Commanding Generals

and

Chiefs of Staff

COMMANDING GENERALS

CHIEFS OF STAFF

1775–2013

Portraits & Biographical Sketches

of the

United States Army’s Senior Officer

William Gardner Bell

CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY

UNITED STATES ARMY

WASHINGTON, D.C., 2013

AND
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bell, William Gardner.

 Commanding generals and chiefs of staff, 1775–2013 : portraits &

biographical sketches of the United States Army’s senior officer / William

Gardner Bell.

pages. cm

 Includes bibliographical references.

 1. Generals—United States—Biography. 2. United States. Dept. of the Army.

General Staff—Biography. 3. United States. Army—Biography. 4. United

States—History, Military. I. Center of Military History. II. Title.

E181.B53 2013

355.0092'2–dc23

[B] 2013009473

First Printed 1983—CMH Pub 70–14
Foreword

Leadership is of the utmost importance to the profession of arms. 

Judgment, competence, loyalty, and courage regularly count for more 

than military strength to achieve victory. Thus it is important to study 

those who rise to the top of our profession—the general officers—for insight 

into what attributes contribute to their selection. Over the last two hundred 

thirty-eight years, our comparatively young army has developed an impres- sive list of senior officers who have ably demonstrated the importance of 

leadership in both peace and war.

This volume provides short biographical sketches of the commanding 

generals and chiefs of staff who have led the United States Army. Their 

rise through the levels of leadership to the pinnacle of their profession 

reveals both striking parallels and equally fascinating contrasts. While 

their responsibilities have evolved over the years, the essential elements 

of leadership remain unchanged. The format of this volume combines 

biographical information along with the officially designated portraits of the 

commanding generals and chiefs of staff. It also includes brief accounts of 

the artists selected to paint the official portraits. As an aspect of the Army art 

program, these portraits add an interesting and revealing dimension to the 

biographer’s words. 

This volume not only celebrates the legacy of dedication and patriotism 

left by these leaders, but also enhances our understanding of military 

leadership at the highest levels. All those interested in the profession of arms 

should become familiar with those who have led our Army.

Washington, D.C. ROBERT J. DALESSANDRO

5 June 2013 Chief of Military History

v
vi

The Author

William Gardner Bell was inducted into the Army in August 1941, was 

commissioned through the officer candidate course at the Cavalry School 

in 1943, and served as a platoon leader, company commander, and battalion staff officer with the 350th Infantry in the World War II Italian campaign and 

on the regimental staff during the occupation of Venezia Giulia. He was associate 

editor of the Cavalry Journal from 1947 to 1950 and editor of Armor Magazine

from 1950 to 1953. From 1956 to his retirement from military service in 1962 he 

was a historian in the Office of the Chief of Military History. From 1963 to 1984 

he was a historian in the U.S. Army Center of Military History, where for a dozen 

years he prepared the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Army and the annual 

Department of the Army Historical Summary. As staff specialist on the frontier 

army, he wrote the Indian wars chapter of the Army’s historical volume American 

Military History. Mr. Bell is the author of Secretaries of War and Secretaries of 

the Army: Portraits and Biographical Sketches (1982), The 350th Infantry in 

Occupation (1947), The Snake: A Noble and Various River (1969), John Gregory 

Bourke: A Soldier-Scientist on the Frontier (1978), Quarters One: The United 

States Army Chief of Staff’s Residence (1981), and Will James: The Life and Works 

of a Lone Cowboy (1987).
vii

From earliest times one might have expected 

to find at departmental headquarters a uniformed commander of the whole Army. 

Such ruling considerations as structure, organization, discipline, and leadership—the very essence 

of military operation—ordained commanders at 

every level and invested them progressively with 

advancing rank, expanding numbers of subordinates, and increasing measures of responsibility and authority. Yet logic, for a number of reasons, stopped short of the top, and over the early 

course of American history the role of the United 

States Army’s senior officer was often uncertain, 

frequently shifting, and variously perceived by 

the incumbent, his service, and his superiors. The 

long road to regularization of the title and function, and to final acceptance of the official as a 

chief of staff rather than a commanding general, 

was marked by passion and controversy as well 

as by statesmanship and good will.

It is understandable that some measure of 

experimentation and revision in military command, staff, and structural relationships occurred 

in the early years of the Republic as the young 

nation developed the organization, methods, and 

means that would permit it to function effectively. But the War Department’s search for the 

proper role for its uniformed leader extended 

well beyond a reasonable trial period, the more 

surprising because of the intimate executive, 

legislative, and constitutional involvement in 

the process. From 1775, when the Continental 

Congress elected General George Washington 

as the first commander of the Army, until 1903, 

when Congress legislated Secretary of War Elihu 

Root’s reforms and Lieutenant General Nelson A. 

Miles retired taking the designation of commanding general with him, the senior officer’s title 

fluctuated, the office lay vacant for two extended 

periods, the incumbents absented themselves on 

occasion, and a lively controversy rattled along, 

Preface to 1st Edition

rising and falling with the play of events and 

personalities.

Even the introduction of the Root reforms, 

the designation of the senior officer as a chief of 

staff rather than a commanding general, and the 

installation of Lieutenant General Samuel B. M. 

Young under the new title, did not still the differences over the assignment of functions and the 

lines of authority. Pulling and hauling continued 

as the chief of staff sought to consolidate his 

position at the center of power, the General Staff 

strove to establish control over planning and 

policy, and the technical services fought to retain 

their traditional control over special functions 

and fields and their direct access to the departmental secretary. It required sixty years, periodic 

legislative spurts, subordination of the military 

departments within the Department of Defense, 

and some culminating reforms by Secretary of 

Defense Robert S. McNamara to resolve the fundamental problems and place the Army and its 

senior officer on a sound institutional and functional footing.

By and large, the Army’s top soldiers have 

been able men who worked their way up the 

career ladder to reach the summit of their profession. As in any walk of life, they moved in 

a competitive environment. Strong-willed and 

ambitious soldiers have vied for the title, responsibility, authority, honor, and opportunity for service embodied in the senior officer’s position. 

As William Shakespeare pointed out, “‘Tis deeds 

must win the prize,” and indubitably those who 

succeeded invested a lifetime of dedicated and 

distinguished service on the way to the top. Yet so 

did many of their fellows, and to such qualifications as seniority, longevity, and accomplishment 

must be added the kinds of considerations that 

inspired President John Quincy Adams to bypass 

Generals Winfield Scott and Edmund Gaines to 

select General Alexander Macomb to command 
viii

the Army; President Theodore Roosevelt to jump 

General John J. Pershing over 862 more senior 

officers for promotion from captain to brigadier 

general; and President Jimmy Carter to move 

General Edward C. Meyer around 17 more senior 

officers to be his Army chief of staff.

It is not the purpose of this book to provide a history of the Army, the War Department, 

or the General Staff; those subjects are dealt 

with in such existing works as American Military 

History edited by Maurice Matloff, From 

Root to McNamara: Army Organization and 

Administration, 1900–1963 by James E. Hewes, 

Jr., National Security and the General Staff by 

Otto L. Nelson, Jr., and History of the United 

States Army by Russell F. Weigley.

The present work focuses upon the Army’s 

senior officer. Although this generic designation 

has been used throughout in alluding to incumbents of all periods and dates irrespective of formal or informal practices at any given time, the 

titular line of succession also has been divided 

arbitrarily into two categories that are nicely 

descriptive of the contradictions that dogged 

the senior officer position for many years. Thus 

incumbents of the early period (1775–1903) are 

called commanding general, even though two of 

the officers were not generals and the title was 

not formalized until 1821; those of modern times 

(1903–1995), generals all, are merged under the 

title chief of staff, the designation formalized in 

1903 and still in use today. An introductory essay 

traces the development of the position, highlights 

the organization and operation of the office, and 

reviews some of the associations and connections 

of a unique body of military figures.

The central element of the book is the catalog of senior officers in the line of succession, 

each represented by a color portrait and a concise 

biographical sketch. Considerations of style and 

format have dictated the approach used in the 

biographies, which have been scaled roughly 

to uniform size despite variations in the terms 

of office, substance of service, and celebrity or 

distinction of the incumbents. The treatment is 

telegraphic and factual rather than narrative and 

analytical; seniority in rank and position is the 

common denominator.

A word should be said here to explain the 

inclusion of an acting chief of staff in the line 

of succession. As the book’s introduction makes 

clear, executive military continuity was highly 

irregular in the early period of Army history, and 

there is little purpose in assessing the acting officials for a time when formal patterns of primary 

progression, much less secondary, were erratic. 

On the other hand, there has been increasing 

formality in this regard since the inception of 

the chief of staff era early in the twentieth century. Obviously, the Army’s senior officer will 

be absent on occasion—on a peacetime tour of 

inspection, on a wartime visit to a battlefront, on 

a well-earned vacation. In such instances it has 

been standard practice for a second-level official to act in his behalf. General Bruce Palmer, 

Jr., vice chief of staff under General William 

C. Westmoreland, served frequently in an acting capacity during the chief of staff’s absence. 

Under different circumstances, however, he 

served as acting chief of staff during the period from General Westmoreland’s retirement on 

30 June 1972 until the delayed confirmation of 

General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr., on 12 October 

1972. His status therefore differs from that of 

two other officers who served as acting chief of 

staff: Brigadier General Thomas H. Barry, who 

covered the central office in the closing weeks of 

1906 while the chief of staff, Brigadier General 

J. Franklin Bell, was in the field with the Army 

of Cuban Pacification; and Major General John 

Biddle, who presided for six weeks in late 1917 

and a similar period in early 1918 while the chief 

of staff, General Tasker H. Bliss, was in Europe 

attending meetings of the Supreme War Council. 

In both of these cases there was a sitting chief of 

staff, whereas General Palmer acted in his own 

right during the Westmoreland-Abrams interregnum. Thus his inclusion in the line of chiefs 

of staff.

For readers who wish to probe more deeply into the history of the United States Army, 

the Department of the Army, the General Staff, 

and the lives of the respective senior officers, a 

select bibliography is supplied. It is by no means 

exhaustive, but will serve as a starting point. The 

material available on the commanding generals 

and chiefs of staff is as uneven as the careers of 

the individuals involved. Some wrote personal 

memoirs, and multiple biographies exist on the 

more prominent figures, while little coverage is 

available on others of less conspicuous service.

For ready reference, two appendices are provided in chart form. Appendix A displays, in 

dated chronological order, the presidents of the 

United States and the Army’s parallel senior civil 

and military officials in each administration. 
ix

Appendix B is a chronological list of the Army’s 

senior officer line of succession, including dates 

of birth and death, period of incumbency, tour 

length, and age at time of entry into office and, as 

appropriate, at death.

Readers primarily interested in the paintings 

reproduced in this work should note that dimensions are given in inches, with height preceding 

width, and are sight measurements in the frame.

In the Army’s historical office the author has 

benefited from the intersection of the military and 

historical professions; perceptive comments and 

constructive suggestions were advanced by several readers with both backgrounds and perspectives. On the military side the manuscript was 

reviewed by Brigadier General James L. Collins, 

Jr., Chief of Military History, and Colonel James 

W. Dunn, Chief, Histories Division; on the historical side the material was read by Dr. David F. 

Trask, Chief Historian, and Mr. B. C. Mossman, 

Chief, Staff Support Branch.

In addition to this internal review, several outside authorities took time out from busy schedules to read the manuscript and bring their expertise to bear. The author expresses his thanks and 

appreciation to Dr. Edward M. Coffman, Professor 

of History at the University of Wisconsin; Dr. 

Maurice Matloff, former Chief Historian of the 

Army, Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International 

Center for Scholars (1981–1982), and Visiting 

Professor (1982–1983) at the United States Military 

Academy; and Dr. Robert W. Coakley, former 

Deputy Chief Historian of the Army.

Other members of the staff of the Center of 

Military History furnished valuable assistance. 

In the preparatory stages the support provided by 

Miss Carol I. Anderson and Mr. Joseph K. Mosley 

of the Center’s library, and by Miss Marylou 

Gjernes, Curator of the Army Art Collection, was 

especially helpful. In the publication process the 

finished product testifies to the high quality of 

the professional services rendered by Mr. John 

W. Elsberg, Chief of the Editorial Branch, and 

his staff, including Miss Joanne M. Brignolo who 

edited the manuscript. Also deserving of mention 

is Lieutenant Colonel Adrian G. Traas, Assistant 

Chief of the Histories Division, for coordinating numerous and complex administrative details 

within and between agencies.

Externally, essential support and assistance was provided by the staffs of the National 

Museum of American Art, the National Archives, 

the Library of Congress, the Defense Audiovisual 

Agency, and the Army Audiovisual Center. 

Numerous libraries, galleries, and historical societies also responded affirmatively and productively to requests for materials and specific pieces 

of information. Finally, acknowledgments would 

not be complete without a recognition of the work 

of the Government Printing Office in the important fields of typography, design, and printing. The 

completed book owes much to its talents.

Despite the contributions of a wide array of 

agencies and individuals, the ultimate responsibility for any faults in this book rests with the author. 

Errors of omission or commission are mine alone.

William Gardner Bell

Washington, D.C.
x

Army Portraits

The Army has long been interested in pictorial representation of its top officials—the senior civilian and the senior officer. In the early 1870s Secretary 

of War William Worth Belknap began the tradition of engaging prominent 

artists to paint the individual portraits of the departmental secretaries to record the 

line of succession. Since then, the secretarial portrait collection has been carefully 

nurtured and continues today. The portraits are reproduced in color in the author’s 

companion volume Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army: Portraits and 

Biographical Sketches, published and periodically updated by the U.S. Army Center 

of Military History, most recently in 2003. A number of the portraits are on permanent exhibit in the Secretarial Portrait Gallery at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. 

Due in part to the shifting nature of the senior officer position in the period 

from 1775 to 1903, the portraits of the Army’s senior officers are not as complete 

as that of its senior civilians. Although the Army has portraits of a few of its early 

commanders, they were acquired, in many instances, for reasons other than the 

individual’s senior role in the uniformed line of succession. Thus, to represent the 

senior officers of the first 128 years of Army history, reproductions of suitable portraits were located and obtained from other organizations, galleries, institutions, and 

individuals. Each is acknowledged in the respective brief accounts on the artists that 

accompany the portraits and biographical sketches.

Unlike the early years, the Army has a formal collection of chief of staff portraits extending from the inception of that title and office in 1903 to the present. The 

Chiefs of Staff Hallway at the Pentagon is where the portraits are displayed. This 

was made possible through the generosity of former Secretary of the Army and Mrs. 

Robert T. Stevens, whose substantial gift enabled the Center of Military History to 

commission contemporary artists to execute the portraits of the officers of the modern period.

The portrait element of the book thus represents and blends the work of some 

of America’s most noted and accomplished artists of the past—William Cogswell, 

Daniel Huntington, John Wesley Jarvis, Charles Willson Peale, James Peale, and 

Thomas Sully—with that of established and gifted contemporary portraitists like 

John Edward Bannon, Joyce Ballantyne Brand, Cedric Baldwin Egeli, Everett 

Raymond Kinstler, John Boyd Martin, Margaret Holland Sargent, and Christine 

Conniff Sheahan.
xi

Contents

Page

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Commanding Generals, 1775–1903

George Washington (first tour) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Henry Knox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

John Doughty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Josiah Harmar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Arthur St. Clair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Anthony Wayne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

James Wilkinson (first tour) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

George Washington (second tour) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Alexander Hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

James Wilkinson (second tour) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

Henry Dearborn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Jacob Jennings Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Alexander Macomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

Winfield Scott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

George Brinton McClellan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

Henry Wager Halleck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84

Ulysses Simpson Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

William Tecumseh Sherman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Philip Henry Sheridan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

John McAllister Schofield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92

Nelson Appleton Miles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94

Chiefs of Staff, 1903–2013

Samuel Baldwin Marks Young . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Adna Romanza Chaffee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

John Coalter Bates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

James Franklin Bell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104

Leonard Wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

William Wallace Wotherspoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

Hugh Lenox Scott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Tasker Howard Bliss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112

Peyton Conway March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

John Joseph Pershing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116

John Leonard Hines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Charles Pelot Summerall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120
xii

Page

Douglas MacArthur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Malin Craig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124

George Catlett Marshall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Dwight David Eisenhower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128

Omar Nelson Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Joseph Lawton Collins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

Matthew Bunker Ridgway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134

Maxwell Davenport Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

Lyman Louis Lemnitzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

George Henry Decker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Earle Gilmore Wheeler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

Harold Keith Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

William Childs Westmoreland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146

Bruce Palmer, Jr. (acting) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148

Creighton Williams Abrams, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Frederick Carlton Weyand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152

Bernard William Rogers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154

Edward Charles Meyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156

John Adams Wickham, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Carl Edward Vuono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160

Gordon Russell Sullivan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162

Dennis Joe Reimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164

Eric Ken Shinseki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Peter Jan Schoomaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

George William Casey, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Martin Edward Dempsey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172

Raymond Thomas Odierno . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Appendices and Bibliographies

Appendix A. Chronological List of Chief Executive Authorities, Departmental

Secretaries, and Senior Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179

Appendix B. Chronological List of Senior Officers of the United States

Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186

General Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188

Bibliography of Senior Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Illustrations

George Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Facsimile of Washington’s commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Washington in the field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Benjamin Lincoln . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Henry Knox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Andrew Jackson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

John C. Calhoun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Winfield Scott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Edmund P. Gaines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Alexander Macomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Abraham Lincoln . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Andrew Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
xiii

Page

Edwin M. Stanton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

William T. Sherman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Philip H. Sheridan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Nelson A. Miles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

John M. Schofield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Elihu Root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

General Staff Selection Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Members of the General Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Fred C. Ainsworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Leonard Wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Peyton C. March and Newton D. Baker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Henry L. Stimson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

George C. Marshall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

George Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Ulysses S. Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Dwight D. Eisenhower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

The Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1950 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Matthew B. Ridgway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Maxwell D. Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Robert S. McNamara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

William C. Westmoreland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Peter J. Schoomaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

George W. Casey, Jr., speaks to soldiers in Afghanistan . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Martin E. Dempsey with soldiers in Iraq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Raymond T. Odierno with soldiers in Afghanistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Introduction

On 14 June 1775 the Second Continental 

Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, 

adopted a resolution under which ten 

companies of expert riflemen would be immediately raised, six in Pennsylvania, two in 

Maryland, and two in Virginia. The “compleated” 

companies were to “march and join the army 

near Boston, to be employed . . . under the command of the chief Officer of that army.” On 

the following day the Congress elected George 

Washington, Esq., of Virginia to be general and 

commander in chief “of the forces raised and to 

be raised in defence of American Liberty.” In 

these two conspicuous legislative resolves the 

United States Army was born and its first senior 

uniformed officer appointed.1 Neither the Army 

nor its commander sprang full-blown into being 

upon congressional cue. The institution would 

begin to take shape only in the fires of the war 

of American independence, while the individual 

would pass to his successors the problems inherent in the development and perpetuation of the 

senior military office.

From their earliest appearances on the North 

American continent, Europeans had found it 

necessary to defend themselves, first against the 

native inhabitants, later against each other as well 

as against the American Indian. As England and 

France developed footholds in the New World their 

interests clashed, and both dispatched military forces and cultivated indigenous allies in their attempts 

to prevail on the colonial frontier. By the time the 

English colonists along the Atlantic Coast of North 

America had become disenchanted with the mother 

country, they had participated as British subjects 

in colonial extensions of four world conflicts: the 

War of the Grand Alliance (1689–1697), known 

in America as King William’s War; the War of 

the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), identified 

in the colonies as Queen Anne’s War; the War of 

the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), called King 

George’s War in the New World; and the Seven 

Years’ War (1756–1763), distinguished in North 

America as the French and Indian War.

Colonial units carried the burden of operations in the first three of these conflicts and 

joined British regulars in the fourth. The colonists were thus well indoctrinated in British concepts of military and civil affairs, modified by 

their requirements and experiences in colonial 

life, as they moved down the road toward separation from the parent country and creation of their 

own. Their problem was to disengage from an 

armed, tenacious, and authoritarian monarchy; 

mold a group of highly independent colonies 

into a common government under new national 

authority; and bring a variety of colonial elements into a unified force under central command and control. Much of the burden would fall 

initially upon the new commander’s shoulders.2

George Washington was the unanimous 

choice of his fellow delegates to command the 

Army of the United Colonies (later designated 

the Continental Army). A youthful surveyor of 

frontier lands, he became interested in things military as a member of the Virginia militia, and the 

colonial governor, Robert Dinwiddie, selected 

him to carry a message to the French on the Ohio 

frontier to warn them that they were encroaching upon lands claimed by England. When the 

French rejected the imputation and expanded 

their intrusion, Dinwiddie in 1754 commissioned 

Washington as a lieutenant colonel and sent him 

with a small force to secure a British outpost 

at the forks of the Ohio River (near present-
2

day Pittsburgh). Unfortunately, the French had 

captured it and had established Fort Duquesne 

there before Washington arrived, and although 

Washington defeated a French scouting party, he 

was then besieged in his fortified camp—Fort 

Necessity at Great Meadows, Pennsylvania—and 

forced to surrender.

In 1755 the British sent General Edward 

Braddock with a force of regulars against Fort 

Duquesne, and Washington went along as the 

commander’s aide. The French defeated the 

British in the Battle of the Monongahela, inflicting heavy losses, mortally wounding Braddock, 

and putting the Redcoat remnants to flight. 

Washington was a tower of strength in getting the 

survivors back across the mountains to Virginia.

Dinwiddie next appointed Washington commander of all Virginia forces with the responsibility of defending 300 miles of frontier with a 

like number of men, an assignment that embodied on a regional level the multiform difficulties 

he would face on a national scale in the future. He 

joined a second expedition against Fort Duquesne, 

but when the French withdrew before the British 

George Washington received his 

commission as general and commander 

in chief of the Army of the United 

C o lo n i es ( l a te r d e s i g n a t e d t h e 

Continental Army) from Second 

Continental Congress President John 

Hancock at Philadelphia on 19 June 

1775. From the collections of the Library 

of Congress.

Facsimile of Washington’s commission.

From the collections of the Library of 

Congress.
3

reached the site, erasing a central problem of frontier defense, Washington resigned to take up private life once again.3

As a prominent Virginian and concerned citizen, Washington moved easily from military to 

civil affairs even as he pursued his private interests, and between 1758 and 1774, both as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses sitting at 

Williamsburg and a justice of Fairfax holding court 

in Alexandria, he came to understand the negative 

influences of British colonialism. As the Second 

Continental Congress convened at Philadelphia 

in May 1775, George Washington of the Virginia 

delegation was recognized for his wide experience 

in military, civil, and business affairs; his sound 

ability and common sense; his scrupulous sense of 

honor and duty; his innate dignity and impressive 

bearing; and, above all, political and geographical 

contours with enough appeal to overcome sectional 

rivalries. All of this combined to ordain his selection as commander in chief.

Washington’s stewardship as the Army’s 

senior officer was unique and, by its nature, could 

not have been duplicated by his successors. He 

took office as the head of the forces of a budding 

nation whose government was still in its formative stages. Already at war, the country had no 

national army with established civilian leadership, 

no departmental military organization, no administrative rules and regulations, no supply system, no 

senior officer structure, no institutional seasoning. 

Much of this would have to be developed by the 

left hand as the right hand fought the war.

In the days following Washington’s appointment the Congress moved quickly to give substance to its plans, requirements, and intentions, 

authorizing two major generals and eight brigadier 

generals to serve under Washington; establishing 

the offices of adjutant general, quartermaster general, commissary general, paymaster general, and 

chief engineer, as well as some other positions; 

setting pay scales; and adopting Articles of War 

for the governance of the military establishment.4

Washington took command of the Army in 

the field at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 3 July 

1775. On the following day he issued the general order that formalized the American Army as 

a national institution under the authority of the 

central government: “The Continental Congress 

having now taken all the Troops of the several 

Colonies . . . into their Pay and Service . . . they 

are now the Troops of the United Provinces of 

North America.”5 To bring “a mixed multitude 

of people” under order and discipline, he gave 

his personal attention to such matters as strength 

returns, roll calls, health and sanitation, efficiency, 

distinctions in rank, obedience to orders, and punishment of offenders. And as he kept the British 

Army bottled up in Boston, he dealt with such 

major problems as short-term enlistments, senior 

officer rivalries, scarcity of powder, inadequate 

military intelligence, and deficiencies in both 

organization and training.6

As the country fought for and edged toward 

true yet distant autonomy, it moved also, albeit 

slowly, toward the organizational and managerial 

arrangements that would provide for direction and 

control over the military forces of a free people. 

