Samuel C. Pomeroy, U.S. Senator

Samuel Clarke Pomeroy was an American Republican Senator from Kansas in the mid-19th century, serving in the United States Senate during the American Civil War. He also served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and was the mayor of Atchison, Kansas, from 1858 to 1859; the second president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad; and the first president to oversee any of the railroad's construction and operations. Pomeroy succeeded Cyrus K. Holliday as president of the railroad on January 13, 1864.

In 1864, Pomeroy was the chair of a committee supporting Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase for the Republican nomination for President of the United States over the incumbent, Abraham Lincoln. Pomeroy also spoke in support of Chase's candidacy in the Senate. The Pomeroy committee issued a confidential circular to leading Republicans in February 1864 attacking Lincoln, which had the unintended effect of galvanizing support for Lincoln and seriously damaging Chase's prospects.

On December 18, 1871, at the urging of Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden and after learning of the findings of the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, Pomeroy introduced the Act of Dedication bill into the Senate that ultimately led to the creation of Yellowstone National Park.

During the Kansas senatorial election of 1873, it was alleged that Senator Pomeroy paid $7,000 to Mr. Alexander M. York, a Kansas state senator, to secure his vote for reelection to the Senate by the Kansas State Legislature. Pomeroy took to the Senate floor on February 10, 1873 to deny the allegations as a "conspiracy ... for the purpose of accomplishing my defeat," and urged the creation of a special committee to investigate the allegations.

The payment of the $7,000 was never disputed by witnesses, but instead of being a bribe it was described to the committee as a payment meant to be passed along to a second individual as seed money to start a national bank. The Special Committee on the Kansas Senatorial Election issued its report on March 3, 1873, which determined there was insufficient evidence to sustain the bribery charge, and instead was part of a "concerted plot" to defeat Senator Pomeroy.

The former town of Pomeroy, Kansas (now a part of Kansas City, Kansas) is believed to have been named for Senator Pomeroy. Pomeroy Boulvevard in Kansas City runs through the former city.