George Henry Sharpe

George Henry Sharpe (February 26, 1828 – January 13, 1900) was an American lawyer, soldier, Secret Service officer, diplomat, politician, and Member of the Board of General Appraisers. Sharpe was born in 1828, in Kingston, New York, into a prominent Ulster County family. He earned his bachelor's degree at Rutgers University and studied law at Yale University. He practiced law in New York City from 1847 to 1851. He served as Secretary of the United States Legation in Vienna, Austrian Empire from 1851 to 1852 and then resumed his law practice in New York from 1854 to 1861. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Sharpe served as a captain in a New York regiment for three months and then returned to civilian life. In 1862, at the request of the Governor of New York, he raised a new regiment and went back into service as a colonel with the Army of the Potomac. In 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker selected Sharpe to command the Bureau of Military Information (BMI), the Army of the Potomac's intelligence operation. He served in that role until the end of the war. By the war's end, Sharpe was promoted to brevet major general. After the war, Sharpe mixed his law practice and the pursuit of his interests in New York state Republican Party politics with several stints in Federal government service. He went to Europe to investigate the Lincoln assassination conspiracy for the State Department. He served as a U.S. Marshal in New York City and as Surveyor of the Port of New York. In 1878, he was elected to the New York State Assembly and served for four years, for two of which he was selected as Speaker. In 1884 he was appointed head of the U.S. Commission to Central and South America and then he ended his career with an appointment to the U.S. Board of General Appraisers in 1890.