In the absence of a chief executive the Congress 

created boards and committees to carry out its 

policies, and one of its first moves along this 

line—antedating by three weeks the Declaration 

of Independence—was the establishment in June 

1776 of the Board of War and Ordnance to see to 

“the raising, fitting out, and despatching [of] all 

such land forces as may be ordered for the service 

of the United Colonies.”7 Among other things, 

the board was to keep a register of officers in the 

service of the colonies; maintain a record of the 

state and disposition of troops; account for arms, 

artillery, and other supplies; oversee the exchange 

of military correspondence between the Congress 

and the United Colonies; and preserve original letters and papers.

Development of a true war office and delineation of the responsibility and authority of the 

senior officer of the American Army came slowly, 

for there was a government to establish, a war to 

be fought, and experience to be gained through a 

long process of trial and error. Initially, the government was weak and the board became bogged 

down in minutiae, leaving General Washington, 

under the exigencies of field operations, to fill a 

void and make decisions on his own. This independence was consistent with Congress’ mandate 

to Washington. As supreme commander, he had 

been “vested with full power and authority to act 

as you shall think for the good and welfare of the 
General Washington assumed command of the Army in the field at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 3 July 1775. From the 

collections of the Library of Congress.
5

service.”8 Congress had been quite explicit in its 

reasoning, for

whereas all particulars cannot be foreseen, nor positive instructions for such emergencies so before hand 

given but that many things must be left to your prudent and discreet management, as occurrences may 

arise upon the place, or from time to time fall out, you 

are therefore upon all such accidents or any occasions 

that may happen, to use your best circumspection and 

(advising with your council of war) to order and dispose of the said Army under your command as may 

be most advantageous for the obtaining of the end for 

which these forces have been raised, making it your 

special care in discharge of the great trust committed unto you, that the liberties of America receive no 

detriment.9

It was only natural that this broad mandate be 

curtailed as the central government broadened its 

knowledge of military matters and increasingly 

assumed its legitimate responsibilities. Step by 

step the composition of the war office was modified from five legislators to three nonlegislators, 

then to a mix of two congressmen and three outsiders. But there was a weakness in the committee process, and in February 1781 the Congress 

created the post of secretary at war to replace 

the Board of War and appointed Major General 

Benjamin Lincoln as its first occupant in October 

of that year.10

Lincoln picked up the reins of a war 

office with fairly well-defined powers and 

responsibilities. The secretary at war was directed 

by the Congress “to examine into the present state 

of the war-office [and] the returns and present 

state of the troops, ordnance, arms, ammunition, 

cloathing, and supplies of the armies of the 

United States . . . , to obtain and keep exact and 

regular returns of all the forces . . . , to prepare 

estimates for paying and recruiting the armies 

. . . , to execute all the resolutions of Congress 

respecting military preparations . . . , to transmit 

all orders and resolutions relative to the military 

land forces . . . , to make out, seal, and countersign 

all appointments . . . , [and] to report to Congress 

the officers necessary for assisting him in the 

business of his department.”11

By and large, the parties primarily responsible for military matters in these formative years 

of the Republic found their terms of reference in 

their respective operational spheres in the field 

and at the seat of government, and although their 

functions were by no means mutually exclusive, 

the individuals were reasonable and dedicated 

men who saw what must be done and did it. 

Accumulating experience suggested, and the 

secretary at war and commander in chief worked 

out, a successful division of authority. Military 

business was conducted by correspondence and 

in personal visits to each other’s headquarters, 

and cooperation, not competition, was the order 

of the day.

Inescapably there were differences. In the 

period after the Cornwallis surrender at Yorktown, 

Virginia, Washington disagreed with Lincoln 

over the new secretary’s estimate of remaining 

British strength and intentions and his assessment 

of American force requirements and general 

prospects, thus prompting him to bypass Lincoln 

in correspondence with Major General Nathanael 

Greene, the commander in the South. Again, 

while both the secretary and the commander in 

chief were responsible to Congress, the lines 

Benjamin Lincoln, the nation’s first secretary at war 

(1781–1783), and George Washington worked out the 

delicate operational relationship between the Army’s senior 

civilian and senior officer. Portrait by James Harvey Young 

from the Army Art Collection.
6

of authority were blurred, and on one occasion 

Washington asked that reports of inspectors be 

sent to him in order to secure his responsibility 

and ensure that the inspectors remained 

subordinate to rather than independent of the 

commander in chief. These were relatively minor 

frictions compared with some that would develop 

later between other secretaries and commanding 

generals.12

The British defeat at Yorktown in October 

1781 ended major active campaigning in the 

Revolutionary War and opened a static period for 

the patriot forces facing remaining enemy troop concentrations at New York in the North and Charleston 

in the South. While lengthy peace negotiations proceeded an ocean away, American thoughts turned 

to consideration of the form and composition of 

a postwar Army. Since regulars and militia had 

shared in the fighting and would share in the victory, sharp differences developed over the question 

of whether the future security of the nation should 

be entrusted to a standing Regular Army or to militia that would be called up in emergencies. This 

was only part of the larger question of whether the 

country would have a strong central government 

or a loose federation of states; whether, indeed, the 

citizen would assume not only the privileges of 

freedom and equality envisioned by the Declaration 

of Independence but the obligations and responsibilities, including military service, associated with 

a democratic system. As events unfolded, opinion 

came to favor a centralized government but for a 

long time shunned a standing Army.13

The transitional period from war to peace 

left the Army at its lowest ebb. After the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 3 September 1783, 

Washington, at congressional direction, began to 

demobilize the Army, a process that was completed after the British evacuated New York 

in November. On 23 December, the war concluded and his mission accomplished, George 

Washington resigned his commission and 

returned home to Virginia. He left Major General 

Henry Knox, the next senior officer, to preside 

over an Army reduced to one regiment of infantry and one battalion of artillery—about 600 

men. The decline did not stop there.

Despite the conclusion of a peace treaty, a 

dual threat continued to hover over the young 

nation in the Northwest, where the British, in 

contravention of peace terms, continued to garrison a chain of posts along the inland waters 

bordering Canada and where frontier lands 

ceded by the states to the central government 

saddled the Congress with the problem of Indian 

defense over a wide region. Obviously the United 

Colonies must have an Army, but of what form 

and nature? To deal with a complex set of circumstances that involved politics, land, money, 

manpower, and deployments, the Congress, as a 

first step, on 2 June 1784 directed General Knox 

to discharge all but 80 of the 600-man force 

and to station the remnant at West Point (55), 

New York, and Fort Pitt (25), Pennsylvania, to 

guard military stores. There being no need for a 

major general to command a company-size force, 

Henry Knox was retired and nominal command 

of the Army passed on 20 June 1784 to the next 

senior officer, Captain John Doughty, a veteran 

of Revolutionary War service and head of the 

detachment at West Point.14

Doughty’s seniority was necessarily shortlived, lasting only about seven weeks, and had an 

Henry Knox had the distinction of serving as both the senior 

officer (1783–1784) and the senior civilian (1789–1794) 

of the Army. Portrait by Charles Willson Peale from the 

Independence National Historical Park Collection.
7

organizational rather than institutional complexion. Despite postwar disarray, sectional differences, Lincoln’s retirement, and deficiencies in the 

Articles of Confederation under which the government was operating, the Congress saw the need 

for action in the field of military affairs. Only one 

day after it reduced the Army to 80 men, and on 

the very eve of the current session’s adjournment 

the legislators passed an act calling upon four 

states—Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and 

Pennsylvania—to furnish a total of 700 men from 

their militias for the national army. Pennsylvania, 

with the largest quota (260 as opposed to 165 

each from Connecticut and New York and 110 

from New Jersey) and with an exposed position 

on the frontier, filled its assessment promptly, and, 

as a result, command of the new force went to a 

Pennsylvanian. Lieutenant Colonel Josiah Harmar, 

who had served with several of his state’s regiments during the Revolution, became the Army’s 

senior officer on 12 August 1784.15

As had been Doughty’s situation on a smaller 

scale, Harmar, despite his status as the ranking 

officer of the Army, became a field rather than a 

staff and institutional commander. With the war 

office vacant and with military concerns among 

the more pressing matters before it in the spring 

of 1785, the Congress appointed Henry Knox 

as the second secretary at war and issued a call 

to the four states of the previous year for new 

troops with longer enlistments to man the First 

American Regiment. Most of the Army was posted in detachments along the western frontier, and 

Harmar, far removed both organizationally and 

geographically from the seat of power, had all 

he could handle as the field commander. On top 

of that, the authoritarian Henry Knox was in the 

secretary’s chair, fully assured that his powers as 

secretary at war embraced those of commander 

in chief—a role for which he was, by experience 

and inclination, well prepared to exercise.16

The secretary’s task was not an easy one, 

and in its way represented the problems of the 

government as a whole. To the existing Indian 

peril, British presence, and state dissension 

connected with the western lands were added 

the difficulties of raising, supplying, and funding 

military forces. The government, lacking 

the power to tax and operating in a period of 

depression, faced serious fiscal problems that 

were reflected throughout the colonies. Discontent 

finally escalated into an open unrest among 

debtors that took its most organized and violent 

form in Massachusetts, where an insurrectionist 

band led by one Daniel Shays attacked the 

Springfield Arsenal.

Although Shays’ Rebellion was unsuccessful, it challenged both state and federal government, coalesced a gathering concern over the need 

for a national army and stronger central government, and lent impetus to a movement to convene a 

Constitutional Convention. In 1787 the government 

entered a two-year period of transition from the 

Confederation to a constitutional system, and the 

war office, the active focus of a variety of state functions, served as “the chief connective element.”17

In formulating and refining the new nation’s 

system of government, the framers of the 

Constitution assigned to Congress the functions 

to raise and support armies, make rules for the 

government and regulation of the land forces, 

and declare war. They created what had been 

lacking under the Confederation—an executive 

branch of government—and made the president 

the commander in chief of the Army and Navy, 

thereby ensuring that this important command 

function would be entrusted to a civil rather than 

to a military official.

On 30 April 1789 George Washington, who 

had been the nation’s first senior military officer, became its first senior civil official under 

the new Constitution: president of the United 

States. Three months later, on 7 August 1789, 

the Congress established the Department of War, 

changed the title of the department head from 

secretary at war to secretary of war, and made 

that official directly responsible to the president 

rather than the Congress. Henry Knox remained 

in office to become the first secretary of war, and 

Josiah Harmar, who had been brevetted brigadier general in 1787 and was still on the frontier, 

remained the Army’s senior officer.

If from the beginnings of constitutional government the role of the secretary as the minister 

charged with running the War Department—acting with the president’s authority and in his behalf 

in the conduct of military affairs—was codified, accepted, and understood, that of the senior 
8

officer of the Army was not so clear. During the 

century and a quarter from George Washington’s 

installation as commander in chief to Samuel B. 

M. Young’s induction as chief of staff, uncertainty, misunderstanding, and controversy swirled 

around the office, involving from time to time 

some of the leading figures of their day. The title 

as well as the authority of the incumbent seemed 

in a constant state of flux.

The inception of constitutional government 

ensured not only that “a politically responsible 

President replaced the hereditary monarch as 

Commander in Chief” but also that Washington’s 

historical standing as the only uniformed commander in chief of the American Army was 

assured. After Washington resigned in 1783, fluctuations in the strength of the Army, the rank and 

location of the senior officer, the viewpoint of an 

incumbent secretary, and usage in government 

circles all influenced the designation and mode 

of operation of the senior officer. Commander in 

chief, general in chief, major general commanding in chief, commanding general of the Army, 

lieutenant general of the Army, General of the 

Army—all were applied at one time or another 

and in one way or another to the senior officer of 

the Army.

As with George Washington and Benjamin 

Lincoln, the senior civil and military figures of 

the early years of the Republic went about their 

business with little friction; the complexities of 

government, inexperience of officials, geographical separation, limitations of communications, 

and field operational requirements kept them 

absorbed in their respective spheres. Harmar, 

who served as the senior officer until March 

1791 before returning to Pennsylvania to become 

state adjutant general; Major General Arthur St. 

Clair, who succeeded him for a one-year tour 

between terms as governor of the Northwest 

Territory; and Major General Anthony Wayne, the 

late Georgia congressman who occupied the Army 

post up to his death on 15 December 1796, were 

all involved in Indian warfare on the northwestern frontier—Harmar and St. Clair disastrously, 

Wayne successfully—and could not have jousted 

with the secretary of war about lines of authority 

and separation of powers even had they been so 

inclined. Brigadier General James Wilkinson, at 

home with controversy and intrigue, might have 

relished confrontation, but he, too, served in the 

western arena, where he led a force of volunteers 

against Indians north of the Ohio before being 

assigned to Wayne’s command. Upon the latter’s 

death, Wilkinson ascended to the ranking position 

in the Army for an eighteen-month stint, to July 

1798, with duties that kept him on the frontier as a 

field rather than institutional commander.18

Throughout this period the Army commanders 

conducted their operations with inadequate 

strength and supplies, poorly trained troops, 

and imperfect logistical support. The Congress, 

prompted by the Harmar and St. Clair reverses, 

gradually increased the Army’s strength until 

Anthony Wayne was able to train a respectable 

force along legionary lines and, with some 3,000 

men, redeem the Army’s reputation in the Battle of 

Fallen Timbers.19

External forces now intruded upon the young 

nation as French and British contentions spread 

across the Atlantic to involve American shipping and raise the possibility of war with France. 

George Washington, only sixteen months out of 

the presidency, received his country’s call once 

again as, early in July 1798, President John Adams 

dispatched Secretary of War James McHenry to 

Mount Vernon with Washington’s appointment as 

“Lieutenant General and Commander in Chief of all 

the armies raised or to be raised for the service of 

the United States. . . .” Unfortunately, Washington 

was sixty-six, the call was to some extent politically inspired, and a general controversy developed over which officer among three candidates—

Alexander Hamilton, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 

or Henry Knox—should be the senior major general and, in effect, second in command to the aging 

Washington. Although Knox outranked the others, 

Hamilton, at Washington’s behest, was elevated to 

the ranking position.20

Washington had informed the secretary of 

war that he would accept the new charge with 

the understanding that he would become fully 

active only if his presence should be required 

in the field. This stipulation kept him in the 

mold of his predecessors—a field rather than 

an institutional commander. As things turned 

out, his presence in the field was not required. 

Except for a visit to Philadelphia to work with 
9

McHenry and Hamilton on an organizational 

plan for a Provisional Army to meet the putative 

emergency, Washington exercised his command 

function principally from his Mount Vernon 

home, while the influential and ambitious Major 

General Hamilton, in combination with a weak 

secretary of war, carried the burden of day-to-day 

details at the seat of government under President 

Adams’ watchful and suspicious eye. Adams, in 

appointing Washington to the Army command, 

had acted not only to neutralize a strong sentiment for Hamilton’s selection to the post but also 

out of concern, however justified, for what uses 

Hamilton might have found for an Army he controlled.21

As 1799 unfolded, the French threat and 

the perceived need for Washington’s name and 

services receded, and the general’s death on 14 

December brought the century and an era to a 

close.

As he had foreseen the possibilities, 

Alexander Hamilton was ideally positioned to 

succeed Washington as the Army’s senior officer, and on the day of his predecessor’s death 

he picked up the reins for an abbreviated tenure. Hamilton presided over the preparation of 

new drill regulations and the discharge of those 

Provisional Army soldiers already mobilized—

about 4,100 of a planned 50,000—before departing military service on 15 June 1800.22 The evaporation of the emergency and the reduction of the 

Army to peacetime strength erased all prospects 

for the martial glory that might have held him in 

the service. Yet, as Washington’s aide, a former 

member of the Continental Congress, and the 

nation’s first secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton 

remained an influential citizen up to his death in 

1804 in a dual with his bitter political rival, Vice 

President Aaron Burr.

Brigadier General James Wilkinson now 

returned to the scene for a second tour of nominal military seniority. In almost twelve checkered 

years spent principally on the southern frontier, 

he negotiated with the Indians, fraternized with 

the Spaniards, consorted then broke with Aaron 

Burr, served as governor of Louisiana Territory, 

and survived several courts of inquiry and a 

court-martial inspired by his excessive use of 

authority and private commercial dealings. His 

stewardship, if such it might be called in view 

of its organizationally disconnected and militarily incoherent character, was of a piece with the 

trials of the first decade of the nineteenth century 

when the nation and the Army were groping for 

policies and procedures to make government and 

institutions work. Regrettably, as the threat of 

war with France faded, the menace of renewed 

conflict with England increased. By the time the 

Congress declared war against England in June 

1812, Wilkinson had reverted to a subordinate 

position and Major General Henry Dearborn had 

become the Army’s senior officer.23

Like many of the nation’s potential military leaders, Henry Dearborn had acquired more 

than enough campaign experience and reputation during the Revolutionary War to mark him 

as a candidate for recall in emergencies. After 

his discharge in 1783, he had maintained a tenuous military connection through militia ties, and 

from 1801 to 1809 he operated in the mainstream 

of military affairs as President Jefferson’s secretary of war. But like many veterans, he had 

turned sixty, and he was on the eve of his sixtyfirst birthday in January 1812 when President 

Madison made him the Army’s senior major 

general. With the outbreak of the War of 1812 he 

became, not the professional uniformed head of 

the Army posted in Washington, but a coordinate 

field commander—and one of a number of aging 

officers not well equipped mentally or physically 

to deal with the rigors of campaign, a worthy 

enemy, and deplorable deficiencies in manpower, 

supply, and administration.24

After an inept performance on the northeastern Canadian front, and with recurring health 

problems, Dearborn, still the senior major general, was transferred in July 1813 to command 

at New York City, where he served until his discharge on 15 June 1815.

Seniority among the Army’s uniformed leaders passed next to Major General Jacob Jennings 

Brown. As commander in western New York in 

the late war, he had added much-needed luster 

to American arms in operations at Chippewa and 

Lundy’s Lane on the Niagara front. Unlike his 

predecessor, Brown was of a younger, post-Revolution generation; only forty, the vigor and zeal 

he brought to the ranking position were not to be 
10

dedicated to war so much as peace. His extended 

tenure carried him more than halfway through an 

era characterized as “The Thirty Years’ Peace,” a 

period free of general conflict and marred only 

by occasional Indian troubles to the South and 

West, notably the First and Second Seminole 

Wars and the Black Hawk War.

On the heels of the War of 1812 the Congress 

passed the act of 1 May 1815 fixing the peacetime strength at 10,000 and establishing two 

geographical regions, the Division of the South 

commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, 

and the Division of the North headed by General 

Brown. Some important evolutions occurred at 

the upper levels of the War Department during 

Brown’s incumbency.

Secretary of War William H. Crawford, who 

entered office in August 1815 with the conviction that the country should have in place in 

peacetime the kind of headquarters organization 

required in war, consolidated and enlarged upon 

a general staff concept, created by the Congress 

in 1813, to deal with the Army’s housekeeping 

functions. But his fourteen-month tenure was 

too brief for a concerted effort to strengthen the 

peacetime Army. That fell to his successor, John 

C. Calhoun.

Before Calhoun took office in October 1817, 

however, and while Acting Secretary George 

Graham was in charge, an incident occurred that 

brought to a head some long-standing questions 

concerning the operation of the chain of command, the responsibility and authority of senior 

officials, and the relationships between staff and 

line.

Secretary Crawford had ordered Major 

Stephen H. Long to New York. Although Long, a 

topographical engineer, was assigned to General 

Jackson’s Division of the South, the field commander was not informed of the transfer, and 

when he learned of it he wrote the department asking for an explanation. When Acting 

Secretary Graham replied testily that the department assigned officers “at its discretion,” Jackson 

complained to President Monroe, questioning a 

practice under which Washington could move 

officers without a field commander’s knowledge. Upon learning that Jackson had instructed 

his attached officers to obey no departmental 

order that did not come through the commander, 

Monroe informed Jackson that the orders of the 

War Department were those of the president. As 

the case evolved, the central issue—proper use 

of the chain of command—became sidetracked 

in favor of a discussion of the president’s role as 

commander in chief.25

Despite the fact that he was the loser on 

the constitutional side of the question, Jackson 

was partially vindicated in the practical aspects 

when Calhoun, while sustaining the presidential prerogatives, announced that future orders 

would be issued through field commanders to 

the maximum extent possible. But the matter was 

far from settled. Jackson had raised the nagging 

problem of the distribution of authority between 

staff and line; should communications between 

the heads of the technical services (Engineer, 

Quartermaster, Subsistence, Medical, etc.) in 

Washington and their assistants in the field, and 

from those subordinates back to their chiefs in 

Andrew Jackson was one of the first Army field commanders to challenge the War Department on the proper use of 

the chain of command after one of his attached technical 

service officers was reassigned without his knowledge. 

Lithographic portrait from the collections of the National 

Archives.
11

Washington, be direct or through field command 

channels? Strangely enough, the senior officer of 

the Army, who might well have been at the center 

of the controversy, especially in light of his dual 

role as a division commander, was little more 

than a bystander. Yet the moment had come when 

that would change to some degree.26

The War of 1812 had demonstrated the need 

for more centralized control over the scattered 

elements of the Army. The creation of two main 

geographical divisions had answered this in 

part, but an apparently logical next step—that 

of establishing a single uniformed head of the 

whole Army—was left in suspense. Only George 

Washington had served in this capacity, first in 

1775 during the Revolutionary War when the 

Congress elected him general and commander in 

chief, again in 1798 during the anticipated crisis 

with France when the president, with congressional authorization, had appointed him lieutenant general and commander in chief. In the first 

instance the country was at war, lacked a chief 

executive, and was desperately in need of an 

all-powerful field commander. In the second 

instance, the Congress and the president knew 

their man; knew that, as one who had served at 

the pinnacle in both military and civil capacities, 

he subscribed fully to the principle of separation of powers and knew his place. But without a 

Washington, what would a strong-willed figure in 

uniform—an Alexander Hamilton, for example, 

or an Andrew Jackson—make of the position 

of commander as opposed to senior officer, and 

despite the constitutional role of the president as 

commander in chief? How would the functions, 

the powers, the responsibilities be distributed? A 

partial answer was soon forthcoming.

Secretary Calhoun acted in conjunction with 

the reorganization of 1821, which cut the Army 

to about 6,000 men. The Divisions of the North 

and South were abolished, and were replaced by 

Eastern and Western Departments, commanded 

respectively by Brigadier Generals Winfield Scott 

and Edmund Pendleton Gaines. At the apex, a possible dilemma was negated when Major General 

Andrew Jackson left service to become governor 

of Florida. Calhoun then brought Major General 

Jacob Jennings Brown to Washington as commanding general of the Army.27

Both the formal establishment of the position of commanding general and the title 

given Brown raised more questions than were 

answered. Hovering over the arrangement were 

a number of uncertainties: if the president was 

commander in chief of the Army and the secretary of war was his direct agent in the administration of the Army, what was the role of the 

commanding general? As his position was not 

defined constitutionally or by statute or regulation, what was his relationship to the president, 

to the secretary, to the bureau chiefs, and to the 

field commanders? Was he simply a professional 

military adviser to the secretary?

Jacob Brown seems not to have been disturbed by these considerations. Despite his 

energy and dedication, he appears to have been 

more interested in making an anomalous arrangement work than in making himself an agent of 

challenge or an instrument of disruption. What 

effect a wartime wound and an apparent stroke 

Although Secretary of War John C. Calhoun established the 

office of and formalized the title of commanding general in 

1821, the action failed to resolve constitutional and organizational problems. Portrait by John Wesley Jarvis from the 

Army Art Collection.
12

in late 1821 may have had on his efficiency is 

also unknown. In any case, his service under 

Secretaries of War Calhoun and Barbour up to 

his death in February 1828 was unmarked by 

crisis, and many of the procedural questions went 

unanswered.28

Brown’s death left the Army with no major 

generals and opened the way for selection of a 

successor from among the regular brigadiers. 

