetts two years later . They had five children ; Arabella G . Proctor Holden ( 1859 - 1905 ) , Fletcher Dutton ( 1860 - 1911 ) , Fanny Proctor ( 1863 - 1883 ) Redfield Jr . ( 1879 - 1957 ) , and Emily Dutton Proctor ( 1869 - 1948 ) . He was initiated into Delta Upsilon Fraternity as an honorary member by the Middlebury Chapter . Civil War . Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 Proctor returned to Vermont and enlisted in the 3d Vermont Infantry , was commissioned as lieutenant and quartermaster , and repaired to the front . In July of the same year he was appointed on the staff of General William F . ( " Baldy " ) Smith , and in October was promoted and transferred to the 5th Vermont Infantry , of which he was commissioned major . With this regiment he served nearly a year in the neighborhood of Washington and on the Peninsula . In October 1862 , Major Proctor was promoted to colonel of the 15th Vermont Infantry , and participated in the Gettysburg Campaign , but was stationed in the rear and did not participate in the battle . Career . After being mustered out of military service in 1863 , Proctor initially returned to practicing law , this time in Rutland , Vermont . He entered into law partnership with Wheelock G . Veazey . In 1869 , he entered business again , taking a job as a manager in the Sutherland Falls Marble Company . In 1880 , this company merged with another to become the Vermont Marble Company , over which Proctor served as president . Six years later , the area containing the company ' s marble quarries , locally known as Sutherland Falls , was split into a separate town , called Proctor . During these years , Proctor began his political career . In 1866 he became a selectman of the town of Rutland . In 1867 he represented his town in the state Legislature , serving as chairman of the committee on elections of the lower House . Again a member of the House in 1868 , he served as a member of the committee on ways and means . Elected to the state Senate in 1874 , he was chosen president pro tempore of that body . In 1876 Proctor was elected the 29th Lieutenant Governor of the state , and in 1878 was nominated by the Republicans and elected Governor of Vermont . He remained active in state politics after stepping down as governor . He was delegate - at - large to the Republican National Convention in 1884 , and also in 1888 . In the latter year he was chairman of the Vermont delegation , and seconded the presidential nomination of Benjamin Harrison . In 1888 the Vermont legislature unanimously recommended him for a cabinet position , and in March 1889 , President Benjamin Harrison chose Proctor to be his Secretary of War . At the War Department , Proctor made a mark with his managerial skill and reforming zeal , with which he modernized the Army and improved the living conditions of enlisted soldiers . Proctor left the War Department in November 1891 to become a United States Senator , filling a vacancy caused by resignation . As a Senator he served as chairman of the U . S . Senate Committee to Establish a University of the United States from 1891 to 1893 . He remained a Senator for the rest of his life , and was an effective advocate in the Senate for high tariffs and the gold standard , as well as an influence on the military policies of the McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt administrations . Death . Proctor died in Washington , D . C . on March 4 , 1908 . He is interred at South Street Cemetery , Proctor , Rutland County , Vermont . Two of Proctor ' s children , Fletcher D . Proctor and Redfield Proctor , Jr . , served as Governors of Vermont .