Simeon Draper

Simeon Draper (January 19, 1806 – November 6, 1866) was a prominent merchant and politician in New York City. During the American Civil War, he was the federal government's agent for receiving captured cotton from the Confederate States of America and selling it to benefit the Union war effort. A native of Brookfield, Massachusetts, Draper clerked for a Boston merchant before moving to New York City to begin his own business career. A successful merchant, he became wealthy enough to broaden his holdings, which grew to include real estate, insurance, and banking. A Whig in politics, and later a Republican, Draper served on the Whig state committee several times in the 1840s and 1850s; after becoming a Republican following the party's founding in the mid-1850s, he served as chairman of the New York Republican State Committee from 1860 to 1862. During the American Civil War, Draper received a high-paying patronage appointment as Collector of the Port of New York. He was also appointed as an agent of the federal government responsible to receive, store, and dispose of cotton captured in the Confederate States of America. The results of a post-war investigation indicated that Draper used this post to recover from financial setbacks he had during the Panic of 1857 by diverting some of the proceeds of the sale of captured cotton to his personal use.