Editing Stephen W. Dorsey

{{Short description|American politician}}
{{redirect|Senator Dorsey}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name                = Stephen W. Dorsey
|image               = stephen_dorsey.jpg
|jr/sr               = United States Senator
|state               = [[Arkansas]]
|term_start          = March 4, 1873
|term_end            = March 3, 1879
|predecessor         = [[Benjamin F. Rice]]
|successor           = [[James D. Walker]]
|birth_date          = {{birth date|1842|2|28}}
|birth_place         = [[Benson, Vermont|Benson]], [[Vermont]]
|death_date          = {{death date and age|1916|3|20|1842|2|28}}
|death_place         = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]
|resting_place       = [[Fairmount Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)|Fairmount Cemetery]] in [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]], [[Colorado]]
|party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|signature           = Signature of Stephen Wallace Dorsey (1842–1916).png
}}
'''Stephen Wallace Dorsey''' (February 28, 1842{{spaced ndash}}March 20, 1916) was a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] politician who represented [[Arkansas]] in the [[United States Senate]] from 1873 to 1879, during the [[Reconstruction era in the United States|Reconstruction]] era.

He was born in [[Benson, Vermont|Benson]] in [[Rutland County, Vermont|Rutland County]], [[Vermont]], and subsequently moved to [[Ohio]] and settled in [[Oberlin, Ohio|Oberlin]], where he attended [[State school|public schools]].

In 1861, he joined the 1st Ohio Light Artillery of the [[Union Army]] as a private during the [[American Civil War]].<ref name=EOA>Ristow, Susanne. [https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/stephen-wallace-dorsey-2800/ "Stephen Wallace Dorsey (1842-1916)"], ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas website'', last updated July 01, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.</ref> By the end of the war, he became a colonel.<ref name=EOA/> After the war he returned to Ohio and settled in [[Sandusky, Ohio|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, Arkansas|Helena]], Arkansas.

He was elected as a Senator from Arkansas March 3, 1873. He was a chairman of the [[United States Senate Committee on the District of Columbia|Committee on District of Columbia]] ([[Forty-fifth United States Congress|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]]. 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]] 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 (United States)|Democratic Party]] gained complete control of the state assembly with the adoption of the new 1874 Arkansas Constitution and the election of [[Augustus Garland]], leading to Dorsey not seeking reelection in 1879. <ref name="Pruden">{{cite web |last1=Pruden |first1=William |date= |title=Poland Committee |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/poland-committee-5852/ |publisher=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |access-date=2024-02-05}}</ref>

In 1880, when the Republicans nominated [[James A. Garfield]] for [[U.S. President]] and [[Chester A. Arthur]] for [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]], Dorsey became the secretary of the [[Republican National Committee]]. 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]]. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2800|title=Stephen Wallace Dorsey (1842–1916) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas|website=www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net}}</ref>

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]] in 1997, and no other Republican served in the state's Class 3 Senate seat until [[John Boozman]] in 2011.

He  engaged in [[cattle]] raising and [[mining]] in [[New Mexico]]  and [[Colorado]] and subsequently moved to [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], [[California]], where he resided until his death in 1916. He is interred at [[Fairmount Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)|Fairmount Cemetery]] in [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]], Colorado.

The town of [[Clayton, New Mexico]], is named for a son of Senator Dorsey.

==See also==
*[[List of federal political scandals in the United States]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{CongBio|D000441}}

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{{U.S. Senator box
|state=Arkansas
|class=3
|before=[[Benjamin F. Rice]]
|after=[[James D. Walker]]
|alongside=[[Powell Clayton]], [[Augustus Hill Garland|Augustus H. Garland]]
|years=1873&ndash;1879}}
{{s-end}}

{{USSenAR}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Ohio|American Civil War|United States|Politics|Business and Economics|Colorado|Los Angeles}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorsey, Stephen W.}}
[[Category:1842 births]]
[[Category:1916 deaths]]
[[Category:People of Vermont in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Politicians from Sandusky, Ohio]]
[[Category:Arkansas Republicans]]
[[Category:Republican Party United States senators from Arkansas]]
[[Category:New Mexico Republicans]]
[[Category:California Republicans]]
[[Category:Colorado Republicans]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Ohio]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Arkansas]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:Union army colonels]]
[[Category:19th-century United States senators]]