Washburne, Elihu Benjamin (1816-1887) Elihu Benjamin Washburne was born in Livermore, Maine. He was a printer and lawyer who settled in Galena, Illinois. He was elected a Whig Congressman from Illinois in 1853 and, in 1869, was appointed Secretary of State and Minister to France by President Grant. During the Franco-Prussian War, he acted as a liason between Germans in Paris and the German government. In Recollections of a Minister to France Washburne recounts his war-time experiences in France.