At the moment, Winfield Scott and Edmund 

Pendleton Gaines, the department commanders, 

were the only two in that grade. Properly positioned in the chain of command, they were the 

logical candidates, except that, proud, ambitious, 

and arrogant individuals both, and highly sensitive to considerations of relative rank and General 

Brown’s mortality, they had long been locked in a 

public dispute over seniority that not only shook 

the Army to its foundations but also escalated into 

a national scandal. So far as the record was concerned, the choice was a difficult one. Both had 

been promoted to colonel on 12 March 1813 and 

both to brigadier general on 9 March 1814. Gaines 

was the senior at the lieutenant colonel level, but 

Scott was senior in a brevet major generalcy.

Ultimately these considerations became academic, for President John Quincy Adams had 

had his fill of the spectacle of two of the country’s senior military figures publicly denouncing each other and making constant claims for 

President John Quincy Adams 

bypassed his quarreling generals, Winfield Scott (left) and 

Edmund P. Gaines (center), to 

pick the more junior Alexander 

Macomb (right) to replace the 

deceased Jacob Brown as commanding general of the Army. Scott portrait 

facsimile of a T. R. Welch engraving from 

the collections of the Library of Congress; 

Gaines photographic portrait by Matthew Brady 

from the collections of the National Archives; and Macomb 

portrait by Samuel L. Waldo from the New York City Hall 

Collection.
13

preferment. He called a cabinet meeting to hear 

the views of his departmental secretaries on the 

subject, found a general consensus with his own 

impressions, and on 29 May 1828 reached down 

below the troublesome pair to appoint the chief 

of engineers, Colonel and Brevet Major General 

Alexander Macomb, as commanding general of 

the Army.29

A protégé of Alexander Hamilton, and with 

an excellent record in the War of 1812 and later 

in special assignments, Macomb wisely stepped 

aside to let the president and the secretary of war 

deal with Scott’s insubordinate announcement that 

he would ignore the new commander’s orders as 

those of a junior officer. Such fulminations led to 

Scott’s suspension from his departmental command and placement on a list of officers awaiting 

assignment. His representations to both houses of 

Congress fell upon unsympathetic ears, and only 

after a change in national administrations was the 

suspension lifted. Scott then went abroad on a sixmonth leave of absence, and time and the counsel 

of friends finally prompted him to accept the facts 

of life and preserve his great abilities for future 

crises. Meanwhile, Macomb, to distinguish his 

preeminence over other two-star brevet major generals, resorted to the simple device of inserting in 

the Army Regulations of 1834 a provision that the 

insignia of the major general commanding in chief 

should be three stars. Thus in image if not in true 

rank, Macomb placed himself on a par with a distinguished predecessor, the General Washington of 

1798.30

It was only natural that the basic considerations of leadership and chain of command—the 

essence of military operation—should suggest 

a permanent establishment of a uniformed commander of the Army. If there were uniformed 

commanders at every other level, then why not 

at the top? It might also have been assumed that 

the duties of the senior uniformed officer were so 

self-evident as to require no regulatory expression; only Washington, serving at the outset of 

nationhood, had been issued formal terms of reference by the civil authority, and these had related principally to the conduct of field operations. 

In the intervening years until Jacob Brown’s 

specific designation as commanding general, the 

senior officer seemed to see himself, and to be 

viewed by others, more as a field than an institutional figure. Even Brown did not depart noticeably from that mold despite his titular designation and station in Washington.

But now a statement of functions appeared 

in the Army Regulations of 1834—the same edition that sewed a third star on General Macomb’s 

epaulettes. Article XLI, titled “The Commander 

of the Army,” delineated the top uniformed official’s responsibility and authority thus:

1. The military establishment is placed under the 

orders of the major general commanding in chief, in 

all that regards its discipline and military control. Its 

fiscal arrangements properly belong to the Treasury 

Department, under the direction of the Secretary of 

War. While the general in chief will not interfere with 

the concerns of the Treasury, he will see that the estimates for the military service are based upon proper 

data, and made for the objects contemplated by law, 

and necessary to the due support and useful employment of the army. The general will watch over the 

economy of the service, in all that relates to expenditure 

of money, supply of arms, ordnance, and ordnance 

stores, clothing, equipments, camp equipage, medical 

and hospital stores, barracks, quarters, transportation, 

fortifications, military academy, pay, and subsistence, 

in short, every thing which enters into the expenses of 

the military establishment, whether personal or material. In carrying into effect these important duties, he 

will call to his council and assistance, the staff, and 

those officers proper, in his opinion, to be employed 

in verifying and inspecting all the objects which may 

require attention. The rules and regulations established 

for the government of the army, and the laws relating to 

the military establishment, are the guides for the commanding general, in the performance of his duties.

2. All estimates, exhibits, and reports, of the several branches of the military service, required annually to be made, with a view to their transmission to 

Congress, will be addressed to the commanding general of the army, who, after examining them, and fixing with the officers concerned, the amounts required 

for the service, will present them to the Secretary of 

War, for his consideration.31

In these paragraphs and two more in Article 

XLIV fixing the responsibilities of inspectors 

general to the commanding general, the central 

authority of the Army’s senior officer and the 

subordination of the staff were well established. 

Indeed, the provisions of the second paragraph 

appear to have been so objectionable to the 

bureau chiefs that it was dropped from the 1835 
14

edition of the regulations, and the first paragraph 

was amended to shift fiscal control back to the 

staff bureaus, stipulating that the Army’s “fiscal 

arrangements properly belong to the administrative 

department of the staff and to the Treasury 

Department, under the direction of the Secretary 

of War.” Despite the modification, the “General-inChief” still was directed to “see that the estimates 

for the military service are based upon proper 

data, and made for the objects contemplated by 

law, and necessary to the due support and useful 

employment of the army.”32

It was the perceived intrusion of the commanding general into their operations and his 

presumed interdiction of their direct access to the 

secretary of war that disturbed the bureau chiefs. 

Their case, and the nature of the controversy over 

lines of authority and separation of powers, was 

set out by Colonel Roger Jones, the adjutant general of the Army, on 24 January 1829. In a beautifully engrossed paper addressed to Secretary 

of War Peter B. Porter under the title, “Analysis 

of the theory of the Staff which surrounds the 

Secretary of War,” Colonel Jones noted that the 

Adjutant General’s, Ordnance, Quartermaster, 

Subsistence, Pay, and Medical Departments and 

the Corps of Engineers “constitute [the] many 

avenues through which the various acts and measures of the Executive . . . are communicated and 

executed, and such is the symmetry in this organization, that whilst each member of the military 

staff of the War Department is confined to the 

sphere of his own peculiar functions, all regard 

the Secretary as the common superior, the head 

of the harmonious whole.”33

The adjutant general went on to point out 

that everything relative to military commissions, 

under the secretary of war, had been conducted in 

his office since 1797; that these were administrative duties under the secretary “in contradistinction 

to . . . Military Staff duties under the General in 

Chief. . . .” He wondered if these or similar executive functions had ever been assigned to any general 

officer of the line; whether, indeed, they were compatible with the high military duties of a commander 

of the Army? Ought a general in chief aspire to these 

comparatively subordinate responsibilities, and could 

it be to the interest of the Army that he assume them 

and virtually relinquish “the glories of the field?”34

If it did nothing else, Colonel Jones’ paper 

exposed some of the complexities inherent in 

the question of whether the Army’s senior officer was, or should be, a commander or a chief 

of staff. It was not a simple matter to resolve. 

Bureau chiefs were reluctant to surrender the 

authority and prestige of their independent jurisdictions; senior officers were proud and ambitious individuals, jealous of hard-won rank and 

status and fiercely protective of honor; and secretaries were transient civilians often uninitiated 

in military affairs and usually not in office long 

enough to come to grips with complicated military organization, procedures, and personalities. 

Accommodation among such disparate interests 

was not easy to achieve, and apart from competition and bias, it was not that clear in 1829 just 

how the senior officer of the Army should function. It would take three-quarters of a century 

and further clashes before the problem would be 

resolved.

After General Macomb died in office on 25 

June 1841, Major General Winfield Scott, who 

had been waiting in the wings for thirteen years 

and had more than redeemed himself in official 

and public eyes in a series of skillfully conducted 

and eminently successful peacekeeping missions 

for the government, was appointed commanding general of the Army and took office on 5 

July. The Second Seminole War was coming to a 

close, and the only cloud on the horizon was possible trouble with Mexico over its lost province 

of Texas. When James K. Polk won the American 

presidency on a platform that included annexation of Texas by the United States, and that process occurred in mid-1845, Mexico declared war 

on her northern neighbor.

President Polk, a Democrat and well 

aware that three of his predecessors—George 

Washington, Andrew Jackson, and William 

Henry Harrison—had been helped into office by 

battlefield achievements, saw further possibilities along this line as Brigadier General Zachary 

Taylor, a member of the Whig opposition, won a 

series of victories over the Mexicans along the 

Rio Grande. When it became apparent that the 

war could not be won in that northern theater, 

Polk turned with great reluctance to Winfield 

Scott, also a Whig and a former presidential con-
15

tender in that party, to conduct a landing at Vera 

Cruz on Mexico’s east coast and drive inland 

against the enemy capital of Mexico City. The 

president, it may be noted, had been left with no 

alternative when the Congress rejected his proposal to create the rank of lieutenant general and 

place Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, 

no soldier but a Democrat, in the post as commander of the coming expedition.35

The wartime emergency and the employment 

of the commanding general as a field commander perpetuated the ambiguities of the position. 

President Polk, in effect, vacated the office by 

assigning Scott to command the Vera Cruz expedition; by limiting him, upon his departure from 

Washington, to control over the field force; and by 

appointing no successor in Washington. The Army 

thus went without a commanding general from 24 

November 1846 to 10 May 1849, raising questions 

as to the need for such an office. The president, the 

secretary of war, and the bureau chiefs operated as 

the headquarters of the Army, and in the absence of 

a uniformed professional head, President Polk and 

Secretary William L. Marcy served as their own 

general staff. Despite some mastery of military 

detail they had neither the time nor the training, 

much less the responsibility, for carrying out the 

planning and programming function of a general 

staff. How their successors might have met the 

challenge was yet another question. In 1848 the 

Army’s two major generals—Scott, after returning 

to the United States, and Taylor—were assigned 

to coequal divisions, Eastern and Western. Scott 

assumed command of the former, with headquarters in New York.36

When Zachary Taylor became president in 

1849, Scott was restored to the position of commanding general. A special order of 10 May 

specified that, “in pursuance of the orders of the 

President of the United States, Major General 

Scott will resume the command of the Army. . . .” 

The order went on to prescribe that the headquarters of the commander of the Army would be 

“at, or in the vicinity of New York.” Apparently 

the location was agreeable to both Taylor and 

Scott, although how a commander of the whole 

Army—even one as small as the 10,000 to 

12,000 men of the moment—could possibly fulfill the responsibilities implied by the title when 

he was so far removed from the executive base in 

Washington was not explained. It was also apparent that the commanding general was still to be a 

field rather than an institutional commander.37

Scott, who had outlasted Generals Macomb 

and Gaines as well as President Polk, now survived President Taylor. After Taylor’s death in 

1850, Scott transferred his headquarters back 

to Washington, where, at President Fillmore’s 

request, he served for about three weeks as acting 

secretary of war. In 1852, as the Whig candidate 

for president, he was defeated by Franklin Pierce. 

In January 1853 Scott moved his headquarters 

back to New York to put some distance between 

himself and the victorious incoming administration. From there he carried on a running battle 

with the new secretary of war, Jefferson Davis, 

over the settlement of his remaining outstanding 

Mexican War accounts and other matters. When 

he questioned the secretary’s authority over the 

commanding general, he was overruled by the 

president.38

On 15 February 1855 the Congress, in a joint 

resolution, revived the grade of lieutenant general, and on 7 March the Senate confirmed General 

Scott as brevet lieutenant general to rank from 20 

March 1847, the date of the capture of Vera Cruz. 

Scott thus became the first officer since George 

Washington to hold three-star rank. Yet the distinction was an honorary one for a deserving officer’s 

long and distinguished service—temporary elevation for an individual, not permanent creation of an 

additional echelon that would relieve a grade compression at the upper levels of the Army.39

Brevet Lieutenant General Scott spent the 

final months of a twenty-year tenure—the longest in office of all the senior officers of the 

Army even deducting the Mexican War hiatus—

urging President Buchanan and Secretary of War 

John B. Floyd to act to protect military installations in the South as the slavery issue began to 

split the nation. Following President Abraham 

Lincoln’s inauguration in March 1861, Scott 

brought his headquarters back to Washington 

and a far more sympathetic administration. But 

age and infirmity were closing in on him, and on 

1 November 1861, at seventy-five and upon his 

own application, the Army’s senior officer retired 

after half a century of military service.
16

Upon Scott’s retirement Lincoln appointed Major General George Brinton McClellan, 

forty years Scott’s junior, as commanding general of the Army. A graduate of the United States 

Military Academy, McClellan had served with 

Scott’s forces in the Mexican War, taught engineering at West Point, studied European military systems on the scene, and designed a firstrate saddle. His effective performance against 

Confederate forces in early operations in West 

Virginia, coupled with Brigadier General Irvin 

McDowell’s defeat at Bull Run, led Lincoln 

to appoint McClellan in July 1861 to head the 

Army of the Potomac. An able administrator who 

worked wonders in preparing the Army of the 

Potomac for coming battles, McClellan in the top 

military post proved to be slow at launching and 

cautious in executing field operations. Although 

he might have been more effective as the senior 

officer at the seat of government than as a field 

commander, he proved to be flawed in that role as 

well by arrogating to himself an excessive degree 

of power, even to the extent of blocking both the 

president and the secretary of war from his confidence. His methods could not long endure, and on 

11 March 1862 President Lincoln relieved him as 

commanding general so that he could devote full 

attention to the upcoming Peninsular Campaign.40

A second period now intervened when the 

office of commanding general lay vacant, for 

no suitable successor to McClellan was readily 

available. Standing by, however, were two figures 

ready to exercise the functions in addition to their 

own larger ones: President Lincoln and his new 

secretary of war, Edwin M. Stanton. In a fourmonth period they brought a measure of coordination into the operation of the Union armies, 

responded intelligently to Major General Thomas 

Jonathan (“Stonewall”) Jackson’s Shenandoah 

Valley threat in May, and sought professional 

advice by tapping retired Major General Ethan 

Allen Hitchcock to head an advisory board composed of the bureau chiefs. But both were aware 

of their limitations and their constitutional obligations, and on 23 July 1862 President Lincoln 

brought Major General Henry W. Halleck to 

Washington as commanding general of the Army.41

A graduate of the United States Military 

Academy, Henry Wager Halleck had served in 

engineer assignments, published an influential 

book on military art and science, and held responsible positions in California during the Mexican 

War before resigning in 1854 to engage in railroad and mining enterprises. Seven years later, at 

the outbreak of the Civil War, he resumed Regular 

Army service as a newly commissioned major 

general, with assignment to the western theater. 

Upon his selection as senior officer in the summer 

of 1862, he left command of the Union forces in 

the West with a series of victories to his credit, in 

which subordinates—notably Brigadier General 

Ulysses S. Grant—were largely instrumental.

Well fitted by training and experience to fulfill the joint command and administrative responsibilities embodied in the anomalous position 

of commanding general, Halleck nevertheless 

became bogged down in detail and buffeted by 

political pressures, and as events moved on he 

failed to live up to the command expectations of 

the president and the secretary of war. Eventually, 

Lincoln and Stanton resumed active control over 

military operations. Both used Halleck more as an 

agent, responsible for translating their directions 

into military form and issuing them to the field, 

than as a commander in his own right.42

Although Lincoln endured this uncomfortable situation patiently for an extended period, 

he came increasingly to think about replacing 

Halleck, and inevitably his attention was drawn 

to the victor of Henry and Donelson, Vicksburg 

and Chattanooga—now Major General Ulysses S. 

Grant.

Like McClellan and Halleck, Ulysses 

Simpson Grant was a graduate of the United 

States Military Academy. He had served with 

distinction in the Mexican War, first with Taylor’s 

forces as a troop officer, then with Scott’s as 

a quartermaster with a combat role. He had 

resigned from the Army in 1854 to try his hand, 

with uniformly little success, at a variety of civilian occupations, and returned through Illinois volunteer channels as the Civil War opened in 1861. 

As a commander under Halleck in the western 

theater, he gave the Union some badly needed 

victories, acquiring public acclaim in the process. 

A bill was introduced in the Congress to revive 

the grade of lieutenant general and confer it upon 

Grant in recognition of his outstanding battlefield 
President Abraham Lincoln found himself engaged in a process of trial and error as he searched for the right leader to command the Union forces in the Civil War. When George B. McClellan and Henry W. Halleck fell short of his expectations, 

he finally found his man in Ulysses S. Grant. Photographic portrait by Matthew Brady from the collections of the National 

Archives.
18

performance. The occasion offered an opportunity 

to correct, at least in part, an inequity in grade 

structure that existed in the American Army.

The fact that the Army did not have sufficient 

separation in rank at the top levels of the uniformed service, a source of vexation during the 

Scott-Gaines-Macomb discords and on through 

the Mexican War, had become even more manifest with the major expansion of the Union forces 

during the Civil War. It led to the unusual, if not 

absurd, situation under which the Union had a 

major general commanding a division, a major 

general commanding a corps, a major general 

commanding a field army, a major general commanding a geographical region, and a major 

general commanding all the armies of the United 

States. Five echelons thus were commanded by 

officers of the same rank, and the major general 

who commanded the American armies of more 

than a million men held no higher rank than the 

major general who commanded a field division 

of a few thousand men. Now in the spring of 

1864 this logjam might be broken, although not 

as an official correction of an inequitable system 

but, as in the case of General Scott, through a 

personal tribute to an individual officer.43

Despite Grant’s reputation as a fighting and 

winning general, not all legislators were in favor 

of reviving the rank of lieutenant general and 

assigning it to Grant. In the light of recent experience, went the speculation, suppose the honor 

had been available to McDowell, McClellan, 

or Halleck? Why honor one general before the 

war was over? What could a lieutenant general 

do that a major general could not do as well? 

Should a distinguished field commander be sacrificed to the departmental bureaucracy? All of 

these equivocations were turned aside, and after 

an extended debate in the Senate as to whether 

Grant’s appointment should be recommended by 

name in the legislation (it was not), the measure 

was passed on 29 February 1864.44

On 12 March 1864 the Army issued orders 

of the president of the United States formalizing 

the new command arrangements. They contained 

some interesting distinctions concerning the position of senior officer. Major General Halleck, “at 

his own request,” was relieved from duty as general in chief of the Army. Lieutenant General Grant 

was “assigned to the command of the Armies 

of the United States.” It was stipulated that the 

“Headquarters of the Army will be in Washington, 

and also with Lieutenant General Grant, in the 

field.” Here again was that inclination to view the 

commanding general as a field commander or, 

put another way, as commander of the armies in 

the field, and not as a top staff coordinator at the 

seat of government. But now there was a striking concomitant in the second paragraph of the 

order: “Major General H. W. Halleck is assigned 

to duty in Washington as Chief of Staff of the 

Army, under the direction of the Secretary of War 

and the Lieutenant General Commanding.”45

How much of this was a calculated effort to 

improve command arrangements and how much 

a propitiary gesture to Halleck who was suffering 

a demotion it is hard to say. Certainly the action 

gave Halleck a title and duties more in line with 

the manner in which he had been functioning all 

along, and like a good soldier he served out the 

war in this capacity. Through the general order, 

the president made it known that he expected 

Halleck’s orders as chief of staff to be “obeyed 

and respected accordingly,” and any blow Halleck 

may have felt over his change of status may well 

have been softened by the president’s official tender to him of “approbation and thanks for the able 

and zealous manner in which the arduous and 

responsible duties of [commanding general] have 

been performed.”46 Halleck served in his staff role 

until the war ended in April 1865, then moved on 

to field assignments.

Grant brought to the role of commanding 

general the strategic direction and coordination 

the position had required all along. In Secretary 

Stanton, General Halleck, and Quartermaster 

General Montgomery C. Meigs he had an energetic and expert administrative and logistical 

team to provide the resources for his operational 

plans, while in President Lincoln he had a commander in chief who respected his abilities and 

applauded his initiative. He operated in the mode 

of the modern theater commander, maintaining 

his headquarters in the field, reporting directly 

to his civilian superiors, and, unlike McClellan, 

keeping them informed of his plans.

As lieutenant general and commanding general, Grant presided over four administrative field 
19

divisions embracing seventeen subcommands 

and employing half a million combat soldiers. 

That some further adjustments were needed in 

the grade structure was evident in the fact that, 

under the wartime structure of volunteer rank, 

Grant was senior to 73 major generals and 271 

brigadier generals. The Union could take a back 

seat to the Confederacy in this regard, for the 

South had long before solved its grade structure 

problems by assigning full generals to command 

separate armies, lieutenant generals to command 

corps, major generals to command divisions, and 

brigadier generals to command brigades. And at 

the apex, General Robert E. Lee was additionally appointed general in chief of the Armies of 

the Confederate States in February 1865. The 

Union did not bring its senior officer into line 

until after the war, when a bill was finally introduced to revive the rank intended for but never 

bestowed upon George Washington. The title of 

the grade was modified from the 1799 version—

General of the Armies of the United States—to 

General of the Army of the United States. Ulysses 

Grant assumed four-star rank on 25 July 1866, 

and Major General William T. Sherman moved 

into the vacated lieutenant generalcy. Grant thus 

became America’s first full general under the 

Constitution, as Washington’s rank had been conferred in 1775 by the Continental Congress.47

The end of the Civil War, Lincoln’s death, 

and Grant’s retention of the top military post during a period when the Army acquired a central 

role in the reconstruction process, placed the commanding general at center stage on the national 

scene. His position exposed him to problems 

that, endemic to the job and present in the best 

of times, were exacerbated by postwar agitation. 

President Andrew Johnson’s leniency in dealing 

with the South raised problems for the Army and 

led to the unusual situation in which the secretary of war and the commanding general found 

themselves allied with the Congress in opposition 

to the policies of the commander in chief. The 

sharp differences between the president and the 

Congress over how to proceed with reconstruction prompted the legislators to pass a series of 

acts to assert their supremacy and protect sympathetic executive officials, notably Stanton and 

Grant, from peremptory presidential reaction.

The Command of the Army Act, attached 

to the Army Appropriations Act of 1867 and of 

questionable constitutional validity, specified that 

presidential orders to the Army be issued through 

the commanding general, that the headquarters 

be located in Washington, and that removal from 

office be approved by the Senate. The Tenure 

of Office Act denied the president the right to 

remove cabinet officers—presumably his own 

appointees—from office without Senate approval, 

almost a reverse confirmation procedure. The 

Congress had Secretary Stanton, a Lincoln appointee, in mind in this measure, one that was also of 

dubious constitutionality. Finally, the First and 

Third Reconstruction Acts divided the South into 

five military districts and authorized their commanders, major general in rank, to superintend 

civil processes and report directly to Washington, 

essentially free of civil control. The net effect of 

all of this was to make the commanding general 

rather than the commander in chief the effective 

head of the Army, or at least that part of it assigned 

to reconstruction duty in the South.48

Highly sensitive to constitutional prerogatives, angered by congressional attempts to frustrate his reconstruction policies, and indignant 

over opposition within his executive family, 

President Johnson on 12 August 1867 suspended 

Stanton from office and appointed General Grant 

as secretary of war ad interim. Grant, ill-disposed to be at the center of a controversy between 

his departmental superior and the commander 

in chief, yet thoroughly devoted to the Army, 

accepted the assignment reluctantly and exercised the title while retaining his position as commanding general. When the Congress returned 

from its recess and resumed its deliberations, the 

Senate refused to concur in Stanton’s suspension, 

invoking the Tenure of Office Act, and Grant 

relinquished and Stanton reclaimed the secretaryship in January 1868. Johnson retaliated by dismissing Stanton, by offering the post to General 

Sherman, who refused it, and by attempting to 

place Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas in the 

office. The Congress then launched impeachment 

proceedings against the president.49

The Senate conducted the trial from March 

into May, and the final vote of 35 to 19 in favor of 

impeachment fell one short of the margin required 
20

for conviction. With the disruptive issue settled 

through constitutional processes but with none of 

the parties—president, Congress, secretary—so 

substantially vindicated as to revel in victory, 

Stanton resigned and the turmoil subsided. The 

president and the Congress, perhaps subdued by 

the experience, agreed, although for different reasons, upon Major General John M. Schofield as a 

candidate to pick up the war office portfolio.

