Proctor, Redfield

Proctor, Redfield, 1831–1908, American industrialist and political leader, b. Proctorsville, Vt. He studied law, practiced in Boston, and served in the Union army in the Civil War. After he returned (1863) to Vermont he joined the Vermont Marble Company at Sutherland Falls (now Proctor) and made the company one of the largest of its kind in the country. He became its president in 1880. Proctor served in both houses of the state legislature and was lieutenant governor (1876–78) and governor (1878–80) before he became (1889) U.S. Secretary of War. He resigned (1891) this post to enter the U.S. Senate, where he served until his death. He visited Cuba in 1898, and the speech he made depicting conditions there was influential in bringing the United States into the Spanish-American War.