George H. Sharpe

George Henry Sharpe (February 26, 1828 Kingston, Ulster County, New York - January 13, 1900 New York City) was an American lawyer, soldier, secret service officer, diplomat and politician.

Life

He graduated from Rutgers in 1847, then studied law at Yale College, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. Then he travelled to Europe and served 1851-52 as Secretary of Legation at Vienna. After his return in 1854, he practiced law until he joined the Union Army in 1861 as captain of volunteers in the 20th New York Infantry.

He became colonel of volunteers of the 120th New York Infantry in 1862, and took part in all the battles of the Army of the Potomac. He served upon the staffs of Generals Joseph Hooker, George G. Meade and Ulysses Simpson Grant, and was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers in 1864 and major general of volunteers in 1865.

In April 1865, as head of the Bureau of Military Intelligence and Assistant Provost Marshall, he paroled 28,000 Confederate Army soldiers, among them General Robert E. Lee, after the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House.

In 1867, on request of William H. Seward, he became a special agent of the U.S. State Department and went to Europe to locate and investigate Americans who might have been involved in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Seward was particularly interested in finding John Surratt, whose mother Mary Surratt had been hanged as one of the assassination conspirators. Surratt was brought back to the United States and put on trial in a civilian court. The trial ended with a hung jury, and Surratt was soon set free, never to be tried again.

From 1870 to 1873, he was United States Marshal for the Southern District of New York, and took the census that demonstrated the great election frauds of 1868 in New York City, which led to the enforcement of the federal election laws for the first time in 1871, and helped to smash the Tweed Ring.

In 1873 he was appointed Surveyor of the Port of New York. In 1877, President Rutherford Hayes asked the Collector of Customs Chester Alan Arthur and his principal subordinates, Surveyor Sharpe and Naval Officer Alonzo B. Cornell to resign, which they refused to do. They were removed from office the next year.

Afterwards he became head of the commission appointed to promote the commercial relations between the United States and Central and South American countries with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. He resigned after the inauguration of President Grover Cleveland in 1885.

He was a Republican member from Ulster County of the New York State Assembly from 1879 to 1883, and was Speaker in 1880 and 1881.

From 1890 to 1899, he was a member of Board of United States General Appraisers.

He was married to Caroline Hasbrouck, daughter of Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck, and their children were Severyn Bruyn Sharpe, a county judge, Henry G. Sharpe, a U.S. Army officer, and Katherine Lawrence Sharpe who married Ira Davenport. He died at the Davenport's residence at 31, East Thirty-Ninth street in NYC while visiting.

He was buried at Wiltwyck Cemetery in Kingston, NY.

ources

* [http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/11500/11515/sharpe_11515.htm] Frank Leslie: "Famous Leaders and Battle Scenes of the Civil War" (New York, 1896)
* [http://www.bivouacbooks.com/bbv2i1s8.htm] The parole of Gen. Lee
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D03EFD81639E13BBC4951DFB766838D669FDE] His lecture on The Last Hours of the Confedaracy, in NYT on February 21, 1876
* [http://www.civilwar-pictures.com/g/union-officers-soldiers/secret_service] He and his colleagues in a photo of the Secret Service officers in 1863
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/sharpe.html] Political Graveyard
* [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/additional-publications/civil-war/p16.htm] Bio at CIA Library
* [http://www.universityofmilitaryintelligence.us/mi_library/documents/MDODGE.pdf] His work and bio at University of Military Intelligence
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C05E4DA1239E733A25756C1A9679C946197D6CF] His obit, in NYT on January 15, 1900
* [http://www.usmarshals.gov/district/ny-s/general/history.htm] History of US Marshal, Southern District of NY