Only months later Grant, little damaged by 

the imbroglio, was elected president of the United 

States. One day after his inauguration on 4 March 

1869 he promoted Lieutenant General William T. 

Sherman to full general and commanding general 

of the Army. Major General Philip H. Sheridan 

was advanced one grade to fill the lieutenant general vacancy.50

Like his three immediate predecessors, William Tecumseh Sherman had graduated from the United States Military Academy. 

Commissioned in 1840, he held various assignments in the southern states and then served as 

an aide and adjutant in the East and in California 

during the Mexican War. He resigned in 1853 to 

try his hand at banking and law, but his lack of 

success turned him to the more compatible and 

more successful occupation of superintendent of a 

military college in Louisiana. Back in the Army in 

time to command a brigade in the 1861 Bull Run 

disaster, he was transferred to the western theater 

and participated in a succession of operations that 

culminated in his command of the Union forces 

there and final defeat of the Confederate armies 

in the deeper South. He was in command of the 

Division of the Missouri, with headquarters at 

St. Louis, when he was ordered to Washington in 

March 1869 to be the Army’s commanding general. Sheridan replaced him at St. Louis.

Having been exposed, as the Army’s senior 

officer and secretary ad interim, to the long-standing controversy between the commanding general 

and the bureau chiefs, if not the secretary of war, 

President Grant now had it in his power to resolve 

matters in the general in chief’s favor on behalf 

of his successor. To Sherman’s great satisfaction 

Grant did just that on 5 March 1869, directing 

through Secretary Schofield that “the Chiefs of 

the Staff Corps, Departments and Bureaus will 

report to and act under the immediate orders of 

When President Andrew Johnson (above) challenged 

Congress over Reconstruction policies and suspended 

Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton (below) for siding with 

the opposition, the legislature brought impeachment proceedings against him. Ulysses S. Grant consequently found 

himself in the awkward position of serving not only as commanding general but also as secretary of war ad interim until 

the constitutional process ran its course. Johnson photographic portrait by Matthew Brady and Stanton portrait by 

unknown photographer from the collections of the National 

Archives.
21

the General commanding the Army. All official 

business, which by law or regulation requires the 

action of the President or Secretary of War, will 

be submitted by the General of the Army to the 

Secretary of War; and in general, all orders from 

the President or Secretary of War to any portion 

of the Army, line or staff, will be transmitted 

through the General of the Army.”51

Sherman’s gratification was short-lived. 

A week later Schofield departed the War 

Department and Grant installed his principal wartime staff officer, John Aaron Rawlins, in the 

secretary’s chair. From that vantage point it was 

Rawlins’ interpretation, abetted by strong pressures from the bureau chiefs and congressional 

representatives, that control of the bureaus should 

be in the hands of the secretary, not the commanding general. Grant deferred to Rawlins’ wishes, 

and only three weeks after the Schofield order a 

Rawlins directive switched the channels of bureau 

business away from the commanding general and 

back to the secretary of war.52

Rawlins attempted to ease Sherman’s displeasure by routing his orders to the bureau chiefs 

through the commanding general’s office, but 

the action cooled Sherman’s relationship with 

Grant and represented another setback to a resolution of the War Department’s own ménage 

à trois. Rawlins’ death in early September and 

his replacement by William Worth Belknap in 

October raised the prospect of even further dissension. Little credit accrued to Sherman for a 

stint as secretary of war ad interim during the 

Rawlins-Belknap interregnum.

The new secretary was a strong personality, 

fully prepared to assume every ounce of power 

and authority prescribed by law and as much more 

as imprecise definition, administrative vacuum, 

and tolerant or irresolute officials might allow. 

Without hesitation, Belknap took over direction of 

the War Department bureaus and began to intrude 

upon Sherman’s domain, renewing, as Sherman 

described it, “all the old abuses . . . which had 

embittered the life of General Scott in the days of 

Secretaries of War Marcy and Davis. . . .”53

One of Sherman’s first encounters with 

Belknap involved the question of jurisdiction over 

sutlerships at Army posts. When the secretary 

infringed upon the commanding general’s prerogatives in this regard by replacing a sutler at Fort 

Laramie, Wyoming, Sherman restored the ousted 

party. Belknap then worked through friends in 

Congress to secure legislation that removed the 

authority from the general in chief and gave it to 

the secretary. He then installed his own man.

Uncomfortable in the political atmosphere of 

Washington, unlikely to prevail in clashes with 

his civilian superior, and with his authority largely circumscribed by the secretary, Sherman followed perhaps the only course open to him during the Belknap administration—that of absenting himself from the capital. From April to June 

1871 he made an inspection tour on the Indian 

frontier, visiting Army units and installations 

in Texas (where he narrowly escaped a collision with a Kiowa war party), Indian Territory, 

Kansas, and Nebraska. From November 1871 

to September 1872 he made the grand tour of 

Europe, traveling as a private citizen but accorded the highest honors, official and social, in most 

of the countries he visited. Then in 1874, taking 

a lead from Winfield Scott, he moved his headquarters to St. Louis.54

Sherman remained away from the seat of 

government until 1876, abdicating to Belknap 

the running of the Army as well as the War 

Department. In March of that year the chairman 

of the legislative committee on expenditures 

reported to the House of Representatives that 

Belknap was guilty of malfeasance in office, as a 

result of having accepted money in return for the 

award of a post tradership at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. 

The evidence led the House to vote unanimously 

to impeach the secretary of war, but Belknap 

resigned even as the Senate’s vote fell short of 

the two-thirds margin required for conviction.55

President Grant then appointed Alphonso 

Taft as secretary of war, and Taft moved at once 

to get Sherman and Army headquarters back to 

Washington. His formal order of 6 April returned 

a goodly measure of control to the commanding 

general, stipulating that “all orders and instructions relative to military operations, or affecting 

the military control and discipline of the Army, 

issued by the President through the Secretary of 

War, shall be promulgated through the General 

of the Army, and the Departments of the Adjutant 

General and the Inspector General shall report to 
22

him and be under his control in all matters relating thereto.” Said General Sherman: “This was 

all I had ever asked.”56

Sherman spent his remaining years as commanding general on good terms with the last 

four of the eight secretaries he served under in 

almost fifteen years as general in chief: James 

Donald Cameron, George Washington McCrary, 

Alexander Ramsey, and Robert Todd Lincoln. 

He saw the Army through its “Dark Ages,” when 

strength, appropriations, pay, and even rank levels 

were under legislative assault, and he turned aside 

active attempts to get him to stand as a presidential candidate. He acted with rare consideration 

when, faced with the statutory requirement to 

retire at age 64, he relinquished the title of commanding general in November 1883 so that his 

successor would have time to prepare the Army’s 

congressional presentation for the coming year.57

When Sherman retired from the Army in 

February 1884, the troublesome constitutional 

and statutory problems that surrounded the office 

of commanding general were yet unresolved. 

That they had not succumbed to the best efforts 

of a famous, well-connected, able, strong-willed 

leader suggested that the very nature of the senior 

officer’s job was uncertain. An irascible Sherman 

had tried to straighten things out but had failed; 

now a combative Sheridan would have his turn.

As with his four immediate predecessors, 

Philip Henry Sheridan had graduated from West 

Point. He served on the Rio Grande frontier 

and against Indians in the Northwest before the 

Civil War drew him into operations in the border states and in the South. His instrumental role 

at Chickamauga and Chattanooga brought him 

into Grant’s circle, and to command of the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac when Grant 

took over the main Union forces. A key figure 

in the final operations in Virginia, Sheridan went 

on to administer the Division of the Gulf during 

the external threat represented by Maximilian’s 

suzerainty in Mexico, and was military governor 

of New Orleans during reconstruction. He followed Sherman to the Division of the Missouri 

and its Indian campaigns, and to Washington as 

commanding general, picking up the reins on 1 

November 1883.

At the time Sheridan entered office the 

responsibility and authority of the General of the 

Army was touched upon in the Army Regulations 

of 1881. Several of the provisions harkened back 

to the first published expressions of 1834–1835, 

and a tenuous trail had appeared in general orders 

William T. Sherman (left), Philip H. Sheridan (center), and Nelson A. Miles (right) took office expecting to command the whole 

Army. When these proud, ambitious, strong-willed, and distinguished soldiers found that the scope of their power and control as commanding general had been largely circumscribed, they vented their frustrations in part by relocating headquarters, making official trips, 

and writing personal memoirs. Sherman/Sheridan photographic portraits by Matthew Brady and Miles photographic portrait by the 

U.S. Army Signal Corps from the collections of the National Archives.
23

and regulations at intervals down through the 

years, although the provisions fell far short of the 

required substance. Article XV of the 1881 edition of the regulations referenced earlier publications for antecedence:

THE GENERAL OF THE ARMY

125. The military establishment is under the orders of 

the General of the Army in all that pertains to its discipline and military control. The fiscal arrangements of 

the Army belong to the several administrative departments of the Staff, under the direction of the Secretary 

of War, and to the Treasury Department.—[G.O. 28, 

1876; R.S. 1133, et seq.]

126. All orders and instructions relating to military 

operations, or affecting the military control and discipline of the Army, issued by the President or the 

Secretary of War, will be promulgated through the 

General of the Army.—[G.O. 28, 1869; G.O. 28, 

1876.]58

The dichotomy that placed the military establishment under the commanding general for discipline and control and under the secretary and 

the staff bureaus for fiscal affairs perpetuated the 

command problem. “Basic to the controversy 

was an assertion of the primacy of the line over 

the staff departments, for which there was a theoretical foundation in the developing conception of 

war as a science and the practice of that science 

as the sole purpose of military forces. Since the 

Army existed only to fight, it followed that its 

organization, training, and every activity should 

be directed to the single end of efficiency in combat. Therefore, the staff departments, which represented technicism, existed only to serve the purposes of the line, which represented professionalism. From that proposition it followed that the 

line in the person of the Commanding General, 

should control the staff.”59

Remarking that Sherman “threw up the 

sponge,” Sheridan moved to the attack by 

announcing it as his interpretation that the president’s order assigning him to command the Army 

necessarily included all of the Army, not excepting the chiefs of the staff departments. To prove 

the point, he ordered one of the bureau chiefs out 

on an inspection tour without informing Secretary 

of War Robert Todd Lincoln. When Lincoln 

learned that the head of one of his staff departments had departed on a field trip without his 

sanction, he informed Sheridan in writing that he 

was sure the commanding general had missed the 

true meaning of the president’s order relative to 

command of the Army.60

Sheridan’s lesson in humility did not stop 

there. When the secretary of war was absent from 

Washington, the senior bureau chief served as 

acting secretary. Thus, as General Schofield later 

described it, Sheridan, “the loyal subordinate 

soldier who had commanded great armies and 

achieved magnificent victories in the field while 

those bureau chiefs were purveying powder and 

balls, or pork and beans,” had to submit to this 

because of “the theory that the general of the 

army was not an officer of the War Department 

and hence could not be appointed Acting 

Secretary of War.” Although this construction 

did not endure, it lasted long enough for General 

Sheridan to suffer a situation under which the 

adjutant general, junior in rank and supposedly 

a subordinate under the commanding general, 

served as acting secretary of war, supposedly 

over the commanding general.61

Chafing under the compromise of the general 

in chief’s authority, Sheridan lost no opportunity to raise the problem and press for action 

to codify the government and regulation of the 

military establishment and to position the commanding general in the direct line of command at 

the top of the uniformed service. When General 

Schofield addressed the subject in his 1885 report 

to Sheridan concerning developments in the 

Division of the Missouri, the lieutenant general of 

the Army was impressed. “I most heartily coincide 

with the remarks of General Schofield on the need 

of military legislation,” he informed Secretary 

of War William C. Endicott in his own summary 

report. “His views are of so much importance that 

I transfer them bodily to my report”:

There is a great need in the military service 

of legislation under the power conferred by the 

Constitution upon Congress to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.

It is sometimes of supreme importance that the 

responsibilities of military administration and command be clearly defined by law. And it is important at 

all times that the rules for the government of the military service be established, like other laws, by competent authority, after due consideration, and under all 
24

the light which experience can bring to the aid of the 

legislature. Regulations thus established, and subject 

to change only by Congress, would have such degree 

of stability as to become the basis of a sound military 

system which up to the present time has not existed in 

this country.

Although the regulations have undergone changes 

almost without number, the most important questions 

involved in the command and government of the 

Army which have been the source of constant embarrassment and the cause of much controversy for many 

years, remain unsettled at the present time. No commanding general, from the highest to the lowest, can 

know the extent or limits of his authority, and no one 

can have any staff responsible to him for the faithful 

execution of his orders.

During the last twenty-five years the country has 

passed through three momentous crises, wherein these 

unsettled questions were of vital importance to the 

nation, and their decision, for the occasion, depended 

solely upon individual opinions. Another such crisis 

may not be far distant, when such a decision might not 

be so fortunate for the country. Hence, while I present 

the necessity of a considerable increase of the Army, 

I also suggest, as a still greater necessity, that laws 

be established by Congress for the ‘government and 

regulation’ of the military forces.62

If the commanding general’s authority was 

circumscribed, so was his rank. When Sheridan 

took over the senior officer’s position, he 

retained his three-star rank because of the Army 

Appropriations Act of 1870 provision specifying that “the offices of General and Lieutenant 

General of the army shall continue until a vacancy shall occur . . . and no longer. . . .” This 

stipulation made the ranks of general and lieutenant general personal to Sherman and Sheridan, 

respectively, with the four-star level lapsing at 

the time of Sherman’s retirement.63

Congressional sentiment against upper-level 

institutional rank, firm during periods of peace 

and routine operation, had a way of softening 

to meet special individual circumstances. As 

noted above, the Congress in February 1855 had 

revived the grade of lieutenant general, specifying that it could be conferred by brevet only “to 

acknowledge eminent services of a major general of the army in the late war with Mexico.” 

The honor was tailored for and bestowed upon 

Winfield Scott.64 Again in February 1864 the 

Congress, with Ulysses Grant in mind, had 

revived the grade of lieutenant general in the 

Army of the United States so that it could be conferred upon a major general “most distinguished 

for courage, skill, and ability.”65 The congressional action of July 1866 reviving the rank of 

general was intended for Grant as the victorious 

field commander in the late war rather than as the 

appropriate rank for the uniformed head of the 

Army.66 And now in 1888 the Congress, prompted by Sheridan’s rapidly failing health, acted on 

behalf of the individual rather than the institution 

by discontinuing the grade of lieutenant general, 

merging it with the grade of general, and ensuring that the four-star billet go to Sheridan by 

stipulating that it should continue “during the 

lifetime of the present Lieutenant General of the 

Army, after which such grade shall also cease.”67

Sheridan’s four-star rank was approved on 

1 June 1888. On 2 August he signed the preface 

to his memoirs, and on 5 August 1888, still the 

Army’s commanding general, he died. Nine days 

later General Schofield, the senior major general, 

was appointed to succeed him as commanding 

general of the Army.

With his designation as the Army’s senior 

officer, John McAllister Schofield continued the 

succession of West Point graduates in the commanding general’s chair. Early in his career he 

had taught philosophy at his alma mater, and 

physics while on leave at Washington University 

of St. Louis. The Civil War drew him into field 

operations in Missouri, with command assignments at department, division, corps, and army 

levels in the western and southern theaters. In the 

postwar period he visited France on a confidential diplomatic mission concerning the French 

presence in Mexico, succeeded Stanton in mid1868 as President Andrew Johnson’s secretary of 

war, and then successively headed several of the 

Army’s major geographical commands, coming 

to the senior officer post from command of the 

Division of the Atlantic.

Schofield differed from his immediate predecessors in both personality and philosophy. 

Operating from the premise that a soldier might 

properly crave recognition, including promotion, 

from “past services,” he saw individual efforts 

to achieve “higher command, greater power, 

and more unrestrained authority” as evidence of 

“ambition inconsistent with due military sub-
25

ordination and good citizenship.” Thus, upon 

Sheridan’s death, although he was the senior 

major general of the Army, Schofield made no 

move to seek the office of commanding general 

and allowed no one to speak for him.68

When President Grover Cleveland selected him to be commanding general, Schofield 

brought into play special skills and experience. 

His teaching, command, and diplomatic background, coupled with upwards of ten months as 

secretary of war and “a more modest ambition” 

than that possessed by his predecessors, gave him 

a breadth of vision and a sensitive appreciation 

of the controversy concerning the relationships 

between the command and administration of 

the Army. He had no illusions about the state of 

things; as he wrote later, “the condition of the 

War Department at that time was deplorable.” 

One of his first official acts was to send a written 

order to the adjutant general specifying that all 

orders issued by the commanding general or in 

his name should be shown to the secretary of war 

before being released. He submitted to the president a paper on the general subject of command 

of the Army, and used it as his guide while in 

office. Staff officers commented that “for the first 

time the [commanding] general actually does 

command the Army.”69

Command relationships during Schofield’s 

tenure ran smoothly because Schofield “regarded 

himself as a Chief of Staff of the President and 

Secretary of War, rather than a self-assertive commanding general.” Schofield served as commanding general under Presidents Cleveland, Benjamin 

Harrison, and again Cleveland, and under one lawyer, Secretary William Crowninshield Endicott, 

and three businessmen, Secretaries Redfield 

Proctor, Stephen Benton Elkins, and Daniel Scott 

Lamont. He corrected a situation under which, 

as he saw it, “the adjutant general had in practice 

come very near being ‘commander-in-chief’” by 

directing that no order, including routine ones, 

be issued in his name without his knowledge. He 

prided himself on the fact that perfect harmony 

was established between the War Department and 

Army headquarters.70

John Schofield served the bulk of his tour as 

commanding general in the rank of major general. 

His performance so impressed his superiors that 

President Cleveland took the unusual step of recommending to Congress that the temporary rank 

of lieutenant general be revived in Schofield’s 

behalf as “a just and gracious act” that would 

permit his retirement “with rank befitting his 

merits.” Although the proposal called forth old 

and somewhat familiar objections, a joint resolution was finally passed and became law on 5 

February 1895. General Schofield completed his 

military service at three-star rank and retired on 

29 September 1895. On 5 October Nelson A. 

Miles, the senior major general, assumed command of the United States Army.71

Unlike his six immediate predecessors, 

all West Pointers, Nelson Appleton Miles had 

entered military service through Massachusetts 

volunteer channels at the outset of the Civil 

War and advanced from lieutenant to brigadier 

John M. Schofield, a former secretary of war, brought a new 

philosophy and a strong personality to the office of commanding general. His efficient and effective tour—next to 

last in the succession under the “command” format—provided some insights as to how the Army’s senior officer 

could operate in a chief-of-staff mode. Photographic portrait by Matthew Brady from the collections of the National 

Archives.
26

general in the Army of the Potomac, serving 

with distinction through regimental and division levels. After the war, and a promotion to 

major general of volunteers in command of a 

corps, he served as commander of Fort Monroe, 

Virginia, and, for a time, acted as custodian over 

former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. 

Commissioned in the regular establishment in 

1866, he served principally on the frontier during the quarter century of the Indian wars, forging a reputation as one of the Army’s leading 

Indian campaigners. In the fall of 1895, while 

in command of the Department of the East at 

New York, he was designated commanding general of the Army and, shortly thereafter, moved to 

Washington.

Miles differed from Schofield in personality, 

method, and style, and the harmony cultivated so 

assiduously by Schofield fell before his successor’s 

assault. As one perceptive historian describes it, 

“General Miles, coming to Washington as commanding general, energetic, conscious of his powers, 

and eager to do, had, like most of his predecessors, 

felt the hypnotic influence of ancient liturgies and 

tinkling bells. He found that in that hierarchy he 

counted as little as a Moravian bishop in the College 

of Cardinals. He might or might not have great plans 

for reform; in either case it did not matter. The adjutant-general was the real power; the arch-bureaucrat 

was pope.”72

In the post–Civil War retrenchment Army 

strength had dropped sharply, finally hovering 

around 26,000 throughout most of the quarter 

century of the Indian wars. In his first few years 

in office Miles addressed the subject actively, 

proposing that military strength be cut loose from 

an automatic figure that had no particular significance, and be tied instead to population levels: 

“The Army should grow as the nation grows.” In 

addition to pushing for increases in strength he 

suggested improvements in coast defenses and 

recommended the rotation of duties between staff 

and line.73 In 1897 he spent several months in 

Europe, visiting Italy, Greece, Turkey, Russia, 

Austria, Germany, France, and England, observing their armies and attending several functions. 

The role of America’s distinguished representative 

abroad may well have been more satisfying than 

the commanding general sinecure back home.

The commanding general was nothing if not 

the military adviser to the president, and when 

the battleship Maine exploded in Cuba’s Havana 

Harbor on 15 February 1898 and the United 

States began preparations for a probable war 

with Spain, General Miles took the opportunity 

to express his views to the commander in chief. 

Having long pressed for expansion of the Army, 

he now found himself urging upon President 

William McKinley a more modest mobilization 

than the administration desired, because of the 

time required to train and equip large numbers 

of troops and the negative impact of the resulting diversion of officers and supplies. When war 

was declared, he differed strongly with Secretary 

of War Russell A. Alger’s acquiescence in Navy 

contingency plans to invade Cuba and attack 

Havana, pointing out that a force could not be 

prepared before the onset of the unhealthy rainy 

season, and, in any case, it would be foolish to 

go up against prepared positions with inadequate 

forces. When he was ordered early in May to 

lead an expedition of 70,000 men against Cuba at 

once, and issued orders to put things in motion, 

he yet requested an audience with the president 

to point out that, because of diversions of stocks 

for a force dispatched to the Philippines, there 

was not on hand—and would not be for two 

months—sufficient ammunition to supply the 

designated force for one hour’s battle. The president deferred operations to a later day.74

Because of a mix of politics, personalities, 

and problems, the War with Spain became a 

period of contention for the commanding general of the Army. His intervention with the president put him at odds with the secretary of war. 

His preference for an invasion of Puerto Rico 

ahead of Cuba was overridden in favor of an 

operation against Santiago. His appearance at the 

Tampa, Florida, staging area raised questions as 

to whether he intended to supersede the expedition commander, Major General William R. 

Shafter, and his wire request to the secretary of 

war seeking approval to accompany the expedition 

went unanswered and became a subject of sharp 

debate. His vocal criticism of the chaotic logistical 

situation at Tampa and of the poor quality of beef 

rations supplied the troops put him at loggerheads 

with the bureau chiefs, and a series of press inter-
27

views from the field voicing his complaints of 

War Department actions along a number of lines 

received such wide coverage that the president 

was forced to appoint a commission to investigate 

the conduct of the war. Though public opinion 

leaned his way, Miles was considered by some to 

be insubordinate and by others to be motivated 

by presidential ambition. His allegations eventually fell for lack of conclusive evidence, and the 

inquiry faded when the investigating body recommended that it would be in the best interests of the 

Army if the whole thing were dropped.75

The Army was ill-prepared to cope with the 

command and administrative complexities raised 

by the War with Spain. Sharp differences developed between the secretary of war, the commanding general, and the bureau chiefs, and antiquated procedures retarded timely and effective 

action. As Miles clashed with Secretary Alger 

and the department heads, President McKinley 

turned increasingly to the adjutant general, Henry 

C. Corbin, for advice and assistance. “Amid 

changing plans, conflicting orders, and clashing personalities, Corbin’s calm, tact, physical 

endurance, and administrative efficiency held the 

creaking military machine on course. After the 

end of May [1898], General Miles spent much of 

his time away from Washington, [and] therefore, 

except for the actual direction of field operations, 

all the myriad details of army command fell upon 

Corbin. . . . Having lost confidence in both Alger 

and Miles, President McKinley began turning 

to Corbin for military advice and assistance in 

implementing his policies. By late June he had 

made Corbin his de facto chief of staff.”76

Miles’ propensity for keeping the government embroiled in front-page disputes might 

well have soured his superiors to a point where 

they would have been disposed to deny him 

any further advancement in his profession. Such 

was not the case, and when the respective and 

normally antipathetic supporters of the Army’s 

commanding general and its adjutant general—

themselves instinctive opponents by virtue of 

personality, function, and the long history of 

departmental dissension—joined forces to move 

both officials up a notch in the ladder of rank, the 

executive branch placed no barriers in the way. 

