Daniel S. Lamont

Daniel Scott Lamont
Daniel S. Lamont in 1904.
39th United States Secretary of War
In office March 5, 1893 – March 4, 1897
President	Grover Cleveland
Preceded by	Stephen B. Elkins
Succeeded by	Russell A. Alger
Personal details
Born	(1851-02-09)February 9, 1851 McGrawville, New York, U.S.
Died	July 23, 1905(1905-07-23) (aged 54) Millbrook, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Juliet Lamont
Parents	John B. Lamont Elizabeth Scott Lamont
Alma mater	Union College
Profession	Clerk, Politician, Railroad Vice President

Daniel Scott Lamont (February 9, 1851 – July 23, 1905) was the United States Secretary of War during Grover Cleveland's second term.

Biography

Daniel Scott Lamont was born on his family’s farm in McGrawville, New York, to son of John B. Lamont and Elizabeth (née Scott) Lamont. He attended from Union College at Schenectady, New York. While attending Union College, he joined from the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. Lamont was married to Julia Kinney, and have two daughters.

He was employed as engrossing clerk and assistant journal clerk in the state capitol at Albany, New York, was a clerk on the staff of the Democratic state central committee in 1872, and was chief clerk of the New York department of state from 1875 to 1882.

In 1883, through his mentor Daniel Manning, Lamont was assigned to then-New York Governor Grover Cleveland's staff as a political prompter. He became private and military secretary with the honorary rank of colonel on the governor’s staff the same year, and continued in his service after Cleveland became president in 1885. Lamont also held employment with William C. Whitney in his business ventures in 1889.

From March 5, 1893 to March 5, 1897, Lamont was served as United States Secretary of War in President Cleveland's cabinet. Throughout his tenure, he urged the adoption of a three-battalion infantry regiment as a part of a general modernization and strengthening of the Army. Furthermore, Lamont recommended the construction of a central hall of records to house Army archives, and urged that Congress authorize the marking of important battlefields in the manner adopted for Antietam. He also recommended that lands being used by Apache prisoners at Fort Sill be acquired for their permanent use and their prisoner status be terminated.

After his service as Secretary of War, Lamont was vice president of the Northern Pacific Railway Company from 1898 to 1904. He was also a director of numerous banks and corporations. Lamont died in Millbrook, New York, on July 23, 1905, at aged 54. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, in The Bronx, New York City.

Lamont spent his summers in the Gray Gables neighborhood in Bourne, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, near where Grover Cleveland owned a house. Cleveland and Lamont were known to have many parties during the summers. His old house still stands.

References

• Bell, William Gardner (1992). "Daniel Scott Lamont". Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army. United States Army Center of Military History. 

External links

Media related to Daniel S. Lamont at Wikimedia Commons

• Works by or about Daniel S. Lamont at Internet Archive
• Daniel S. Lamont at Find a Grave

U.S. Secretaries of War and the Army
U.S. Department of War (1789–1949)	Secretaries of War B. Lincoln Knox Pickering McHenry Dexter Dearborn Eustis Armstrong Monroe W. Crawford Calhoun Barbour P. Porter Eaton Cass Poinsett Bell Spencer J. Porter Wilkins Marcy G. Crawford Conrad J. Davis Floyd Holt S. Cameron Stanton Schofield Rawlins Belknap A. Taft J. Cameron McCrary Ramsey R. Lincoln Endicott Proctor Elkins Lamont Alger Root W. Taft Wright Dickinson Stimson Garrison Baker Weeks D. Davis Good Hurley Dern Woodring Stimson Patterson Royall Assistant Secretaries of War Scott Watson Tucker Wolcott Dana Eckert Grant Doe Meiklejohn Sanger Oliver Breckinridge Ingraham Crowell Williams Wainwright D. Davis MacNider Hurley Payne Woodring L. Johnson Patterson McCloy Petersen
U.S. Department of the Army (1949–present)	Secretaries of the Army Royall Gray Pace Stevens Brucker Stahr Vance Ailes Resor Froehlke Callaway Hoffmann C. Alexander Marsh Stone West Caldera White Harvey Geren McHugh Fanning Under Secretaries of the Army Draper Gray Voorhees A. Alexander Bendetsen E. Johnson Slezak Finucane Milton Ailes Ignatius Resor McGiffert Beal BeLieu Staudt Augustine LaBerge Ambrose Stone Shannon Reeder Walker Rostker Dahlberg Brownlee Geren Ford Westphal Carson Murphy