Carpenter, Richard B.

Flourished: 1855 to 1865 Chicago, Illinois

Nicknamed "Colonel Carpenter," Richard B. Carpenter was a disbursing agent and officer, attorney, and Democrat. In 1855, he relocated to Chicago, where he began working as a disbursing agent for a local customs house. Later that year, he was fired from this position at the urging of Stephen A. Douglas. Although he later regained the position and campaigned on behalf of the Democratic Party during the elections of 1856, he was vocally anti-Douglas and loyal to President James Buchanan during the 1858 Federal Election. That year he served as one of Cook County's delegates to pro-Buchanan conventions and delivered public speeches in support of Buchanan and critical of Douglas' position on the Lecompton Constitution. This led Douglas to reject Carpenter as a candidate for postmaster of Chicago. Yet, as a reward for his service to the Buchanan administration in 1858, Carpenter received appointment—without Douglas' knowledge—as the disbursing officer for Chicago's new post office and customhouse. By 1860, he was practicing law in Chicago.

Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008), 66; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 6 February 1858, 2:1; 22 April 1858, 2:2; 26 April 1858, 2:2-3; 10 June 1858, 2:3; 26 July 1858, 2:2; 9 August 1858, 3:1; LeRoy P. Grae and Ralph W. Haskins, eds., The Papers of Andrew Johnson, 1861-1862 (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1979), 5:65; Roy Franklin Nichols, The Disruption of American Democracy (New York: Macmillan, 1948), 89-90; Lillian Foster, Way-Side Glimpses: North and South (New York: Rudd and Carlton, 1860), 222-23.