On 6 June 1900 Miles advanced to lieutenant 

general and Corbin to major general, although 

not with a great degree of unanimity. The legislation took the form of amendments to the Military 

Appropriations Act of 1900, and at the time of 

the vote Miles’ promotion was approved by 143 

to 117 and Corbin’s by 107 to 61.77

If Miles had held his own in skirmishes 

with President McKinley and Secretary Alger, 

he more than met his match in their successors, 

President Theodore Roosevelt and Secretary of 

War Elihu Root. When Miles wandered outside his official domain to comment publicly 

on the verdict of a court of inquiry that investigated a controversy between Admirals William 

T. Sampson and Winfield S. Schley concerning 

the conduct of naval operations at the battle of 

Santiago, he drew a public rebuke from Secretary 

Root on behalf of the administration in a letter 

released to the press on 21 December 1901. “You 

had no business in the controversy,” wrote the 

secretary, “and no right, holding the office which 

you did, to express any opinion. Your conduct 

was in violation of the regulations . . . and of 

the rules of official propriety, and you are justly 

liable to censure which I now express.” President 

Roosevelt followed this up with an oral reprimand at a White House reception when Miles 

attempted to discuss the matter with him.78

Only weeks later, on 17 February 1902, Miles 

had a further clash with his civilian superiors, this 

time over his proposal that he take a delegation 

of Cubans and Puerto Ricans to the Philippine 

Islands—where American forces had been fighting insurrectionists since the departure of the 

Spanish—and convince insurgent leaders of the 

benefits of American sovereignty. Secretary Root 

rejected the plan out of hand, pointing out that 

Governor William Howard Taft and the Philippine 

Commission, assisted by the commander on the 

scene, Major General Adna R. Chaffee, were fully 

capable of dealing with the situation. President 

Roosevelt personally endorsed Root’s disapproval.79

Finding himself blocked at every turn at the 

seat of government, yet not easily repulsed, Miles 

tried once again in August to secure approval 

for a visit to the active theater in the Philippines. 

This time his request was approved; indeed, Root 

suggested that he take an extended trip, moving 

on to Japan and China, riding the Trans-Siberian 
28

Railroad to Russia, and continuing on to Western 

Europe. Some plausible missions were raised: a 

military inspection of the Philippines, an inspection of the legation guard in Peking, an appraisal 

of military conditions in Manchuria, an evaluation 

of the military capacity of the Siberian railroad. 

In truth, the secretary was interested in having 

Miles out of the capital while he advanced a plan 

for the reorganization of the Army, one that would 

eliminate the position of commanding general and 

make the Army’s senior officer chief of a general 

staff.80

Miles’ departure from Washington failed to 

quiet agitations that seemed to eddy about the 

commanding general no matter what his location. He left behind him some discordant testimony before a congressional committee on 

Root’s draft bill to create a general staff. On the 

island of Guam he urged but did not secure the 

release from imprisonment there of the former 

Filipino secretary of state. In the Philippines he 

reacted to reports of abuse of Filipino prisoners in American hands by issuing strict orders 

prohibiting coercive methods to obtain information, creating a stir back in Washington that 

produced some corrective action but also a secretarial admonition to leave such matters to the 

authorities on the scene. From the Philippines he 

finally cut loose on the more distant and remote 

legs of his global journey, leaving Secretary Root 

the respite he had sought from the commanding 

general’s meddlesome ways.81

By the time Miles returned to Washington 

in the spring of 1903 he was nearing retirement 

age. Finally, at noon on 8 August, his sixty-fourth 

birthday, Nelson A. Miles left active service. 

Neither the president nor the secretary of war 

attended the ceremony, although Miles’ successor 

as senior officer, Samuel B. M. Young, promoted 

to lieutenant general at ten o’clock that morning, 

was on hand to wish his predecessor “a long and 

happy retired life.”82

Although General Miles was portrayed as 

“the last of the powerful military politicians” and 

was a troublesome figure in the departmental 

hierarchy, his power was seriously circumscribed 

by the unworkable structure at higher headquarters, while his clashes with authority were at 

once the result of his attempts to vivify his title 

and vent his frustrations over his empty role. He 

was not unique in this regard, for Scott, Sherman, 

and Sheridan were also from the same mold. 

Yet Miles was exceptional after all, for his path 

crossed that of Elihu Root and the Root reforms 

made Miles the last of his kind.

President William McKinley was responsible 

for bringing Root to Washington. When asked to 

take the post of secretary of war, Root demurred, 

saying that he knew nothing about war and nothing about the Army. The president responded that 

he needed a lawyer to administer the colonial territories acquired in the recent War with Spain. 

This struck a chord in Root and he accepted. The 

president had chosen well. Born at Canton, New 

York, in 1845, Elihu Root had graduated from 

Hamilton College there and moved on to New York 

University Law School and admission to the bar. 

After a year with the firm of Mann and Parsons he 

established his own office, developing a practice 

around cases involving banks, railroads, wills and 

Secretary of War Elihu Root brought a brilliant mind, a 

lawyer’s training, and broad experience in cases involving 

municipal government and corporate law to his administration of the War Department. He instituted the series of 

reforms that changed the senior officer’s title and role from 

commanding general to chief of staff. U.S. Army Signal 

Corps photograph from the collections of the National 

Archives.
29

estates, but later specializing in cases involving 

municipal government and corporate law. By the 

close of the century he was considered to be “the 

acknowledged leader of the American bar.”83 Long 

active in local politics in New York, the cabinet post 

now drew him onto the national scene.

Upon entering office on 1 August 1899, 

Secretary Root began methodically to study the 

Army’s organization and functions in the light of 

its responsibilities. He consulted with staff officers, notably General Corbin, the adjutant general, 

and one of Corbin’s able and analytical subordinates, Lieutenant Colonel William Harding Carter. 

He read the published and unpublished works 

of the late Colonel and Brevet Major General 

Emory Upton on European and Asian armies and 

American military policy; read British military 

writer Spenser Wilkinson’s The Brain of an Army; 

and digested the report of Major General Grenville 

M. Dodge’s investigating commission on the conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain. 

Working from the premises that “the real object of 

having an Army is to provide for war” and that the 

government—and therefore the Army—was similar to an industrial establishment and could “profit 

by the lessons which the world of industry and of 

commerce has learned to such good effect,” he 

began to cultivate support in Congress and around 

the country for a program of reform that he gradually exposed through a series of masterful annual 

reports.84

Root wasted no time in coming to grips with 

the Army’s basic problems. He submitted his first 

report to the president within four months of his 

arrival on the scene. He saw the preparation of 

the Army for war—its fundamental purpose—as 

involving four main elements: systematic contingency planning, timely preparation of war materiel, merit selection of officers, and large-unit 

training. He recommended that an Army war college be established, that company-grade officers 

attend it if not already service school graduates, 

that the promotion system be modified to permit 

advancement for merit as well as seniority, and 

that promotion boards be established to provide 

competent and disinterested bodies “to pass judgment on the record. . . .”85

The secretary of war moved with deliberation on his plan to reshape the Army. Although 

some steps could be taken under existing law and 

by executive authority, others of a pivotal nature 

would require new legislation. The climate was 

not unfavorable for reform. The War with Spain 

had drawn the nation outward onto the world 

scene, posing new dimensions for military forces 

in national life. The Army had been made the 

executive agent in the administration of the new 

and widely scattered insular possessions acquired 

from Spain, and operations against insurgents in 

the Philippines and Boxers in China continued 

to absorb national attention. The glaring defects 

exposed by the recent war were matters of both 

official and public concern. Thus, while there 

was a certain amount of resistance to change and 

predictable opposition within the Army and in 

Congress from entrenched officials and special 

interests, the opportunities were there for an 

advocate of the caliber of Elihu Root.

Root proposed to correct the basic problem of divided authority at the top of the War 

Department by changing the title of the Army’s 

senior officer from commanding general to chief 

of staff. The change was important, indeed essential, for “the titles denote and imply in the officers 

bearing them the existence of widely different 

kinds of authority.”86

The officer invested with the title of commanding general had every right to expect 

to command, but such had not been the case. 

Experience had shown that it was impossible for 

any officer to really exercise “the powers which 

appear and are assumed to be conferred along 

with the title of ‘Commanding General of the 

Army.’” The president was the constitutional 

commander of the Army and the secretary of war 

his direct representative charged with supervision 

over the expenditure of “the vast sums of money 

appropriated annually by Congress for the support 

of the Army.” Because the Congress had always 

looked to the civilian head of the War Department 

to hold the purse strings, “the laws require all 

the great departments [Engineer, Ordnance, 

Quartermaster, Subsistence, etc.] which build the 

fortifications and furnish the arms, supplies, and 

munitions of war, and actually expend the money 

for those purposes . . . to act under the direction of 

the Secretary and withhold from the officer who 

is called ‘Commanding General of the Army’ all 
30

control over those departments.” Thus Secretary 

Root explained the nub of the problem.

What was needed, proclaimed Secretary 

Root, was a chief of staff who would operate as 

the Army’s general manager, presiding over a 

general staff that would assist him in the dual role 

of supervising current operations and planning 

for future contingencies. The very title of chief 

of staff, said Root, “denotes a duty to advise, 

inform, and assist a superior officer who has command, and to represent him, acting in his name 

and by his authority, in carrying out his policies 

and securing the execution of his commands.” 

The incumbent must be “perfectly loyal” and 

must “hold the entire confidence of his commander.” By relinquishing the idea of independent 

command embodied in the title of commanding 

general and by performing the functions Root 

visualized for a chief of staff, the secretary was 

convinced that the Army’s senior officer could 

“exercise a great and commanding influence in 

the control of the Army, and practically manage 

it in all military matters.” General Schofield had 

shown how it could be done.

Secretary Root obtained the corrective legislation he sought on 14 February 1903, when 

Congress passed an act to increase the efficiency 

of the Army. Under its provisions the General 

Staff Corps was established, to be composed of 

officers detailed from the Army at large and to 

rotate between the staff and line. The members of 

the corps were placed under the supervision of a 

chief of staff who, under the direction of the president and the secretary of war, was designated to 

In early 1903 the Congress passed legislation to implement reforms proposed by Secretary of War Elihu Root, including creation of the General Staff Corps. A board of officers convened in March to select forty-two officers from the Army at large for 

assignment to the General Staff. The board members were, left to right: Brigadier General William H. Carter; Major General 

Adna R. Chaffee; Major General Samuel B. M. Young, chairman; Major Henry A. Greene; Major General John C. Bates; 

Brigadier General Tasker H. Bliss; and Brigadier General Wallace F. Randolph. Of these, Young, Chaffee, Bates, and Bliss 

would all become chief of staff. U.S. Army photograph.
31

supervise not only the troops of the line but also 

the Adjutant General’s, Inspector General’s, Judge 

Advocate General’s, Quartermaster, Subsistence, 

Pay, Medical, and Ordnance Departments; the 

Corps of Engineers; and the Signal Corps. The 

General Staff Corps was assigned to the specific 

duties of preparing plans for the national defense 

and for mobilization in time of war, investigating 

and reporting upon all questions affecting the efficiency of the Army and its state of preparation for 

military operations, and rendering professional 

aid and assistance to the secretary of war and to 

general officers and other superior commanders.87

On 8 August 1903, the day of General Miles’ 

retirement, Major General Samuel B. M. Young, 

elevated to three-star rank, was assigned to command the Army for one week, when the legislation creating the General Staff Corps would take 

effect and he would assume the duties of chief 

of staff. Second in seniority in the Army and a 

distinguished veteran of Civil War campaigns and 

operations growing out of the War with Spain, 

Young came to the senior officer post from recent 

consecutive duty as president of the War College 

Board established by Root in November 1901 to 

oversee officer education and then as senior member of a board formed in March 1903 to select 

forty-two officers for detail to the newly created 

General Staff Corps.88

General Young became the Army’s first chief 

of staff, as scheduled, on 15 August 1903. The 

officers recommended for service on the General 

Staff had already been approved and assembled 

in Washington as a provisional staff to work out 

the operational details for the corps. The bureau 

chiefs and department commanders had been 

consulted concerning rules and procedures so that 

by mid-August the Army General Staff had been 

organized and could begin to function with a 

proper distribution of duties and a working body 

of regulations.89

The creation of the position of chief of staff 

and General Young’s installation as the senior 

officer in the new mode established an organizational format that exists to this day. Yet all of 

the systemic problems were not solved in one 

stroke, for traditionalist opposition to rationalist 

reform remained. Although Secretary Root got 

his Army War College in November 1903, his 

proposal that the Quartermaster, Subsistence, 

and Pay Departments be consolidated would not 

be effected until 1912 during Secretary Henry L. 

Stimson’s administration.

One of the major causes of inceptive instability lay in personnel turnover. The secretary 

of war and the chief of staff both left office in 

January 1904, and the knowledgeable William H. 

Carter preceded Root and Young by a few days. 

General Corbin, who as adjutant general “had 

been sympathetic toward the General Staff idea 

and had worked hard in putting [it] across to both 

Congress and the Army although it meant the 

eclipse of the department he headed,” moved out 

to a field assignment in April in line with the provisions of the act that created the General Staff 

Corps.90

Thus in the critical formative period of the 

newly adopted reforms, those who conceived 

and installed the long needed corrective measures were replaced by officials who were either 

lacking in the grasp and dedication required 

to advance the new order or were firmly wedded to the old way of things. When Secretary 

Root, as one of his final acts, consolidated several administrative agencies in order to centralize 

recordkeeping and free the chief of staff and the 

General Staff to exercise their policy and planning functions, he was the unwitting agent of 

unexpected ramifications that led to both a perpetuation of some of the very departmental problems 

he had done so much to resolve and a delay in the 

realization of their solution.91

The difficulty arose as a result of the departure of Adjutant General Corbin, the consolidation 

of the Adjutant General’s Office and the Record 

and Pension Office into the Military Secretary’s 

Office, and the designation of Fred C. Ainsworth 

of the Record and Pension Office as head of the 

new bureau. In the process Ainsworth, who proved 

to be adept at developing connections in Congress 

and at influencing legislation favorable to himself, 

was elevated to major general, which put him 

one grade above his fellow bureau heads.

Although Ainsworth’s consolidation of 

his position and creeping accretion of power 

placed him automatically at odds with the other 

bureau chiefs, it was his rivalry with the General 

Staff, and consequently with his superiors, that 
32

eventually would bring him down. He held 

his own through the tours of three chiefs of 

staff—Adna R. Chaffee, John C. Bates, and J. 

Franklin Bell—all of whom were interested in 

being relieved of as much administrative detail 

as possible, and three secretaries of war—

William H. Taft, Luke E. Wright, and Jacob M. 

Dickinson—all of whom preferred harmony to 

internecine strife. The next lineal descendants in 

the respective chairs were of a different stripe: 

Major General Leonard Wood, who became chief 

of staff in April 1910, was a figure in the Winfield 

Scott tradition, able, ambitious, and forceful if not 

domineering; Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, 

able, dedicated, high-minded, and public-spirited, 

a lawyer and protege of Elihu Root in the legal 

profession, entered office in May 1911 and set 

about consolidating his mentor’s reforms.

Stimson had not been long in office when 

he was called upon to settle a dispute between 

Wood and Ainsworth over the assignment of 

officers to recruiting depots. Ainsworth, now 

adjutant general following restoration of the title 

in 1907, took it as an infringement of his prerogatives when the chief of staff informed him 

that the General Staff had selected a list of candidates for depot command from which he could 

make a choice. Ainsworth voiced his exception to 

this in a communication to the secretary of war; 

Wood then commented upon it in a memorandum to Secretary Stimson in which he pointed 

out, among other things, that the adjutant general 

was a subordinate officer of the War Department 

under the supervision of the chief of staff and 

his communication represented “an act of gross 

official insubordination and discourtesy” to his 

In the spring of 1903 thirty-one of the forty-two members of the newly formed General Staff assembled for this group photograph, taken by the E. B. Thompson News Service of Washington, D.C. Major General Samuel B. M. Young, soon to be 

the first chief of staff of the Army, is seated at center, with Brigadier General Tasker H. Bliss on his left. From the Peyton C.

March Papers in the custody of the Library of Congress.
33

superiors. The secretary sided with the chief of 

staff and so informed the adjutant general.92

The final act of the Ainsworth drama was 

played out over the relatively insignificant question of whether the muster roll, the soldier’s 

record of service and biographical data, should be 

streamlined and consolidated with organizational returns and payrolls as an economy measure. 

A Presidential Commission on Efficiency and 

Economy had been directed to make a detailed 

investigation of governmental operations, and 

an offshoot War Department Board on Business 

Methods, chaired by Ainsworth, had moved the 

focus to military operations. The General Staff 

had sought suggestions and had approved a proposal that a descriptive list replace the cumbersome muster roll. General Wood asked General 

Ainsworth to comment on the proposal.

Ainsworth was at once opposed to any 

change in the format of the muster roll and convinced that inexperienced and unqualified individuals were tampering with official documents 

and intruding upon his special domain. His 

reply was so laced with derogatory statements 

against those who opposed his views—in this 

instance, the secretary of war and the chief of 

staff, among others—that General Wood laid the 

matter before Secretary Stimson and President 

Taft. With the commander in chief’s concurrence, the secretary relieved the adjutant general 

of his duties “pending consideration of disciplinary measures to be taken. . . .” On the following 

day Ainsworth asked to be allowed to retire from 

the Army. His request was approved, and his 

departure marked “a turning point in the vexed 

history of the Army’s command. Wood’s success 

over Ainsworth, who had led the resistance to the 

General Staff for a decade, was a moral triumph 

for the General Staff and, henceforth, caused 

the bureau chiefs some concern. The center of 

The historic rivalry between the bureau chiefs and the Army’s senior officer survived the Root reforms to erupt again in 1912, 

when Adjutant General Fred C. Ainsworth (left) challenged Chief of Staff Leonard Wood (right) over perceived intrusions 

upon his traditional domain. Ainsworth’s written protest was so embellished with stinging criticisms, which inescapably 

reflected upon his superiors, that Wood passed it to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and President William H. Taft, who 

concurred in Wood’s recommendation of strong disciplinary action. Realizing that he had overstepped his bounds, Ainsworth 

asked for and was granted immediate retirement. U.S. Army Signal Corps photographs from the collections of the National 

Archives.
34

gravity of the War Department shifted from the 

bureaus to the General Staff. Having grasped the 

ascendancy, the General Staff could now move 

on to ensure and consolidate its leadership.”93

Wartime expansion soon tested the General 

Staff system and exposed still unsettled weaknesses at the top of the Army. As the First World 

War progressed and it became increasingly clear 

that the United States eventually would become 

involved, it was also plain that the chief of staff’s 

authority and seniority were yet short of absolute, 

despite his sovereign title and organizational 

eminence. A lingering lack of definition in the 

senior military office cried out for a Leonard 

Wood to establish unquestioned control over 

the bureaus and give substance to the civilian 

advisory function. Major General William W. 

Wotherspoon’s six-month tour was hardly long 

enough for him to grasp the reins, and Major 

Generals Hugh L. Scott and Tasker H. Bliss 

both held office on the eve of retirement and fell 

short of what Secretary of War Newton D. Baker 

desired in a wartime chief of staff. It was not 

until Major General Peyton C. March took office 

in the spring of 1918 that Baker felt he had the 

man for the job.94

Peyton Conway March had graduated from 

Lafayette College at Easton, Pennsylvania, and 

the United States Military Academy. Routine garrison duties and a tour at the artillery school at 

Fort Monroe, Virginia, brought him to the battlefields of the War with Spain and the Philippine 

Insurrection, where he served with distinction. 

He was a provincial governor and commissary 

general of prisoners in the Philippines before 

returning to the United States to become one of 

the first officers posted to the new General Staff; 

that duty included assignment as an observer 

with the First Japanese Army in the RussoJapanese War. After America’s entry into the 

World War, he moved to France as chief of artillery of the American Expeditionary Forces, later 

receiving his promotion to major general. In 

March 1918 Secretary Baker called him home 

to be acting chief of staff, and in May, promoted 

to the temporary rank of full general, March 

became chief of staff.

America’s entry into the war, the expansion 

of the military to a magnitude required in world 

conflict, and the dispatch overseas of major expeditionary forces had introduced a new element of 

competition—if not rivalry—into the uniformed 

leadership of the Army, namely, the precedence 

of the chief of staff vis-a-vis that of a substantially autonomous senior field commander. With secretarial sanction, General March opened General 

Order Number 18 of 21 August 1918, on the subject of reorganization of the General Staff, with 

a broad statement of the chief of staff’s authority 

over the whole Army, including General John J. 

Pershing and the American Expeditionary Forces:

The Chief of the General Staff is the immediate 

adviser of the Secretary of War on all matters relating 

to the Military Establishment, and is charged by the 

Secretary of War with the planning, development, and 

execution of the Army program. The Chief of Staff 

by law (act of May 12, 1917) takes rank and precedence over all officers of the Army, and by virtue of 

that position and by authority of and in the name of 

the Secretary of War, he issues such orders as will 

insure that the policies of the War Department are 

harmoniously executed by the several corps, bureaus, 

and other agencies of the Military Establishment, and 

that the Army program is carried out speedily and 

efficiently.95

Even with this clear-cut expression of authority it was in the very nature of the war’s evolution that, as the commander of a major overseas 

expeditionary force that finally numbered two 

million men, Pershing required and was granted 

broad discretionary powers in the conduct of the 

war in the operational theater. Paradoxically but 

inevitably, this brought him into opposition to 

March, who, under the secretary of war and the 

president, had to deal with military affairs and 

national interests on the broadest of planes at the 

seat of government. It would have been strange 

indeed if two strong-willed and able officers in 

positions of ultimate power and with different 

perspectives and missions had not found themselves at variance on some matters of policy, 

method, or decision, even with unquestioned 

unanimity on higher goals. Pershing and March 

differed, for example, on the number of divisions 

the United States should send to France by June 

1919; Pershing wanted a hundred, while March’s 

study of the subject indicated that eighty—the 

maximum number that could be organized, 
35

shipped, and sustained in theater—was adequate 

for the war’s needs. On the subject of selection 

of twenty-five officers for promotion to brigadier 

general, Pershing objected when eight nominations were allocated for stateside selection as 

against seventeen in Europe. March cabled him 

that the Expeditionary Forces were only a part of 

the American Army and Secretary Baker intended to make promotions “from the entire Army.”96

General Pershing had his opportunity to see 

things from the Washington headquarters horizon when, on 1 July 1921, he succeeded General 

March as chief of staff. A West Point graduate, his 

career had included frontier service in the closing 

years of the Indian wars, combat service in the 

War with Spain and the Philippine Insurrection, 

tours as professor of military science at the 

University of Nebraska and instructor in tactics 

at West Point, assignment to the General Staff in 

Washington, and designation as military attaché to 

Japan during the Russo-Japanese War. His reports 

on that conflict and his earlier diplomatic-military achievements in the Philippines earned him 

President Theodore Roosevelt’s nomination for 

promotion from captain to brigadier general over 

eight hundred sixty-two senior-ranking officers. 

