After declining a regular Army commission , Belknap was appointed Iowa 's Collector of Internal Revenue by President Andrew Johnson ; he served with distinction for four years . In 1869 , President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Belknap as Secretary of War . During his tenure , Belknap ordered portraits of all the previous Secretaries , intending to create a complete collection in honor of the United States Centennial . In 1871 , Belknap was investigated by Congress , after he was directly involved in the sale of arms and munitions to France , while the United States was ostensibly neutral during the Franco-Prussian War . The same year , Belknap had arranged aid for victims of the catastrophic Chicago Fire . During the Reconstruction Era , Belknap 's War Department and the U.S. military worked under supervision of President Ulysses S. Grant and the United States Attorney General 's office to occupy the former Confederacy and attempt to implement changes in government and the economy , while protecting freedmen from an increasingly violent insurgency . Belknap supported Grant 's Reconstruction policy , which most Democrats opposed . In 1875 , Grant , Belknap , and other members of Grant 's administration secretly agreed to remove troops from the Black Hills after gold was discovered . The US had protected the area from white settlers as part of a US treaty with the Lakota . The withdrawal of troops allowed a gold rush of white settlers to take place , and the US took '' de facto '' possession after the Lakota refused to sell their sacred lands . In 1876 , the trader post scandal at Fort Sill led to Belknap 's resignation , impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House , and trial by the Senate . While a majority of senators voted to convict , they lacked the two-thirds required , and Belknap was acquitted . Belknap resumed practicing law in Washington ; he continued to be popular among Iowa Civil War veterans , and was active until he died of a heart attack in 1890 . One historian described Belknap as a man of both virtues and flaws , a talented lawyer , administrator and military officer , but whose personal corruption overshadowed his positive qualities
Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
William W. Belknap