Stephen Benton Elkins Stephen Benton Elkins ( September 26 , 1841January 4 , 1911 ) was an American industrialist and political figure . He served as the Secretary of War between 1891 and 1893 . He served in the Congress as a Delegate from the Territory of New Mexico and a Senator from West Virginia . Biography . Early life . Elkins was born near New Lexington , Ohio and moved with his family to Westport , Missouri ( now part of Kansas City ) in the mid - 1840s to Philip Duncan Elkins and Sarah Pickett Withers . He attended the Masonic College in Lexington , Missouri in the 1850s , and graduated from the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1860 . After graduation , he briefly taught school in Cass County , Missouri . Among his pupils was future James - Younger Gang member Cole Younger . Civil War . In the American Civil War Elkins ' father and brother joined the Confederate Army under Sterling Price , but he joined the Union Army . Before he joined the Union Army he was to encounter Quantrill ' s Raiders twice and was spared from being killed because of his father and brother . He noted : Elkins entered the Union Army as a captain of militia in the 77th Missouri Infantry . He served under Kersey Coates and only saw action once in the Battle of Lone Jack , which he said filled him with disgust for war . Elkins noted that his good fortune of being protected by Quantrill matched a fear of being butchered by Quantrill for becoming a Union soldier as Quantrill ' s Raiders were thought to be present at the battle . Elkins and Foster from the Lone Jack Battle were to argue for a pardon for Younger following his conviction in the Northfield , Minnesota bank robbery ( Younger had rescued Foster from execution by Quantrill ' s Raiders in the battle ) . New Mexico . He entered the practice of law at Mesilla , New Mexico , and was elected to the territorial legislature in 1864 and 1865 . He was appointed territorial district attorney for a term from 1866 to 1867 . It was at this time , on June 10 , 1866 , that he married his first wife Sarah Simms Jacobs . In 1867 , Elkins served as attorney general of the territory and later as U . S . district attorney from 1867 to 1870 . He was elected territorial delegate to the U . S . Congress in 1872 , and reelected in 1874 , serving from March 4 , 1873 to March 4 , 1877 . In 1875 , he met and married his second wife , Hallie Davis , and continued to practice law . He founded and was president of the Santa Fe National Bank , and pursued broad business interests in land , rail , mining , and finance including president of the massive Maxwell Land Grant Company . In attempting to evict " squattors " ( legitimate land grant heirs ) from the Land Grant he would be accused of being part of the Santa Fe Ring . Along with his brother in law , Thomas B . Catron , Elkins participated in what would become the largest land speculation conspiracy in U . S . history . Using his influence on politicians such as congressmen , territorial judges , and U . S . Surveyors General , Elkins was able to patent Spanish and Mexican land grants in his name , thereby illegally including himself as a legitimate heir to the grants . By collectively representing opposing parties in land disputes , Elkins and Catron effectively manipulated territorial government policy to illegally partition Spanish and Mexican land grants , a direct violation of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . West Virginia . Around 1890 , he moved to Elkins , West Virginia , a town he had founded earlier , to pursue coal and rail interests . By 1892 , the Davis Coal and Coke Company , a partnership between Elkins and his father - in - law , Senator Henry G . Davis , was among the largest coal companies in the world . Secretary of War . Elkins served as Secretary of War in the Benjamin Harrison administration from December 17 , 1891 to March 5 , 1893 . Amongst his goals were that the rank of lieutenant general be revived , and also that noncommissioned officers receive higher pay to improve the quality of the service . He also broadened the intelligence functions of the Division of Military Information . U . S . Senator . After his service as Secretary , he was elected to the U . S . Senate in 1895 , serving the state of West Virginia , and was re - elected twice . In the Senate , he held the positions of chairman of the Committee on the Geological Survey ( Fifty - sixth and Fifty - ninth Congresses ) , and of member of the Committee on Interstate Commerce ( Fifty - seventh through Sixty - first Congresses ) . Elkins served as Senator until his death in Washington , D . C . in 1911 , and is interred in Maplewood Cemetery of Elkins , West Virginia .