He led American troops in the Mexican Punitive 

Expedition before assignment to command the 

American Expeditionary Forces.97

General Pershing entered the senior military office at a moment when the Congress had 

passed the National Defense Act of 1920, legislation that would form the basic charter of the 

military establishment until 1947 and the Army 

until 1950. The act defined the senior officer's 

role thus:

The Chief of Staff shall preside over the War 

Department General Staff and, under the direction 

of the President or of the Secretary of War under the 

direction of the President, shall cause to be made, 

by the War Department General Staff, the necessary 

plans for recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, 

mobilizing, training, and demobilizing the Army of 

the United States and for the use of the military forces 

for national defense. He shall transmit to the Secretary 

of War the plans and recommendations prepared for 

that purpose by the War Department General Staff and 

advise him in regard thereto; upon approval of such 

plans or recommendations by the Secretary of War, he 

shall act as the agent of the Secretary of War in carrying the same into effect.98

Although General Pershing brought great 

personal prestige to the office and was enthusiastic over the promise for Army progress embodied 

in the National Defense Act of 1920, he became 

chief of staff at a moment when postwar military 

retrenchment was in progress and an impetus to 

economy in government was in the ascendant. 

On the plus side, the new act rejected the theory 

of an expansible Army in favor of a three-component Army of the United States in which regular 

and reserve elements could be prepared in peacetime for their wartime roles. Offices were established in the departmental headquarters for chiefs 

of the combat arms, placing them on a level 

with the service bureaus. A Finance Department, 

Chemical Warfare Service, and Air Service were 

Peyton C. March proved to be the thoroughly accomplished 

chief of staff that Secretary of War Newton D. Baker had 

wanted, shown here presenting March with an award for 

his outstanding service in the demanding position. U.S.

Army Signal Corps photograph from the collections of the 

National Archives.
36

created, and a single promotion list replaced separate branch lists. Yet much of the promise went 

unfulfilled when appropriations and personnel 

were curtailed. Army strength fluctuated annually between 133,000 and 149,000 in the period 

from 1922 to 1936, when it finally began to 

climb toward a World War II peak of almost 8.2 

million. Expenditures followed similar trends, 

ranging within annual limits of $357 and $458 

million until 1936 and the start of an ascent to a 

World War II zenith of $50 billion in 1945.99

Thus the Army in the period between the 

World Wars felt the effects of a postwar retrenchment, of the wishful thinking engendered by a 

“war-to-end-all-wars” philosophy, of peacetime 

relaxation, of worldwide depression. General 

Pershing and his immediate successors—Major 

General John L. Hines and Generals Charles P. 

Summerall (first beneficiary of a 1929 legislative act elevating the chief of staff to four stars 

while in office), Douglas MacArthur, and Malin 

Craig—guided the Army through these attenuated times. Craig’s efforts during the advent of 

World War II were to prove invaluable, although 

they were largely overlooked at the time because 

they were not attended by crisis, and when the 

emergency erupted, the spotlight focused automatically upon his successor.

General Pershing brought into the chief 

of staff’s office his aide, one of the American 

Expeditionary Forces’ outstanding officers, 

Colonel George C. Marshall, and from 1921 to 

1924 Marshall had the opportunity to observe 

and be a part of the inner workings of the Office 

of the Chief of Staff, excellent preparation for 

his own assignment, fifteen years later, as the 

Army’s senior officer.

Unlike Generals Pershing, Hines, Summerall, 

MacArthur, and Craig, all of whom were products of the United States Military Academy, 

George Catlett Marshall had graduated from 

the Virginia Military Institute. Commissioned 

in infantry in February 1902, he served twice 

in the Philippines and held the usual rotation in 

stateside troop, staff, and school assignments—

the latter as both student and instructor—before 

assignment to the American Expeditionary 

Forces as assistant chief of staff for operations 

of the First Army; in that capacity he executed 

a notable piece of staff work in connection with 

the shift of half a million American troops and 

their guns from the St. Mihiel to the Argonne 

front. After leaving Pershing’s staff in 1924, 

he spent three years in China, taught briefly at 

the Army War College, and served as assistant commandant of the Infantry School at Fort 

Benning, Georgia. Following a mix of teaching, 

troop, and command assignments, he returned 

to Washington as assistant chief of staff, acting 

chief, and, finally, on 1 September 1939 with the 

rank of general, chief of staff.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and 

United States involvement in global war kept 

General Marshall in his post for six years. The 

size, scope, and intensity of the conflict challenged the Army’s headquarters organization and 

leadership. World War II differed so radically from 

World War I that planning based upon experience 

derived from the earlier conflict had to be modified constantly to meet the new circumstances. 

General Marshall became in fact the chief strategy 

and operations adviser to the president, and carried out his departmental managerial role by delegating administrative responsibility to a deputy 

chief of staff at headquarters and to three major 

field commands: Army Ground Forces, Army Air 

Forces, and Army Service Forces. Selecting his 

own principal deputies and subordinates, decentralizing administrative responsibility, and using 

the Operations Division of the General Staff as 

an operating headquarters, the chief of staff, fully 

supported by Secretary Stimson and President 

Roosevelt, became the center of military authority 

in the War Department and the personification of 

the apical rank bestowed upon him in December 

1944—General of the Army.100

At the interservice level General Marshall 

became the Army member of a joint committee 

of senior Army, Navy, and Army Air Forces officers, established to ensure coordination and cooperation between the United States armed forces 

and to represent American views before a similar 

British joint service committee. The American 

Joint Chiefs of Staff acquired increasing authority as the war progressed, and joined their British 

counterparts on the interallied Combined Chiefs 

of Staff—the professional military chiefs of both 

countries directly responsible to the American 
37

president and British prime minister for planning 

and overseeing the grand strategy of the coalition 

under the heads of state. General Marshall’s influential role in this joint-combined picture represented the beginnings of the Army chief of staff’s 

participation in the operation of the Joint Chiefs of 

Staff under a principle of unified command in the 

conduct of war, and, as noted above, a principal 

adviser, in company with his fellow service chiefs, 

to the president of the United States.

In November 1945 General of the Army 

Dwight D. Eisenhower, fresh from operational 

command over victorious Allied forces in a major 

theater of war, succeeded General Marshall as 

chief of staff. His views on the shape of things, 

expressed through the workings of study groups, 

formalized in Presidential Executive Order 9722 

of 13 May 1946 and War Department Circular 

138 of 14 May 1946, and characterized as the 

Eisenhower reorganization, abolished the Army 

Service Forces and service commands, provided greater autonomy for the Army Air Forces, 

brought research and development into staff 

prominence, and emphasized the principle of 

decentralization. Unlike former occasions when 

the General Staff and the technical services had 

been at odds over how the department should be 

organized and run, those elements now joined in 

a common opposition to the Army Service Forces 

that led to its abolishment and the return to the 

bureau chiefs of their customary control over service activities. The General Staff was instructed 

to “plan, direct, coordinate, and supervise,” and 

in general to “assist the Chief of Staff in getting things done.” This was in line with General 

Eisenhower’s view that teamwork, cooperation, 

and persuasion were better than tight executive control as a management philosophy. Had 

During World War II the Army’s senior civilian and senior officer—Henry L. Stimson (left) and George C. Marshall (right)—

forged a close working relationship based on their dedication, cooperation, and mutual trust and respect, as illustrated by the 

special tribute the secretary of war accorded the chief of staff at a V–E ceremony: “Seldom can a man put aside such a thing 

as being the commanding general [U.S. and Allied commander in Europe] of the greatest field army in our history. This decision was made by you for wholly unselfish reasons. But you have made your position as Chief of Staff a greater one. I have 

never seen a task of such magnitude performed by man.” U.S. Army photographs.
38

General Eisenhower preferred to exercise tight 

executive control, Circular 138 provided the necessary authority:

The Chief of Staff is the principal military adviser 

to the President and to the Secretary of War on the 

conduct of war and the principal military adviser 

and executive to the Secretary of War on the activities of the Military Establishment. The Chief of Staff 

has command of all components of the Army of the 

United States . . . and is responsible to the Secretary of 

War for their use in war and plans and preparations for 

their readiness for war.101

The global nature of the Second World War, 

with its worldwide deployments, combined operations, and clear demonstration that warfare had 

become three-dimensional, could not help but 

draw attention to the subject of unification of the 

armed forces. The Marshall reorganization had 

worked so well for the Army that he proposed 

extending its features to a unified defense establishment. As early as April 1944, and again in 

October 1945, Army-Marshall proposals were 

aired before the Congress, and in December 

1945 President Harry S. Truman sent an administration version to the Hill. Finally, after wideranging discussion, debate, and compromise, the 

National Security Act of 1947, passed on 26 July, 

became law. It provided for a civilian secretary of 

defense over a National Military Establishment 

in which the Air Force became a separate and coequal service with the Army and Navy. The War 

Department became the Department of the Army, 

and the secretary of war became the secretary 

of the Army. The act legalized the wartime Joint 

Chiefs of Staff, the body composed of the chiefs 

of the military services.102

Weaknesses that appeared in the new organizational structure were dealt with by amendment 

on 10 August 1949. The designation National 

Military Establishment was dropped in favor of a 

new title: Department of Defense. In another step 

along the road to unification, the Army, Navy, 

and Air Force were transformed from executive 

to military departments, still separately administered by their respective secretaries but under 

the authority, direction, and control of the secretary of defense. Under the new arrangement the 

service secretaries lost their cabinet status, their 

membership on the National Security Council, 

and their direct access to the president. At the 

same time, the position of chairman of the Joint 

George Washington (left), Ulysses S. Grant (center), and Dwight D. Eisenhower (right)—three of the country’s most distinguished soldiers—served as the Army’s senior officer at evenly spaced periods in American history. Their martial accomplishments thrust them onto the national political scene, and each served two terms as president of the United States. Several 

others who held the top uniformed position also became party standard-bearers or aspirants to the highest office in the land. 

Washington portrait by William Dunlap from the United States Capitol Collection; Grant photographic portrait by Matthew 

Brady from the collections of the National Archives; and Eisenhower photographic portrait by Fabian Bachrach from the U.S.

Army.
39

Chiefs of Staff was established. He would be 

appointed from among the Regular Army officers of the armed services, would take precedence over all other officers, and would preside, 

although without vote, over the committee composed of the chiefs of the uniformed services.103

While the National Security Act of 1947 and 

its 1949 amendments were being developed, the 

Army was studying the body of laws that governed its management and direction. Out of this 

review came the Army Organization Act of 1950, 

which clarified the function of the chief of staff 

as the senior officer of the Army. References to 

a “command” role were finally eliminated, and 

parallel Army regulations stated:

Command of the Army and all components thereof is exercised by the President through the Secretary 

of Defense and the Secretary of the Army, who directly represent him, and as the personal representatives 

of the President, their acts are the President’s acts, and 

their directions and orders are the President’s directions and orders.104

Thus the last half of the 1940s saw substantial organizational and managerial change within 

the Department of the Army. Bridging World War 

II and the Korean War and embracing the tenures of Generals Marshall, Eisenhower, Omar N. 

Bradley, and J. Lawton Collins, it was a period of 

transition when hidebound tradition, resistance 

to change, wartime lessons, peacetime inertia, 

advancing technology, and distant threat all influenced the course of military affairs.

One of the 1949 amendments to the National 

Security Act brought an Army chief of staff, 

General Omar Nelson Bradley, into the inaugural chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 

and the Army Organization Act of 1950 brought 

long-awaited and long-needed clarification and 

stability to the chief of staff’s fluctuating role as 

the senior officer. The Army chief of staff now 

performed a dual role: executive manager of 

the department under the secretary of the Army, 

and military adviser to the secretary of defense 

and the president of the United States as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In giving substance to the advisory function, General Collins 

as Army chief of staff became a military adviser 

to his predecessor thrice-removed when General 

Marshall was appointed secretary of defense. In 

an unusual footnote to Army history Generals 

Collins, Bradley, and Marshall, in their respective 

concurrent roles as Army chief of staff, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and secretary of 

defense, had the unpleasant but unavoidable duty 

of deliberating upon and concurring in President 

Truman’s relief in 1951 of their distant predecessor as Army chief of staff, General Douglas 

MacArthur, then commander of American and 

United Nations forces in the Far East with field 

responsibility for the prosecution of the Korean 

War. In his official capacity, General MacArthur 

had bypassed his superiors in Washington to 

express personal views that were at odds with 

governmental positions.

Post–World War II retrenchment and a false 

sense of security engendered by possession of the 

atomic bomb had left the United States unprepared 

for a peripheral conventional war in Korea, and 

American units suffered serious reverses in 1950 

before adequate forces could be readied and fielded 

in the theater. The nuclear deterrent failed to dissuade the North Koreans from attacking South 

Korea and the Chinese Communists from entering 

the fray when American and Allied forces advanced 

toward the Manchurian border. Despite this convincing evidence, and even as the Russians were 

fielding nuclear weapons, the United States enunciated a policy of massive retaliation as its basic 

doctrine. Two successive chiefs of staff—Generals 

Matthew B. Ridgway and Maxwell D. Taylor—

spoke out against dependence upon nuclear weapons and concomitant deficiencies in the strength 

and capabilities of conventional forces, and both 

considered the policy such a threat to national security that, upon retirement, they expressed their open 

concern to the American people.105

In succeeding General Taylor in July 1959, 

General Lyman L. Lemnitzer followed in 

General Bradley’s footsteps when his service as 

chief of staff was cut short by his designation as 

chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. While he 

was the Army’s senior officer he had stressed 

the need for increased appropriations and modernization; he found these positions susceptible 

to service-wide application at the Joint Chiefs 

level. The Defense Reorganization Act of 1958, 

it might be noted, authorized the uniformed 
40

on any force level and help deter the erosion of the 

free world in so-called wars of national liberation 

conducted by conventional means. “Any potential 

aggressor contemplating an attack on any part of 

the free world with any kind of weapons, conventional or nuclear, must know that our response will 

be suitable, selective, swift, and effective.”

Communist challenges in Berlin in 1961 and 

Cuba in 1962, along with ongoing commitments in 

Europe and Asia, provided more than enough justification and impetus to strengthen and modernize 

the armed forces. Secretary McNamara seconded 

President Kennedy in the belief that the armed 

forces must be prepared to respond to military chalchiefs of the military services to delegate duties 

to their vice chiefs in order to free themselves to 

devote more time to their functions as members 

of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

A significant historical moment for the Army 

and its role in conventional war came as the decade 

of the sixties opened with John F. Kennedy’s election as president and his selection of Robert S. 

McNamara as secretary of defense. In his budget message of March 1961, shortly after assuming office, President Kennedy enunciated a policy 

of flexible military response as a concomitant of 

American diplomacy—one that would enable the 

United States to defend itself against aggression 

The National Security Act of 1947 legalized the wartime Joint Chiefs of Staff, and one of the 1949 amendments created the 

position of chairman. The incumbent Army chief of staff, General Omar N. Bradley, became the first chairman. He is seen 

here with his hand on the world globe, flanked by the service chiefs, left to right: General J. Lawton Collins, U.S. Army; 

Admiral Louis E. Denfeld, U.S. Navy; and General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, U.S. Air Force. The Marine Corps commandant later 

became a member. Department of Defense photograph.
41

lenges on any level and anywhere in the world, 

and he set out to achieve that capability. A key part 

of the McNamara reform process was the Army’s 

Project 80, the most detailed study of its organization and management since World War I. Out 

of the appraisal came a major reorganization that 

erased some long-standing controversy and restructured the staff and command along more modern 

lines. The Army Staff became primarily responsible 

for planning and policy; the field commands, for 

implementing staff decisions. To organize the Army 

along functional lines and to centralize personnel, 

training, research, and development while integrating supply operations, most of the technical services 

were abolished, or reduced to special staff status, 

and their command functions, along with most of 

the Army Staff operating functions, redistributed 

among the U.S. Continental Army Command and 

two new functional commands—the U.S. Army 

Materiel Command and the U.S. Army Combat 

Developments Command. The entire process represented an evolutionary spurt in which rationalism 

gained ascendance over traditionalism.106

In light of the managerial and budgetary complexities of the McNamara reforms, it was fitting 

that the Army’s part in the study and installation 

of revised organization and procedures was carried 

out under General George Henry Decker’s direction as chief of staff. General Decker, a graduate 

of Lafayette College with a degree in economics, 

brought to the senior officer’s position a rounded 

career in troop, school, and staff assignments with 

a focus on logistics and financial functions that culminated in the concordant assignments of comptroller of the Army and vice chief of staff preliminary 

to his selection as chief of staff.

For his part, Secretary McNamara became 

involved in one of those moments in history in 

which events and people coincide. He entered 

office in 1961; at this time the role of the United 

States in Vietnam was limited to advice and support. When he left office in 1968, an immense 

Generals Matthew B. Ridgway (left) and Maxwell D. Taylor (right), successive chiefs of staff in the post-Korean and preVietnam period, took issue with the government’s massive retaliation doctrine and concomitant inattention to conventional 

capabilities. Both retired in the 1950s to write and speak out on this and other problems of national security. U.S. Army 

photographs.
42

logistical base and global lines of communications had been established, a force appropriate to 

the measured scale of the war had been fielded, 

and American and North Vietnamese negotiators 

were meeting in Paris in an attempt to find mutually acceptable grounds for reducing or ending 

the conflict. An unwanted and unpopular war had 

nevertheless created a set of circumstances that 

made it possible for the secretary of defense to 

bring to bear a new management philosophy and 

then test and install the practices and procedures 

to make it work.

The Army’s part in the period is evident in 

some statistics that provide an order of magnitude. 

In 1961 the budget was about $10 billion, strength 

was around 870,000, and the active force had fifteen divisions and five separate brigades. By 1968 

the budget had edged above $25 billion, strength 

was 1.5 million, and the active force had nineteen 

divisions and fourteen separate brigades.

Secretary McNamara’s contribution was 

not unlike that of Secretary Root’s in earlier 

times. He was credited by one knowledgeable 

observer with “having rebuilt the whole armed 

services, for the first time in its history giving 

the military establishment a coherent, flexible 

strategy, a rational weapons policy, and an 

effective cooperation among the services. He 

vastly increased the effectiveness of the military establishment, and while this [was] a different kind of achievement from that of [James 

V.] Forrestal and Elihu Root, who brought the 

defense establishment into tune with political 

needs, it may well rank as high.”107

Experiences in the distant theater of 

Southeast Asia influenced the thinking of 

the subsequent senior officers. The Vietnam 

conflict was in its more active phases when 

Generals Earle G. Wheeler, Harold K. Johnson, 

William C. Westmoreland, and Creighton 

W. Abrams, Jr., were consecutive chiefs of 

staff, with General Bruce Palmer, Jr.,108 filling this position for more than three months 

until Abrams’ confirmation. As chairman of 

the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Generals Taylor, 

Lemnitzer, and Wheeler had overall direction 

of the war, and, prefacing their assignments as 

chief of staff, Generals Westmoreland, Abrams, 

and Fred C. Weyand experienced it successively as deputy commander and then comRobert S. McNamara entered office in 1961 as President John 

F. Kennedy’s secretary of defense. During his seven years 

in office he worked to strengthen and modernize the armed 

forces, with the United States involvement in the Vietnam 

conflict offering him the opportunity to introduce and test 

new management practices and techniques. The Army’s part 

in the process, involving a major reorganization under Project 

80, cleared up some long-standing controversies and resulted 

in most of the technical services being abolished and their 

functions realigned among major functional commands. The 

McNamara reforms represented a considerable advance in 

a long transition from traditionalism to rationalism in the 

Army’s organization and operation. Photographic portrait by 

Oscar Porter from the U.S. Army.
43

In 1970 the incumbent chief of staff, General William C. Westmoreland, hosted a luncheon at the Pentagon in honor of six 

of his predecessors: at center, General Maxwell D. Taylor and, left to right, Generals George H. Decker, Harold K. Johnson, 

Earle G. Wheeler, Lyman L. Lemnitzer, and J. Lawton Collins. U.S. Army photograph.

mander of American forces in the operational theater. Thereafter, Generals Bernard W. 

Rogers, Edward C. Meyer, John A. Wickham, 

Jr., Carl E. Vuono, Gordon R. Sullivan, Dennis 

J. Reimer, and Eric K. Shinseki fought in it as 

unit officers at company, battalion, brigade, or 

division level. During the turbulence of the last 

years of the war, Generals Peter J. Schoomaker 

and George W. Casey, Jr., served at the platoon and company level with units in Europe. 

Generals Martin E. Dempsey and Raymond T. 

Odierno were the first chiefs of staff to begin 

service after the Vietnam War had ended, as 

the Army renewed its focus on Europe in the 

continuing Cold War.

In recent years the rate of change for the 

Army itself has increased. As a result of their 

respective operational experiences, the postVietnam Army chiefs of staff have been resolute on the need for maintaining a trained and 

ready force, while at the same time keenly 

aware that the nation will call on the Army 

at a moment’s notice to perform tasks ranging from domestic disaster relief to overseas 

wars.109 The last two years of General Vuono’s 

tenure were marked by three great victories 

in which the Army played a key role: the end 

of the Cold War, the freeing of Panama, and 

the repulse of Iraqi aggression in Kuwait. His 

successor, General Sullivan, faced the test of 

maintaining a trained and ready force in the 

post–Cold War period as a major drawdown in 

American military forces commenced. General 

Reimer continued his predecessor’s efforts to 

maintain readiness while the Army completed its drawdown, and his successor, General 

Shinseki, directed a major transformation of 

the Army’s operational forces.

After taking office, Secretary of Defense 

Donald H. Rumsfeld gave his full support to 

overhauling military strategy and fundamentally transforming the nation’s forces. Just as 
44

General Peter J. Schoomaker was sworn in as chief of staff on 1 August 2003, shown here with Acting Secretary of the Army 

Les Brownlee extending his congratulations and with Mrs. Cynthia A. “Cindy” Schoomaker proudly looking on while holding 

the bible used during the ceremony. U.S. Army photograph.

Secretary McNamara’s reforms were interrupted by the Vietnam conflict in the 1960s, 

Rumsfeld’s efforts were also challenged by the 

11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in America 

and the subsequent Global War on Terrorism. 

In the decade that followed, Generals Shinseki, 

Schoomaker, and Casey strove to change the 

Army. Driven by a commitment born of war, 

they reorganized and refocused the service even 

as it conducted combat and reconstruction operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and it successfully completed combat operations in Iraq during 

General Casey's time as chief of staff. In April 

2011 General Dempsey continued his predecessors' initiatives of preparing the Army for future 

challenges, but he became chairman of the Joint 

Chiefs of Staff only five months later. Since 

then, General Odierno has carried on the work 

of providing the best-trained and -equipped 

and ready troops to Afghanistan, while reorganizing the Army as a smaller, more capable, 

force—one that is globally engaged, regionally 

responsive, and ready to face the demands of an 

increasingly complex environment.

The position and office of the senior officer 

of the Army has evolved considerably since 

1775, when the Continental Congress elected 

George Washington as general and commander 

in chief of the Army of the United Colonies. 

Today the chief of staff—as the principal officer of the Army—is appointed by the president, 

with the advice and consent of the Senate. He 

serves at the pleasure of the president for a 

period of four years and performs his duties 

under the direction of the secretary of the Army. 

He presides over the Army Staff, sends its plans 

and recommendations to the secretary, advises 

concerning them, and acts as the secretary’s 

agent in carrying them out. He exercises general 

supervision over the Army’s organizations and 

personnel, and is a member of the Joint Chiefs 

of Staff and the Armed Forces Policy Council.110
45

Chief of Staff of the Army General George W. Casey, Jr., speaks to soldiers at a forward operating base in southern 

Afghanistan to learn about the progress of training the Afghan National Police. U.S. Army photograph.

The thirty-seventh Chief of Staff of the Army, General Martin E. Dempsey, with soldiers in Iraq. U.S. Army photograph.
46

The past quarter-century has witnessed significant geopolitical turmoil, which has dramatically affected power and security relationships throughout the world. Perhaps the most 

important change has been the relative dispersal of power to regional centers. Because of 

long-simmering ethnic, religious, territorial, 

and economic disputes, often violent in nature, 

the calamity of failed states has resulted in new 

challenges for the international community. 

