Benjamin Piatt Runkle (September 3, 1836 – June 28, 1916) was an American military officer, Episcopal priest, and Freemason, who is noted as being one of the seven founders of Sigma Chi fraternity.

[1] He served as Chief Superintendent of Freedmen's Affairs in Kentucky, and was plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Runkle v. United States.

[2] After college, he studied law under General Samson Mason in Springfield and was admitted to the bar in July 1859.

Runkle was commissioned as a captain in the 13th Ohio Infantry on April 22, 1861, and served as such until November 8, 1861, when he was promoted to the rank of major after the Battle of Carnifex Ferry.

[4][7] Runkle's men broke the enemy line at the Battle of Dutton's Hill in Somerset, Kentucky on March 30, 1863, and he was thanked for his gallantry on the field by Quincy Gillmore, the commanding general, who gave Colonel Runkle's command entire credit for the victory.

[9] He later commanded the 3rd Brigade of the 4th Division of the XXIII Corps in Kentucky and Tennessee and participated in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign at the battles of Rocky Face Ridge and Resaca.

[10] Runkle was honorably mustered out July 21, 1864, and on August 29, 1864, he was appointed lieutenant colonel in the Veteran Reserve Corps where he commanded the 21st Regiment until the war ended.

Since the government had announced plans to terminate Freedmen's Bureau operations in Kentucky, Runkle, and his caretaker staff presided over bureau school closings and the dispersal of the remaining funds, which were completed in the summer of 1870, although the veterans' claim offices remained open through June 1872.

[14][15] While serving as both an active duty army major and as a disbursing officer of the Freedmen's Bureau for the State of Kentucky in 1870, he was placed on the retired list as major, but continued as a disbursing officer until he was arrested and tried before a court-martial for financial irregularities on the part of his sub-agents for "alleged failures to pay, or to pay in full".

[4][16] The court-martial found Runkle guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman and of violating the March 2, 1863, c. 67, § 1, Act of Congress.

[19] Runkle was the only founder of Sigma Chi to become Grand Consul, serving as the seventh national president from 1895 to 1897.