Benjamin Franklin Loan (October 4, 1819 – March 30, 1881) was a U.S. Representative from Missouri, as well as a Missouri State Militia general in service to the Union during the American Civil War.

Benjamin Franklin Loan
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 7th district
In office
March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1869
Preceded byJohn William Noell
Succeeded byJoel Funk Asper
Personal details
Born(1819-10-04)October 4, 1819
Hardinsburg, Kentucky
DiedMarch 30, 1881(1881-03-30) (aged 61)
St. Joseph, Missouri
Resting placeMount Mora Cemetery, St. Joseph, Missouri
OccupationLawyer, politician, general
Military service
Allegiance United States of America
Union
Branch/serviceUnion Army
Years of service1861–1863
Rank Brigadier General
UnitMissouri Missouri State Militia
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Biography

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Benjamin F. Loan was born in Hardinsburg, Kentucky. He pursued an academic course and received a college education. He studied law in Kentucky, and then moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1838. He was admitted to the bar in 1840 and practiced in St. Joseph.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, he was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Federal Missouri State Militia on November 27, 1861. General Loan participated in counter-guerrilla operations, including the victory against Colonel John A. Poindexter's irregular cavalry at the Battle of Yellow Creek on August 13, 1862. Loan was honorably discharged on June 8, 1863, and returned home.

Loan was elected as a Union Emancipationist to the Thirty-eighth Congress and reelected as a Radical Unionist to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses (March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1869). He served as chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions (Fortieth Congress). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1868 to the Forty-first Congress.

While in Congress, on June 7, 1867, he introduced a resolution that would have impeached President Andrew Johnson. At the time, many Radical Republicans desired to impeach the president, while much of the Republican Party's congressional caucus was not prepared to do so. While Loan's resolution was never voted on, the House did approve a sperate resolution that day by James Mitchell Ashley which launched the first impeachment inquiry against Andrew Johnson.[1]

He was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as a member of the board of visitors to the United States Military Academy in 1869. He resumed the practice of law in St. Joseph, Missouri, and served as delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1876. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1876 to the Forty-fifth Congress.

Benjamin Loan died in St. Joseph, Missouri, and was interred in Mount Mora Cemetery.

References

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  1. ^ "Building the Case for Impeachment, December 1866 to June 1867 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 7th congressional district

1863–1869
Succeeded by