In particular, the emergence of transnational 

groups—such as the al-Qaeda, with decentralized leadership that is harder to identify and 

disrupt—now looms as the dominant threat to 

peace. In this more unpredictable world, the 

Army faces a new strategic situation that calls 

for less reliance on forward-deployed forces and 

that presents a wider range of potential opponents even as the service prepares for a postwar reduction in size. Although its own history 

illustrates that in postwar periods its operational 

abilities decline, as demonstrated during the 

1990s after Desert Shield/Desert Storm, the 

Army’s indisputable resiliency and adaptability in times of crises—such as in Somalia, the 

Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq—are a testament 

to the resourcefulness and flexibility of its soldiers. For over two centuries the United States 

Army has been the principal means of protecting our national values. The Army’s paramount 

task is to maintain this proud tradition in the 

midst of rapid change.

Chief of Staff of the Army General Raymond T. Odierno with soldiers in Afghanistan. U.S. Army photograph.
47

1. Worthington Chauncy Ford, ed., Journals 

of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, 34 vols. 

(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 

1904–37), 2:89–92. The battles of Lexington 

and Concord had occurred three months before 

Washington’s appointment, and the battle of Bunker 

(Breed’s) Hill took place on the day Washington 

received from the assembled Congress his commission as commander in chief. The “army near Boston” 

included militia elements from Massachusetts, New 

Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

2. For a summary of the military background 

of the American colonists and of colonial participation in British operations against the French in North 

America, see Maurice Matloff, ed., American Military 

History, Army Historical Series, rev. ed. (Washington, 

D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, United 

States Army, 1973), ch. 2.

3. The story of Washington’s youth and early 

military experience, and of his part in the momentous 

events that brought him to command of the Army 

and center stage on the national scene, is detailed in 

Douglas Southall Freeman, George Washington: A 

Biography, 7 vols. (New York: Scribner, 1948–57), 

vols. 1–2, Young Washington (1948), and vol. 3, 

Planter and Patriot (1951).

4. Ford, Journals, 2:93–94, 97–99, 111–23, 

220–21. The actions appointing heads of the technical services mark the establishment of the Adjutant 

General’s Department, the Quartermaster Department, 

the Pay Department, and the Corps of Engineers. 

Further resolutions addressing hospital, legal, and 

religious matters marked the establishment of the 

Medical Department, the Judge Advocate General’s 

Department, and the Corps of Chaplains.

5. George Washington, The Writings of George 

Washington ... , 1745–1799, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, 

39 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing 

Office, 1931–44), 3:309.

6. Matloff, ed., American Military History, pp. 

46–50.

7. Ford, Journals, 5:434–35. John Adams was 

one of several legislators who served on and chaired 

the Board of War and Ordnance in its early configurations. Horatio Gates was the first president of the 

Board of War.

8. Ibid., 2:96.

9. Ibid., 2:101. Washington’s Council of War was 

composed of his principal subordinate commanders.

10. For a history of the development and early 

operation of the war office, see Harry M. Ward, The 

Department of War, 1781–1795 (Pittsburgh: Univ. 

of Pittsburgh Press, 1962). Benjamin Lincoln of 

Massachusetts served in Revolutionary War operations in the North in 1776–1777 and was wounded 

at Saratoga. Later, as commander in the South, he 

was forced to surrender Charleston, South Carolina. 

Exchanged, he participated in the Yorktown campaign. He was a member of the Constitutional 

Convention, was lieutenant governor of Massachusetts 

and collector of the port of Boston, and served on 

several commissions that negotiated treaties with the 

Indians.

11. Ford, Journals, 19:126–27.

12. Ward, Department of War, pp. 17–19 and 

33–34.

13. Matloff, ed., American Military History, pp. 

99–101.

14. Ibid., p. 104; Ward, Department of War, p. 42.

15. Russell F. Weigley, History of the United 

States Army, (New York: Macmillan, 1967), p. 82.

16. Ward, Department of War, p. 56.

17. Ibid., p. 82.

18. Matloff, ed., American Military History, traces these early operations on the Indian frontier.

19. Weigley, History of U.S. Army, pp. 91–93.

20. James Thomas Flexner, Washington: The 

Indispensable Man (Boston: Little, Brown, 1974), pp. 

372–79.

21. Ibid., p. 372.

22. Matloff, ed., American Military History, p. 

116; John C. Miller, Alexander Hamilton: Portrait 

in Paradox (New York: Harper, 1959), pp. 507–08. 

Miller quotes Hamilton as being “certain that the military career in this country offers too few inducements 

and it is equally certain my present Station in the 

Notes to Introduction
48

Army cannot very long continue under the plan which 

seems to govern” (p. 508).

23. For a concise biography of Wilkinson, see 

Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. “Wilkinson, 

James” by I.J.C. (Isaac Joslin Cox). Wilkinson’s 

principal biographers offer convincing evidence 

of his seditious conduct in dealings with Spanish 

officials. His place in history has been fixed in the 

titular characterizations and supporting substance of 

their major biographies. James Ripley Jacobs judges 

him as “a tarnished warrior,” Royal Ornan Shreve 

sees him as a “finished scoundrel,” and Thomas 

Robson Hay and Morris Robert Werner rate him 

caustically as an “admirable trumpeter.” See also the 

Bibliography of Senior Officers.

24. It was only natural for government officials 

to look to Revolutionary War veterans in emergencies. Yet, by the time the War of 1812 opened, the 

country had been at peace for about three decades 

and the officer corps had had little opportunity to 

acquire direct experience. Only sixty-five graduates 

of the United States Military Academy were in service after the school’s first decade of operation, and 

they were junior officers. The nation sustained some 

painful reverses as the war progressed, and the soonto-be secretary of war, William H. Crawford, writing from Paris and his station as Minister to France, 

urged that efforts be made to “rid the army of old 

women and blockheads, at least on the general staff” 

(Matloff, ed., American Military History, p. 150).

25. Weigley, History of U.S. Army, pp. 135–37.

26. Ibid., pp. 137–38.

27. Oliver Lyman Spaulding, The United States 

Army in War and Peace (New York: Putnam, 1937), 

p. 153.

28. In the War Department Special Order of 28 

February 1828 announcing Brown’s death and eulogizing him, Secretary Barbour referred to the late 

commanding general’s “gentleness of disposition” 

and “courtesy of deportment,” and noted that “the 

disease which abridged his days, and has terminated 

his career at a period scarcely beyond the meridian 

of manhood, undoubtedly originated in the hardships 

of his campaigns on the Canadian frontier, and in 

that glorious wound which, though desperate, could 

not remove him from the field of battle, till it was 

won.”

29. For a general discussion of brevet rank and 

its application to the senior officers of this period, 

see Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Bernays Wiener, 

“Mex Rank Through the Ages,” Infantry Journal,

September 1943, pp. 26–28.

30. Ibid.; see also part 2 of Colonel Wiener’s 

five-part article, “Three Stars and Up,” Infantry 

Journal, July 1945, p. 33.

31. Army Regulations, 1834, pp. 115–16.

32. Ibid., 1835, pp. 119–20.

33. Letter, Adjutant General to Secretary of 

War, 24 Jan 1829. The differing approaches that 

Generals Brown and Macomb brought to the office 

of commanding general are evidenced in a further 

comment of the adjutant general: “It has remained 

for the present General in Chief [Macomb] . . . to 

claim jurisdiction in some of the enumerated duties 

[of the adjutant general] . . . which, during the command of the lamented General Brown, were practically acknowledged at the War Office to pertain to 

the Adjutant General” (Letter, Adjutant General to 

Secretary of War, 10 Dec 1829). Copies in Cater 

File, Center of Military History.

34. Ibid., 10 Dec 1829.

35. Charles Winslow Elliott, Winfield Scott: 

The Soldier and the Man (New York: Macmillan, 

1937), pp. 438–46.

36. General Order no. 49, War Department, 31 

Aug 1848.

37. General Order no. 27, War Department, 10 

May 1849.

38. Elliott, Winfield Scott, ch. 46; Weigley, 

History of U.S. Army, pp. 192–95.

39. Wiener, “Three Stars and Up,” p. 34; 

General Order no. 2, War Department, 12 Mar 

1855.

40. Matloff, ed., American Military History, pp. 

204–05, 209, 220; Weigley, History of U.S. Army, 

pp. 246–47.

41. Matloff, ed., American Military History, p. 

220.

42. Weigley, History of U.S. Army, pp. 

248–49; see also sketch of Halleck in Dictionary of 

American Biography, s.v. “Halleck, Henry Wager” 

by W.A.G. (William Addleman Ganoe).

43. Wiener, “Three Stars and Up,” p. 34.

44. Ibid., pp. 34–35; General Order no. 87, War 

Department, 3 Mar 1864.

45. General Order no. 98, War Department, 12 

Mar 1864.

46. Ibid.

47. Matloff, ed., American Military History, 

p. 264; Wiener, “Three Stars and Up,” pp. 34–35; 

George W. Cullum, Biographical Register of 

the Officers and Graduates of the United States 

Military Academy, 3d ed., 3 vols. (Boston: 

Houghton, Mifflin, 1891), 2:170–72.

48. Matloff, ed., American Military History, pp. 

283–85.

49. Weigley, History of U.S. Army, pp. 258–60. 

For a detailed account of the play of political forces 

in the Johnson-Stanton controversy, see Benjamin 

P. Thomas and Harold M. Hyman, Stanton: The Life 

and Times of Lincoln’s Secretary of War (New York: 

Knopf, 1962).

50. General Order no. 11, War Department, 

8 Mar 1869. The order repeats instructions of 5 
49

March 1869. The Army carries Sherman’s effective 

date of assumption of command as 8 March.

51. Ibid.

52. General Order no. 28, War Department, 27 

Mar 1869.

53. William T. Sherman, Memoirs of Gen.

William T. Sherman, 4th ed., 2 vols. (New York: 

Webster, 1892), 2:444. For a general background 

on the department heads, see William Gardner 

Bell, Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the 

Army: Portraits and Biographical Sketches, rev. 

ed. (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 

United States Army, 2003).

54. Lloyd Lewis, Sherman: Fighting Prophet 

(New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1932), pp. 609–13; 

Cullum, Biographical Register, 2:29. Rear Admiral 

James Alden, commander of the European squadron, sailing on Navy business, invited Sherman to 

visit Europe. Cullum accounts for the ten-month 

visit with the phrase “on professional duty in 

Europe,” whereas Lewis identifies it more properly as private travel. Sherman visited Spain, 

Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Russia, Germany, France, 

Switzerland, and the British Isles.

55. Lurton D. Ingersoll, A History of the War 

Department of the United States With Biographical 

Sketches of the Secretaries (Washington, D.C.: 

Mohun, 1880), pp. 566–71; Lewis, Sherman, p. 

622.

56. General Order no. 28, War Department, 6 

Apr 1876; Sherman, Memoirs, 2:455.

57. Lewis, Sherman, pp. 628–29.

58. Army Regulations, 1881, art. 15, p. 20.

59. Matloff, ed., American Military History, p. 

291.

60. John M. Schofield, Forty-six Years in the 

Army (New York: Century, 1897), pp. 471–72.

61. Ibid., pp. 472–73. Permanently assigned to 

their departments, the bureau chiefs were offen criticized as being outside the Army. Several of them 

spent years, almost careers, as staff heads—notably 

Montgomery C. Meigs (quartermaster general from 

1861 to 1882) and Joseph K. Barnes (surgeon general from 1866 to 1882).

62. U.S. War Department, Annual Reports

(Washington, D.C., 1823–1947), Report of the 

Secretary of War, 1885, 1:64–65 and 130.

63. General Order no. 92, War Department, 22 

Jul 1870, sec. 6.

64. General Order no. 2, War Department, 12 

Mar 1855.

65. General Order no. 87, War Department, 3 

Mar 1864.

66. General Order no. 52, War Department, 26 

Jul 1866.

67. General Order no. 39, War Department, 9 

Jun 1888.

68. Schofield, Forty-six Years in the Army, pp. 

480–81.

69. Ibid., pp. 467–83.

70. Wiener, “Three Stars and Up,” p. 37; 

Schofield, Forty-six Years in the Army, pp. 422–23. 

“It is only in this country,” wrote Schofield, “where 

the chief of state has generally no military training, and his war minister the same, that a chief of 

staff of the army is supposed to be unnecessary” (p. 

410).

71. Wiener, “Three Stars and Up,” p. 37.

72. Hermann Hagedorn, Leonard Wood: 

A Biography, 2 vols. (New York: Harper, 1931), 

1:140–41.

73. General Miles’ sentiments are expressed in 

his annual report to the secretary of war, published 

in the Report of the Secretary of War, 1895–1897.

74. Edward Ranson, “Nelson A. Miles as 

Commanding General,” Military Affairs, 29, no. 4 

(Winter 1965–66): 183–85.

75. Ibid., pp. 183–90. General Miles had serious 

reservations as to whether General Shafter, who was 

sixty and weighed 300 pounds, was physically able to 

withstand the tropical conditions in the theater of war. 

Hugh L. Scott, a future chief of staff but then a captain 

on duty in Washington and in a position to observe and 

understand the workings of government, wrote later that 

he was convinced “that the President and [Adjutant] 

General [Henry C.] Corbin were only playing with 

General Miles and did not intend to let him go [to Cuba] 

at all, probably on account of his political tendencies. 

They did not propose that he should go and come back 

a successful general. . . .” (Scott, Some Memories of a 

Soldier [New York: Century, 1928], p. 221).

76. Graham A. Cosmas, An Army for Empire: 

The United States Army in the Spanish-American 

War (Columbia: Univ. of Missouri Press, 1971), p. 

146.

77. Wiener, “Three Stars and Up,” September 

1945, pp. 38–39; General Order no. 79, War 

Department, 6 Jun 1900; General Order no. 81, War 

Department, 11 Jun 1900.

78. Philip C. Jessup, Elihu Root, 2 vols. (New 

York: Dodd, Mead, 1938), 1:247–48.

79. Virginia Weisal Johnson, The Unregimented 

General: A Biography of Nelson A. Miles (Boston: 

Houghton Mifflin, 1962), pp. 354–55.

80. Ibid., p. 355.

81. Ranson, “Miles as Commanding General,” 

pp. 196–98.

82. Johnson, Unregimented General, pp. 

355–59; Jessup, Elihu Root, 1:251.

83. Jessup, Elihu Root, 1:pt. 3, covers Root’s 

service as secretary of war. The evaluation of 

Root’s standing in the legal profession appears in 

Jessup’s summary sketch of Root in the Dictionary 

of American Biography, supp. 2, s.v. “Root, Elihu.”
50

84. Report of the Secretary of War, 1899,

1:44–45.

85. Ibid.

86. This and the following two paragraphs are 

based upon the Report of the Secretary of War, 1902, 

1:42–49.

87. General Order no. 15, War Department, 

18 Feb 1903. General Order no. 120, issued on 14 

August 1903, reproduced a set of Army regulations 

that specified in some detail the composition, duties, 

and relationships between the chief of staff, General 

Staff Corps, War Department General Staff, and 

General Staff serving with troops.

88. That President Roosevelt and Secretary Root 

looked forward with anticipation to the departure of 

General Miles, and his aggravations, is evident in the 

series of executive actions related to the elevation of 

General Young. On 2 July 1903 Secretary Root sent 

a memorandum to the adjutant general requesting 

that, by direction of the president, he prepare General 

Young’s commission to be lieutenant general as 

of 8 August. On the fifth of that month the acting 

assistant adjutant general sent a letter to General 

Young, stating that the secretary of war had directed 

that he (Young) immediately forward his letter of 

acceptance, which the general did the following 

day. But no executive action was taken until the 

Congress returned in the fall, when on 11 November 

the president forwarded the Young nomination to the 

Senate. Senate confirmation came on the sixteenth, 

and the president signed the formal commission the 

following day.

89. Report of the Secretary of War, 1903, 1:3–5.

90. Otto L. Nelson, Jr., National Security and the 

General Staff (Washington, D.C.: Infantry Journal 

Press, 1946), pp. 82–85.

91. For a history of the organization and administration of the Department of the Army during the 

era of America’s rise to global power, see James 

E. Hewes, Jr., From Root to McNamara: Army 

Organization and Administration, 1900–1963,

Special Studies (Washington, D.C.: Center of 

Military History, United States Army, 1975).

92. Nelson, National Security, pp. 138–51.

93. Weigley, History of U.S. Army, pp. 332–33.

94. Frederick Palmer, Newton D. Baker: America 

at War, 2 vols. (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1931), 1:143 

and 2:157–58; Weigley, History of U.S. Army, p. 379.

95. General Order no. 80, War Department, 26 

Aug 1918.

96. Peyton C. March, The Nation at War (Garden 

City, N.Y: Doubleday, Doran, 1932), pp. 251–54 and 

264–66.

97. See ibid., pp. 266–69. March attributed some 

of his problems in dealing with Pershing to the latter’s 

accelerated promotion “by the impulsive Theodore 

Roosevelt.” The “inability to function in teamwork 

with his legal and authorized superiors” and to work 

with men like Generals George W. Goethals, Leonard 

Wood, William L. Sibert, and Tasker H. Bliss was, 

according to March, a direct result of Pershing’s 

advancement from captain to brigadier general, thereby denying him the training and experience that career 

progression through the grades of major, lieutenant 

colonel, and colonel would have given him. In the 

process, March believed, Pershing had lost “the very 

foundation of a complete knowledge of the art of war 

and the command of men.”

98. National Defense Act of 1920, p. 10. The 

1920 act represented a substantial modification of the 

basic National Defense Act of 1916.

99. Bulletin no. 25, War Department, 9 Jun 1920.

100. Hewes, From Root to McNamara, chs. 2–3. 

For a history of the Office of the Chief of Staff in 

the two decades between the World Wars, and of 

the nation’s unreadiness and the efforts of General 

Marshall and his staff to prepare it, see Mark 

Skinner Watson, Chief of Staff: Prewar Plans and 

Preparations, United States Army in World War II 

(Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, Department 

of the Army, 1950).

101. Hewes, From Root to McNamara, ch. 4; Ray 

S. Cline, Washington Command Post: The Operations 

Division, United States Army in World War II 

(Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military 

History, Department of the Army, 1951), pp. 358–60; 

Circular no. 138, War Department, 14 May 1946, sub: 

War Department Reorganization.

102. Alice C. Cole et al., eds., The Department 

of Defense: Documents on Establishment and 

Organization, 1947–1978 (Washington, D.C.: Office 

of the Secretary of Defense, 1979), ch. 1. James V. 

Forrestal, the first secretary of defense, negotiated the 

critical interservice accords on roles and missions in 

1948.

103. Ibid., ch. 2.

104. Hewes, From Root to McNamara,

pp. 208–15.

105. For the substance of their positions, see 

Matthew B. Ridgway, Soldier: The Memoirs of 

Matthew B. Ridgway (New York: Harper, 1956), and 

Maxwell D. Taylor, The Uncertain Trumpet (New 

York: Harper, 1959). Another influential senior officer, Lieutenant General James M. Gavin, chief of 

research and development, also left the Army in 1958 

for similar convictions and purposes. His views were 

set out in his book, War and Peace in the Space Age

(New York: Harper, 1958).

106. For a detailed exposition of the Army’s part 

in the McNamara reforms, see Hewes, From Root to 

McNamara, chs. 8–10.

107. Roger Hilsman, To Move a Nation: The 

Politics of Foreign Policy in the Administration of 

John F. Kennedy (Garden City N.Y.: Doubleday, 1967), 
51

p. 44. Hilsman, a graduate of West Point (June 1943) 

and Yale University (1950), saw service in World 

War II with the Office of Strategic Services and in 

the postwar period with the Central Intelligence 

Agency, Library of Congress, and North Atlantic 

Treaty Organization. He was director of the State 

Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research 

and assistant secretary of state for Far Eastern affairs 

during the McNamara secretaryship at the Defense 

Department.

108. General Palmer provided continuity during 

the Westmoreland-Abrams interregnum, and therefore 

is included in the list of Army chiefs of staff.

109. The participation of the Army chiefs of staff 

in combat operations is described in the respective 

biographies found later in this work.

110. The statutory provisions relating to the 

appointment and duties of the chief of staff of the 

United States Army are set out in sec. 3034, title 10, 

United States Code (1976).

Commanding Generals

1775–1903
George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on 

22 February 1732; was educated in the home by his father and older brother; was 

appointed county surveyor for Culpeper, 1749, and a district adjutant general in the 

Virginia militia, 1752; was detailed by Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia to carry a 

British ultimatum to the French on the Ohio frontier, 1753; was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and led an abortive expedition against the French at Fort Duquesne, 

1754; was aide to General Edward Braddock on the ill-fated Monongahela expedition, 

1755; was promoted to colonel and named commander of all Virginia forces, 1755; 

participated as a brigadier general in the Forbes expedition that prompted French 

evacuation of Fort Duquesne, and British establishment of Pittsburgh, 1758; was 

elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1758; married Martha Dandridge Custis, 

1759; was a justice of Fairfax and held court in Alexandria, Virginia, 1760–1774; 

served as a Virginia delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses, 1774 

and 1775; was appointed general and elected by Congress to be commander in chief 

of the Army of the United Colonies, June 1775; assumed command of the Army in 

the field at Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 1775; served as commander in chief of 

the Army of the United Colonies (later designated the Continental Army), 15 June 

1775–23 December 1783; commanded the field forces in significant Revolutionary 

War actions at Boston (March 1776), Trenton (December 1776), Princeton (January 

1777), Brandywine (September 1777), Germantown (October 1777), Monmouth 

(June 1778), and Yorktown (October 1781); delivered his farewell address to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York City, December 1783; tendered his resignation 

as commander in chief, December 1783. (For details of Washington’s second tour as 

commanding general and his later life, see page 68.)

The Artist

Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) was born in St. Paul’s Parish, Queen Anne’s County, 

Maryland. He turned to portrait painting when circumstances forced him to abandon his early 

trade of saddler, and studied under John Hesselius in America and Benjamin West in England. 

A militia officer in the Revolution, his miniature portraits of his fellow officers became the 

nucleus of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s collection, and he was later instrumental in 

the establishment of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. His contemporary standing portrait of General George Washington hangs in the Senate wing of the 

renowned building that houses the United States Congress in Washington, D.C., and is reproduced from the United States Capitol Collection.

54
George Washington

By Charles Willson Peale

Oil on canvas, 915⁄8" x 583⁄8," 1779
Henry Knox was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 25 July 1750; upon his 

father’s death, left school at age twelve to work in a bookstore; joined a local military company at eighteen, was present at the Boston Massacre, 1770, and joined the 

Boston Grenadier Corps, 1772; married Lucy Flucker in 1774; joined the patriot cause 

and offered his services to General Washington, 1775; was commissioned colonel of 

the Continental Regiment of Artillery; led the expedition to transfer captured British 

guns from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, 1776, a move that forced the British to evacuate the city; led the Delaware River crossing and participated in the battle of Trenton, 

1776; was promoted to brigadier general and chief of artillery of the Continental 

Army, December 1776; participated in the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, and 

Germantown in 1777 and Monmouth in 1778; sat on the court-martial of Major John 

André, 1780; placed the American artillery at the Yorktown siege, 1781; commanded 

the West Point post, 1778–1783; organized the Society of the Cincinnati, 1783; was 

the senior officer of the United States Army, 23 December 1783–20 June 1784; served 

under the Confederation as secretary at war, 8 March 1785–11 September 1789; 

served under the Constitution as the first secretary of war, 12 September 1789–31 

December 1794; prepared a plan for a national militia, advocated and presided over 

initial moves to establish a regular navy, urged and initiated the establishment of a 

chain of coast fortifications, and supervised Indian policy; returned to Thomaston, 

Maine, in 1796; engaged in lumbering, shipbuilding, stock raising, and brick manufacturing; died in Thomaston on 25 October 1806.

The Artist

Constantino Brumidi (1805–1880) was born in Rome, Italy, where he later studied art under 

Vincenzo Camuccini, Antonio Canova, and Bertel Thorvaldsen. He painted the portrait of 

Pope Pius IX and assisted in the restoration of the Raphael frescoes in the Vatican Loggia. As 

a captain of the Papal Guards he became involved in the political disturbances of 1848 and 

fled to America after a brief period of imprisonment. In Washington, D.C., to complete his 

naturalization, Brumidi met and was retained by Captain Montgomery C. Meigs, superintendent of the United States Capitol. The artist embarked upon a quarter of a century of work 

in the building, executing historical paintings, allegorical scenes, and portraits of public figures. His fresco portrait of Secretary of War Henry Knox wearing his artillery uniform adorns 

the President’s Room of the Senate wing, and is reproduced from the United States Capitol 

Collection.

