Benjamin Flanders
| Benjamin F. Flanders | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 31st Mayor of New Orleans | |
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In office April 4, 1870 – November 29, 1872 |
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| Preceded by | John R. Conway |
| Succeeded by | Louis A. Wiltz |
| 21st Governor of Louisiana | |
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In office June 8, 1867 – January 8, 1868 |
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| Lieutenant | Albert Voorhies |
| Preceded by | James M. Wells |
| Succeeded by | Joshua Baker |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st district |
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In office December 3, 1862 – March 3, 1863 |
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| Preceded by | J. E. Bouligny |
| Succeeded by | J. Hale Sypher |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 26, 1816 Bristol, New Hampshire |
| Died | March 13, 1896 (aged 80) Lafayette Parish, Louisiana |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Susan H. Sawyer |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
Benjamin Franklin Flanders (January 26, 1816 – March 13, 1896) was a teacher, politician and planter in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1867, he was appointed by the military commander as the 21st Governor of Louisiana during Reconstruction, a position which he held for some six months.
A native of New Hampshire, he had moved to New Orleans as a young man in 1843, where he studied law, then became a schoolteacher and principal. He worked and reared his family in Louisiana for nearly 20 years before the American Civil War, and he opposed secession. He served as an alderman in New Orleans from 1847 to 1852.
After New Orleans and much of Louisiana was occupied by Union troops, in 1864 Flanders was among the founders of the Republican Party of Louisiana, and began working for rights and suffrage for freedmen. He also served as an appointed, then elected, Mayor of New Orleans, from 1870 to 1873. In 1873 he was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as an Assistant Treasurer of the United States, serving during Grant's administration. Late in life Flanders lived on his Ben Alva plantation in Lafayette Parish.
Flanders was born in Bristol, New Hampshire. At the age of twenty-six, he graduated from Dartmouth College in Dartmouth, New Hampshire.
In January 1843 he moved to New Orleans and read law under Charles M. Emerson. The following year he left this study to become a school teacher and principal. In 1845, Flanders became editor of New Orleans Tropic, a local newspaper. In 1847 he married Susan H. Sawyer in Bristol, New Hampshire. She returned with him to New Orleans, where they had six children together.
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