High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! George Maxwell Robeson (March 16, 1829 – September 27, 1897) was an American Republican Party politician and lawyer from New Jersey who served as a Union army general during the American Civil War, and then as Secretary of the Navy during the Grant Administration. During the 19th Century, Sec. Robeson`s seven years in office was second in time length only to Sec. Gideon Welles`s tenure. Robeson, as Secretary of Navy, was an industrious administrator and through his strong departmental leadership was able to contain the established Naval officer hierarchy. Sec. Robeson supported and developed the early stages of submarine and torpedo technology in keeping U.S. harbors safe from foreign attack. Sec. Robeson secured Congressional funding for the 1871 Polaris expedition led by Capt. C. F. Hall. During Reconstruction, Sec. Robeson was a scholarly and forceful advocate of President Grant and the Radical Republican agenda to end the Southern vestiges of slavery having supported the citizenship and voting rights for the African American freedmen. In 1874, Sec. Robeson responded to the naval threat imposed by Spain during the Virginius Affair; having implemented U.S. Naval resurgence; however Congress refused to pay for the completion of the five new ships. His tenure as Secretary of the Navy, however, was marred by corruption charges in 1876 concerning profiteering from ship builder contracting.