Benjamin Homans

Benjamin Homans (c. 1765 – December 1823)^[3] was an American merchant captain,^[4] and politician who served as the 4th Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth and who served from as the Chief Clerk of the Navy Department,^[1][2] which was at the time the second highest civilian position in the US Navy.

Benjamin Homans
Chief Clerk of the US Navy Department[1]
In office March 9, 1813[1] – December 1, 1823[1]
Appointed by	James Monroe
Preceded by	Charles W. Goldsborough[1]
Succeeded by	Charles Hay
4th Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
In office 1810–1812
Succeeded by	Alden Bradford
Personal details
Born	c. 1765 Massachusetts
Died	December 1823 Georgetown, D.C.
Children	I. Smith Homans[2]

Early career

Born in Massachusetts,^[5] Homans had been a merchant captain during the 1780s and 1790s. During the Quasi war with France, because of the Sedition Act and because he was an ardent Jeffersonian, Homans went into exile in Bordeaux.^[4]

War of 1812

Prior to the 1814 British attack, and Burning of Washington during the War of 1812, it was Homans, along with Dolley Madison who removed two wagon loads of the White House and Navy Department's archives; including saving Charles Willson Peale's classic portrait of George Washington.^[2][6] The trunks were transferred onto a canal boat and taken upstream on the Potomac River, where they were stored in a barn near Cabin John, Maryland until the danger had passed.^[6][7]

Later life

Homans resigned as chief clerk of the Navy Department to become naval storekeeper in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but died in Georgetown^[3][8] in December 1823 before he could leave Washington to take up the new post.^[3][6]