Stephen Wallace Dorsey (February 28, 1842March 20, 1916) was a Republican politician who represented

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

from 1873 to 1879, during the

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

era. He was born in Benson in Rutland County,

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

, and subsequently moved to

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

and settled in Oberlin, where he attended

public schools Public school may refer to: *Public school (government-funded), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging private schools in England and Wales *Great Public Schools, ...

. In 1861, he joined the 1st Ohio Light Artillery of the Union Army as a private during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

.Ristow, Susanne
"Stephen Wallace Dorsey (1842-1916)"
''Encyclopedia of Arkansas website'', last updated July 01, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021. By the end of the war, he became a colonel. After the war he returned to Ohio and settled in Sandusky where he was employed by the Sandusky Tool Company and subsequently became its president. Named president of the Arkansas Railway Company, he relocated to

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer * Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places Places Greece * Helena ...

, Arkansas. He was elected as a Senator from Arkansas March 3, 1873. He was a chairman of the Committee on District of Columbia ( Forty-fifth Congress). Less than a year prior to the outbreak of the Brooks-Baxter War, a conflict over the governorship of Arkansas, Dorsey initially supported Governor

Elisha Baxter Elisha Baxter (September 1, 1827May 31, 1899) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 10th governor of Arkansas from 1873 to 1874. Early life and career Baxter was born in Rutherford County, North Carolina. He sought and obta ...

. However, he, along with the majority of the state’s carpetbagger Republicans—often called “Mistrals”—later shifted allegiance to Brooks’s claim. During this tumultuous period, Congressman Jasper D. Ward from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

visited Arkansas to evaluate the situation on behalf of the Poland Committee. Ward was hosted by Dorsey, who played a pivotal role in ensuring that Ward’s report favored the reinstatement of Brooks as governor. Despite these efforts, the attempt proved ultimately unsuccessful. The Democratic Party gained complete control of the state assembly with the adoption of the new 1874 Arkansas Constitution and the election of

Augustus Garland Augustus Hill Garland (June 11, 1832 – January 26, 1899) was an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician from Arkansas, who initially opposed Arkansas' secession from the United States, but served in both houses of the Congress ...

, leading to Dorsey not seeking reelection in 1879. In 1880, when the Republicans nominated

James A. Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 1881 until his death in September that year after being shot two months earlier. A preacher, lawyer, and Civi ...

for

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

and

Chester A. Arthur Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was the 21st president of the United States, serving from 1881 to 1885. He was a Republican from New York who previously served as the 20th vice president under President James A. ...

for

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

, Dorsey became the secretary of the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

. His reputation was tarnished, though, by the Star route scandal, in which Dorsey and his partners were accused of defrauding the government of $412,000. Dorsey was defended by noted criminal law attorney

Robert G. Ingersoll Robert Green Ingersoll (; August 11, 1833 – July 21, 1899), nicknamed "the Great Agnostic", was an American lawyer, writer, and orator during the Golden Age of Free Thought, who campaigned in defense of agnosticism. Personal life Robert Inge ...

. Though he was found not guilty, the cost of his defense and the damage to his reputation all but destroyed Dorsey's political and financial ambitions. In 1876, he was made a member of the Republican National Committee. In 1878 he built the Dorsey Mansion in New Mexico. After Dorsey, no other Republican served as a Senator from Arkansas until

Tim Hutchinson Young Timothy Hutchinson (born August 11, 1949) is an American politician, lobbyist, and former United States senator from the state of Arkansas. A Republican, he was the first Republican U.S. senator to represent Arkansas since the reconstr ...

in 1997, and no other Republican served in the state's Class 3 Senate seat until

John Boozman John Nichols Boozman ( ; born December 10, 1950) is an American politician and former optometrist serving as the senior United States senator from Arkansas, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. repre ...

in 2011. He engaged in

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

raising and

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

and

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and subsequently moved to

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, where he resided until his death in 1916. He is interred at Fairmount Cemetery in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado. The town of

Clayton, New Mexico Clayton is a town in and the county seat of Union County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,980. History Early history Native Americans were present in the area of Clayton for at least 10,000 years, ...

, is named for a son of Senator Dorsey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorsey, Stephen W. 1842 births 1916 deaths People of Vermont in the American Civil War Politicians from Sandusky, Ohio Arkansas Republicans Republican Party United States senators from Arkansas New Mexico Republicans California Republicans Colorado Republicans Businesspeople from Ohio Businesspeople from Arkansas 19th-century American businesspeople Union army colonels 19th-century United States senators

See also

References