Benjamin Piatt Runkle
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Benjamin Piatt Runkle, (September 3, 1836 – June 28, 1916) was one of the original seven founders of Sigma Chi fraternity, as well as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Runkle was born in West Liberty, Ohio. He is remembered most for his pugnatiousness; he threw his DKE badge on the table in disgust in the pivotal meeting between the founders of Sigma Chi and Whitelaw Reid. He stood up to Reid and said, "I didn't join this fraternity to be any one's tool and that, Sir, is my answer." (Interestingly, years after this heated meeting with Reid, Runkle said that had the situation been explained to him further and had Reid approached the situation in a more respectful way, there probably would have been a more reasonable resolution and, in effect, no Sigma Chi fraternity.) It is also said that he once was temporarily suspended from school for fighting in chapel with a Beta Theta Pi brother who publicly sneered at his badge.
After college, Runkle volunteered for a militia company during the Civil War, which became a part of the 13th Ohio Infantry. After his initial term of enlistment had expired, he was appointed as colonel of the 45th Ohio Infantry. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Shiloh, and a glowing obituary was written by Whitelaw Reid, who had seen his wounds at Shiloh. Interestingly, Runkle not only survived but outlived Reid, and in turn praised him in an obituary.
By the time he retired from military service he was a major general, and it was then that he was ordained as an Episcopal priest. He was the only founder to become Grand Consul, serving as the seventh from 1895-1897.
He died on the fraternity's sixty-first birthday. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
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