Benjamin Franklin Flanders (January 26, 1816 – March 13, 1896) was a teacher, politician and planter in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Flanders became active in politics, elected as a Democratic alderman representing the 3rd Municipal District of New Orleans, serving from 1847 to 1852.

[1] He was elected along with Michael Hahn as at-large Representatives of Louisiana, assuming the seat left vacant after J. E. Bouligny's term expired in 1861.

[2][3] On July 13, 1863, Flanders was made the Captain of Company C, 5th Regiment Louisiana Volunteers, a Union Army unit.

Fearful of the black majority in many Louisiana districts, most white Democrats opposed giving freedmen suffrage, especially after Confederate veterans were temporarily disenfranchised unless they took a loyalty oath.

In 1867, General Philip Sheridan, Commander of the 5th Military District, which included Louisiana and Texas, removed elected Governor James Madison Wells for not responding to the riots appropriately and for not advancing the rights of freedmen.

About six months later, on January 1, 1868, Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, as the new military commander of Louisiana, removed all radical Republicans from state offices.

[4] In 1870, Governor Henry C. Warmoth, elected as part of the Reconstruction-era civil government, appointed Flanders as Mayor of New Orleans.

Flanders ran unsuccessfully in 1888 as a Republican candidate for Louisiana State Treasurer; by that time Democrats were controlling most statewide elected positions.