56
Henry Knox

By Constantino Brumidi

Mural medallion portrait, post-1859
John Doughty was born in New York City on 25 July 1754; was graduated from King’s College (Columbia University) in 1770; entered military service 

through New Jersey state channels, January 1776; served as adjutant general of two 

Morris County battalions; was appointed captain-lieutenant of the Eastern Artillery 

Company of New Jersey, March 1776; became captain in the 2d Continental 

Artillery, January 1777; served as aide to Major General Philip Schuyler; was 

assigned to command the New York State company of artillery, March 1777; participated in the battles of Brandywine (1777), Germantown (1777), Monmouth (1778), 

Springfield (1780), and Yorktown (1781); was appointed brigade major of the Corps 

of Artillery, 1779; was appointed fort major for the West Point garrison, 1782; was 

transferred to the Corps of Artillery, June 1783, and promoted to brevet major in 

September; became the Army’s ranking officer following the discharge from the Army 

of all but eighty men, June 1784; was the senior officer of the United States Army, 

20 June–12 August 1784; superintended the construction of Fort Harmar (1785) and 

Fort Washington (1789) on the Ohio frontier; was designated major of the Battalion 

of Artillery, 1789; was dispatched by President Washington to the frontier to negotiate with the Choctaw Nation for trading post sites, 1789; repelled with serious losses 

an attack by Cherokee, Shawnee, and Creek Indians while leading a detachment 

up the Tennessee River on a negotiating mission to the Chickasaw Nation, 1790; 

declined a proffered appointment as lieutenant colonel of the 2d Infantry, after which 

he retired from the Army, March 1791; was appointed brigadier general of artillery, 2d 

Division, New Jersey Militia, 1793; was appointed lieutenant colonel, 2d Regiment 

of Artillerists and Engineers, as war with France threatened, June 1798; resigned and 

returned to private life on his estate at Morristown, New Jersey, to engage in agriculture and pursue literary studies, May 1800; died there on 16 September 1826.

The Artist

In 1935 Major Thomas Bennett Woodburn (1893–1980), editor and art director of Recruiting 

News, drew a sketch of Captain John Doughty for the magazine’s cover for a series on the 

service’s senior officers. Woodburn worked from a tiny engraving and brief description of 

Doughty in an unlocated book about the Revolution. Despite a wide search, no other likeness of Doughty has been found. Thus the Army commissioned Janet Ruth Mary Fitzgerald 

(1949–), a native of Lewiston, Maine, to paint a portrait after the Woodburn sketch to represent Doughty in the line of succession. Miss Fitzgerald is no stranger to the field of military art. 

A graduate of the Columbus (Ohio) College of Art and Design with a bachelor of fine arts, she 

served a five-year tour in the Army (1976–1981) as an illustrator and was awarded the Army 

Commendation Medal for her work. In 1979 she was selected, in Army-wide competition, to 

be a member of the Army Artist Team, and executed twenty works on Army engineer subjects 

and a dozen on women in the Army. Her portrait of Lt. Col. John Doughty is reproduced from 

the Army Art Collection.

58
John Doughty

By Janet R. M. Fitzgerald after Thomas B. Woodburn

Oil on canvas, 30" x 25," 1982
Josiah Harmar was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 10 November 

1753; was educated at Robert Proud’s Quaker school; was appointed a captain in 

the 1st Pennsylvania Battalion, October 1775; entered the Continental Army as 

a captain in the 3d Pennsylvania Regiment, October 1776; served as a lieutenant 

colonel successively in the 6th Pennsylvania (1777), 7th Pennsylvania (1780), 3d 

Pennsylvania (1781), and 1st Pennsylvania Regiments (1783); was brevet colonel of 

the 1st Pennsylvania, September–November 1783; served with General Washington’s 

forces during the campaigns of 1778–1780, and with General Greene’s division in the 

South, 1781–1782; carried the United States government’s peace treaty ratification 

instruments to Paris, 1784; married Sarah Jenkins, 1784; was designated lieutenant 

colonel commandant of the First American Regiment, 1784; was the senior officer 

of the United States Army, 12 August 1784–4 March 1791; established the posts 

and commanded the troops on the Ohio frontier, 1784–1791; witnessed the signing 

of the treaty of Fort McIntosh, 1785; was brevetted brigadier general, July 1787; was 

present at the signing of the Wyandot and Six Nations treaties at Fort Harmar, 1789; 

was defeated while on a punitive expedition against the Miami Indian villages along 

the Maumee River, 1790; requested and was exonerated by a court of inquiry for the 

expedition’s failure, 1791; retired from active service, 1792; served as adjutant general 

of Pennsylvania, 1793–1799; entered the mercantile business in Philadelphia; died in 

Philadelphia on 20 August 1813.

The Artist

Raphael Peale (1774–1825) was born in Annapolis, Maryland, and studied art under his celebrated father, Charles Willson Peale. By age twenty-five he had established himself as a professional painter of miniatures, working in oil and watercolor on ivory, vellum, and paper. He also 

painted still life subjects, several of which are in the collections of the Pennsylvania Academy 

of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. His miniature of Brevet Brig. Gen. Josiah Harmar is owned 

by the Department of State and is on exhibit in an inlaid Hepplewhite cabinet in the James 

Monroe Reception Room of the department’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C. It is 

reproduced here through the courtesy of the State Department’s Fine Arts Committee.

60
Josiah Harmar

By Raphael Peale

Miniature watercolor, 3" x 21⁄2," ca. 1790
Arthur St. Clair was born in Thurso, Caithness County, Scotland, on 23 

March 1736 (old style); attended the University of Edinburgh briefly and later studied medicine under Dr. John Hunter in London; purchased a commission as ensign 

in Britain’s 60th Royal American Regiment and served in Canada under Generals 

Jeffrey Amherst and James Wolfe, 1757–1759; married Phoebe Bayard of Boston, 

1760; resigned his British commission, 1762, and purchased an estate in the Ligonier 

Valley of Pennsylvania, 1764; commanded Fort Ligonier, 1767–1769; was appointed 

surveyor of the Cumberland District, 1770; was designated by Governor William Penn 

as agent of colonial government in his region, 1771; was a justice of Westmoreland 

County court; served as secretary to a congressional committee at the Treaty of 

Pittsburgh, 1775; was commissioned colonel in the Pennsylvania militia, 1775, and 

in the Continental Army, 1776, commanding the 2d Pennsylvania Battalion in abortive operations in Canada; was appointed brigadier general, 1776, and served with 

Washington’s forces in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, 1776–1777; was promoted to major general, 1777; was assigned to command of Fort Ticonderoga in June and 

abandoned it in July to a British investing force; was court-martialed and exonerated 

of blame for failing to hold the post, 1778; was present at the battle of Yorktown and 

served briefly with General Nathanael Greene in the South; left military service in 

1783; was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress, 1785–1787, and president of the Congress in 1787; was governor of the Northwest Territory, 1787–1802, 

and administrator of Indian affairs there; was the senior officer of the United States 

Army, 4 March 1791–5 March 1792; led an expedition into Indian country and was 

disastrously defeated on the Wabash River, November 1791; resigned his commission 

in April 1792 and resumed the territorial governorship; was exonerated in a congressional inquiry from blame for the expedition’s failure; was removed, for political reasons, as territorial governor by President Jefferson, 1802; died at his Ligonier Valley 

home on 31 August 1818.

The Artist

Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) gained his initial experience in portraiture by using 

members of his family as subjects. As his talents expanded, he visited and developed patronage in New England, Maryland, and Virginia, as well as in London, England, finally settling 

in Philadelphia on the eve of active military service and the creation of his officer portrait 

gallery. By the close of the century he had painted many of the distinguished figures of the 

young nation, among them Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair who was completing his first military 

service in the Revolutionary War. The portrait is reproduced from the Independence National 

Historical Park Collection in Philadelphia.

62
Arthur St. Clair

By Charles Willson Peale

Oil on canvas, 221⁄4" x 191⁄8," ca. 1782
Anthony Wayne was born in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, on 1 January 1745; 

attended his uncle Gilbert Wayne’s private academy, 1761–1763; studied surveying 

and supervised a land settlement project in Nova Scotia, 1765; married Mary Penrose, 

1766; settled on his father’s estate and supervised the family tannery, assuming ownership upon his father’s death, 1774; was appointed by Congress as colonel of the 4th 

Pennsylvania Battalion, January 1776; fought and was wounded in the attack of the 

British Army at Three Rivers, Quebec, June 1776; was promoted to brigadier general 

in the Continental Army, February 1777; commanded the Pennsylvania line under 

General Washington, serving with distinction at the battle of Brandywine, September 

1777; requested and was cleared by a court-martial of responsibility for the defeat 

of his forces at the battle of Paoli; served with further distinction in the battles of 

Germantown (1777), Monmouth (1778), Stony Point (1779), and Yorktown (1781); 

was presented by Congress with a gold medal for the capture of the British garrison 

at Stony Point on the Hudson River; blocked the British occupation of West Point 

at the time of Benedict Arnold’s defection, 1780; served with General Nathanael 

Greene in Georgia against British, Loyalist, and Indian opponents, defeating hostile Creek Indians and negotiating treaties with the Creek and Cherokee bands, 

1782–1783; retired from active service as brevet major general, 1783; was a member 

of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 1784–1785, and a member of the state ratifying convention on the federal Constitution, 1787; was a member of the United States 

Congress from Georgia, 1791–1792; was selected by President Washington to command the rehabilitated Army, 1791; was the senior officer of the United States Army, 

13 April 1792–15 December 1796; defeated the northwestern Indians decisively at 

the Battle of Fallen Timbers, August 1794; died at Presque Isle (Erie), Pennsylvania, 

while en route home from frontier service, 15 December 1796.

The Artist

Peter Frederick Rothermel (1817–1895) was born in Nescopeck, Luzerne County, 

Pennsylvania, on 8 July 1817, supplemented his conventional schooling by studying surveying, and then opened his career as a sign painter in Philadelphia. At a friend’s suggestion he 

studied drawing under John R. Smith, enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 

Philadelphia, and later under Bass Otis. After serving as director of the academy from 1847 

to 1855, he traveled and painted in Europe, lived for two years in Rome, exhibited in Paris, 

and returned home in 1859. His most ambitious canvas, The Battle of Gettysburg, hangs in 

the statehouse in Harrisburg. His portrait of Brevet Maj. Gen. Anthony Wayne, completed 

some sixty-five years after his subject’s death, may be based upon an engraving by Eugene 

Prud’homme. It is reproduced from the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

64
Anthony Wayne

By Peter Frederick Rothermel

Oil on canvas, 30" x 25," 1861
James Wilkinson was born in Calvert County, Maryland, probably in 

1757; received his early education from a private tutor and later studied medicine 

in Philadelphia; served in Thompson’s Pennsylvania rifle battalion, 1775–1776; 

was commissioned a captain in the Army of the United Colonies, September 1775; 

served in the siege of Boston and with Benedict Arnold at Montreal; was aide to 

General Horatio Gates in early 1776; served under General Washington in the 

battles of Trenton and Princeton, 1776–1777; was brevet brigadier general in the 

Continental Army, November 1777–March 1778, and concurrently secretary to the 

Board of War, January–March 1778; was forced by General Washington to resign both 

offices because of his part in the Conway cabal against the commander in chief; was 

clothier general of the Army, July 1779–March 1781, resigning as a result of irregularities in his accounts; married Ann Biddle, circa 1782; became brigadier general of 

Pennsylvania militia, 1782, and state assemblyman, 1783; moved to Kentucky, established trade relationships with the Spanish in New Orleans, and engaged in various 

intrigues; was a member of the Kentucky Convention of 1788 and advocated separation from Virginia; led a force of Kentucky volunteers against Indians north of the 

Ohio River, March 1791; returned to federal military service as lieutenant colonel 

commandant of the 2d Infantry, October 1791; was promoted to brigadier general and 

served on the frontier under General Anthony Wayne, commanding the right wing in 

the Battle of Fallen Timbers, August 1794; was the senior officer of the United States 

Army, 15 December 1796–13 July 1798. (For details of Wilkinson’s second tour as 

commanding general and his later life, see page 72.)

The Artist

Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) was only twenty-three when the agitation associated with 

the Stamp Act prompted him to join the Sons of Freedom. Although this lost him the support of the Loyalists who were backing him in his trade as saddler, forcing him to abandon that 

occupation, it proved to be a providential development, for it turned him to the field of art. 

His portrait of Brig. Gen. James Wilkinson reposes in the Independence National Historical 

Park Collection in Philadelphia, part of an invaluable element by this one artist that embraces 

contemporary portraits of Presidents George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson; 

Revolutionary soldiers Horatio Gates, Henry Knox, Henry Dearborn, and Nathanael Greene; 

foreign comrades-in-arms Marquis de Marie Lafayette, Baron Johann de Kalb, Comte Jean de 

Rochambeau, and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben; and explorers Meriwether Lewis, William 

Clark, Zebulon Pike, and Stephen Long.

66
James Wilkinson

By Charles Willson Peale

Oil on canvas, 231⁄2" x 191⁄4," 1797 
George Washington resumed the life of a gentleman farmer at his Mount 

Vernon estate in Virginia following his resignation as commander in chief of the 

Army, December 1783; made an exploratory trip to the western frontier, 1784; served 

as president of the Constitutional Convention, 1787; served as the first president 

of the United States, 1789–1797; returned to private life at Mount Vernon, 1797; 

was appointed by President John Adams to be lieutenant general and commander in 

chief of all armies raised or to be raised for service in a prospective war with France, 

1798; was the senior officer of the United States Army, 13 July 1798–14 December 

1799; participated in the planning for a Provisional Army to meet any emergency 

that might arise, but did not take the field; died at his Mount Vernon home on 14 

December 1799; was appointed posthumously to the grade of General of the Armies 

of the United States by congressional joint resolution of 19 January 1976, approved 

by President Gerald R. Ford on 11 October 1976, and formalized in Department of the 

Army Order Number 31–3 of 13 March 1978 with an effective appointment date of 4 

July 1976. (For details of General Washington’s early life, see page 54.)

The Artist

James Peale (1749–1831) was born in Chestertown, Maryland, and learned the techniques 

of painting from his brother, Charles Willson Peale. After Revolutionary War service with 

Maryland units he moved to Philadelphia. He became adept at painting miniatures on ivory, 

and George and Martha Washington were among his prominent subjects. Peale painted landscape detail as a background in many of his portraits. In executing this half-length figure with 

sword, he copied Washington’s head from his brother Charles’ life portrait of the general. His 

portrait of Commanding General George Washington is reproduced from the Independence 

National Historical Park Collection in Philadelphia.

68
George Washington

By James Peale after Charles Willson Peale

Oil on canvas, 361⁄2" x 273⁄4," ca. 1787–1790
Alexander Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis in the British West 

Indies on 11 January 1757; received some preliminary education from his mother, 

from a clergyman, and at Francis Barber’s grammar school in New Jersey; attended 

King’s College (Columbia University) in New York, 1773–1776, and wrote articles 

and pamphlets espousing the colonists’ cause; was appointed a captain in the Army 

of the United Colonies, March 1776; was secretary and aide-de-camp to General 

Washington with the rank of lieutenant colonel, 1777–1781; served with the commander in chief in the operations at Long Island, Harlem Heights, White Plains, 

Trenton, and Princeton, and commanded a regiment under Lafayette at Yorktown, 

1776–1781; married Elizabeth Schuyler, 1780; was admitted to the New York bar and 

entered the practice of law; was a New York delegate to the Continental Congress, 

1782–1783, to the Annapolis Convention, 1786, to the New York legislature, 1787, 

and to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, 1787; was a signer of the 

Constitution, 1787, and coauthor with James Madison and John Jay of The Federalist 

Papers, 1787–1788; again sat in the Continental Congress, 1788; was secretary of 

the Treasury, 1789–1795; established the Bank of the United States and the United 

States Mint; placed his influence behind Thomas Jefferson to help break a tie with 

Aaron Burr for the presidency; was appointed major general and inspector general of 

the United States Army in anticipation of war with France, July 1798, and served as 

second in command to George Washington, 1798–1799; was the senior officer of the 

United States Army, 14 December 1799–15 June 1800; supervised the preparation of 

new drill regulations and discharged the unneeded Provisional Army; practiced law in 

New York City, 1795–1804; was a founder of the New York Evening Post and the Bank 

of New York; helped block Aaron Burr from the New York governorship; was mortally 

wounded in a duel with Burr at Weehawken Heights, New Jersey, 11 July 1804; died 

of his wound in New York City on 12 July 1804.

The Artist

P. T. Weaver is a shadowy figure who receives only incidental, incomplete, and conflicting 

mention in art reference works. Identified as being either English or Irish and as having the 

other first names of John, Joseph, William J., and William I., Weaver appears to have worked 

in New York City; in Salem, Massachusetts; in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and in Charleston, South 

Carolina. His portrait of Brig. Gen. Alexander Hamilton, which attracted attention as a faithful likeness, is the connecting link along the artist’s shifting trail. It is reproduced from the collections of the Museum of the City of New York.

70
Alexander Hamilton

By P. T. Weaver

Oil on wood panel, 9" x 7," ca. 1799 
72

James Wilkinson was transferred to the southern frontier in 1798 and was 

designated to treat with the regional Indian tribes; was again the senior officer of the 

United States Army, 15 June 1800–27 January 1812; with Governor William C. C. 

Claiborne, shared the honor of taking possession of the Louisiana Purchase on behalf 

of the United States, 1803; was appointed governor of Louisiana Territory, 1805; was 

the subject of a congressional inquiry prompted by his continuing private ventures 

and intrigues, and was cleared by a court-martial ordered by President Madison in 

1811; married his second wife, Celestine Laveau, 1810; was commissioned a major 

general in the War of 1812 and assigned to the St. Lawrence River sector, 1813; was 

relieved from active service but cleared by a military inquiry for the failure of the 

Montreal campaign; published his memoirs, 1816; visited Mexico in pursuit of a Texas 

land grant, 1821; died in Mexico City on 28 December 1825. (For details of General 

Wilkinson’s early life, see page 66.)

The Artist

John Wesley Jarvis (1780–1840), painter, engraver, and sculptor, was born at South Shields 

near Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. His parents immigrated to the United States and settled 

in Philadelphia, and as he came of age he was apprenticed to Edward Savage, an engraver, 

and learned drawing and painting from his more advanced coworkers in Savage’s shop. He 

began painting portraits while in his early twenties and established a studio in New York City, 

where Henry Inman and John Quidor studied and Thomas Sully was his assistant for a brief 

period. By the time paralysis struck him in 1834, Jarvis had become one of the leading portrait 

painters of the day. This Jarvis-attributed portrait of Maj. Gen. James Wilkinson hangs in The 

Filson Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
James Wilkinson

Attributed to John Wesley Jarvis

Oil on canvas, 291⁄4" x 241⁄4," date unknown
Henry Dearborn was born in Hampton, New Hampshire, on 23 February 

1751; studied medicine under Dr. Hall Jackson at Portsmouth; married Mary Bartlett, 

1771; entered practice as a physician in 1772; was elected captain of a military company; participated in the battle of Bunker (Breed’s) Hill, served under Benedict 

Arnold in the Quebec expedition and was captured, 1775; was paroled in 1776 and 

exchanged in 1777; was appointed major of the 3d New Hampshire Regiment; participated in operations at Ticonderoga and Freeman’s Farm with the 1st New Hampshire 

Regiment, 1777; spent the winter of 1777–1778 at Valley Forge; took part in the 

battle of Monmouth, 1778; was engaged in the operations against the Six Nations, 

1779; married his second wife, Dorcas Marble, 1780; joined Washington’s staff as 

deputy quartermaster general; commanded the 1st New Hampshire at the battle of 

Yorktown, 1781; returned to private life in Maine, 1783; was appointed brigadier, 

then major general of militia; was appointed United States marshal for the District of 

Maine (part of Massachusetts until 1820), 1790; served in the United States House 

of Representatives for the same congressional district, 1793–1797; served as secretary 

of war, 5 March 1801–7 March 1809; helped plan the removal of the Indians beyond 

the Mississippi; was appointed collector of the port of Boston, 1809; was the senior 

officer of the United States Army, 27 January 1812–15 June 1815; was ineffective in 

command of the northeastern theater in the War of 1812; captured York (Toronto) 

and Fort George, 1813; was transferred to command in New York City, 1813, and 

married his third wife, Sarah Bowdoin; was nominated and withdrawn for the post 

of secretary of war, 1815; served as minister to Portugal, 1822–1824; died at Roxbury, 

Massachusetts, on 6 June 1829.

The Artist

Walter M. Brackett (1823–1919), the younger brother of sculptor Edward A. Brackett, was 

born in Unity, Maine. He spent most of his professional career in Boston, Massachusetts, 

exhibiting his work at the Boston Athenaeum, the Apollo Association, and the National 

Academy of Design. He was one of the artists engaged by Secretary of War William W. 

Belknap in the early 1870s to execute portraits of the line of succession of the secretaries, and he painted the portraits of Timothy Pickering, Samuel Dexter, William Eustis, and 

Henry Dearborn, all prominent residents of his native state. His portrait of Maj. Gen. Henry 

Dearborn serves the dual purpose of representing an Army official who was both the senior 

officer and senior civilian, and is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

74
Henry Dearborn

By Walter M. Brackett

Oil on canvas, 291⁄2" x 241⁄2," 1873 
Jacob Jennings Brown was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on 

9 May 1775; was raised by Quaker parents on the family farm; was reported by one 

anonymous biographer to have “pursued learning with zeal and perseverance and 

acquired it with facility”; supervised a school at Crosswicks, New Jersey, 1793–1796; 

engaged in surveying on the Ohio frontier, 1796–1798; taught briefly in New York 

City; was briefly military secretary to Major General Alexander Hamilton; purchased 

wilderness shorelands on Lake Ontario in northern New York, 1799; founded the 

village of Brownville and became a successful farmer; married Pamelia Williams, 

1802; was elected to the state legislature and served also as a county judge; was 

appointed colonel of militia, 1809, brigadier general, 1811, and major general, 1812; 

was appointed major general of New York Volunteers and assigned to command the 

Oswego–Lake St. Francis sector; participated in an action at Ogdensburg, New York, 

1812, and repulsed the British at Sackett’s Harbor, 1813; was appointed brigadier 

general in the Regular Army, July 1813; participated in the abortive Wilkinson expedition against Montreal but emerged with his reputation unimpaired; was appointed 

major general and assigned to command of the Niagara frontier, January 1814; defeated the British in the battles of Chippewa and Lundy’s Lane, suffering severe wounds 

in the latter action, July 1814; received the thanks of Congress for his battlefield 

achievements and was presented by that body with a gold medal, November 1814; was 

the senior officer of the United States Army, 15 June 1815–24 February 1828; by act 

of Congress, assumed the formal title of commanding general of the Army, June 1821; 

recommended pay incentives to encourage reenlistments, pay increases for noncommissioned officers, and periodic centralized unit training to avert deterioration in 

widely scattered and fragmented elements; died while in office at Washington, D.C., 

on 24 February 1828.

The Artist

John Wesley Jarvis (1780–1840) spent the first five years of his life in his native England in 

the care of a maternal relative, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, after whom he was 

named. His parents immigrated to United States, where he later completed an apprenticeship 

with Edward Savage in Philadelphia and New York City. His interests turned to engraving 

and then portrait painting, first opening a studio with Joseph Wood and later operating one 

independently. At the height of his career he made regular winter trips to the South to paint 

clients in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Richmond, Charleston, and New Orleans. His fulllength portraits of military figures of the War of 1812 hang in New York’s City Hall. His portrait of Maj. Gen. Jacob J. Brown is reproduced from the collections of the Corcoran Gallery of 

Art in Washington, D.C.

76
Jacob Jennings Brown

By John Wesley Jarvis

Oil on canvas, 421⁄2" x 35," ca. 1815 
Alexander Macomb was born in British-held Detroit on 3 April 1782; 

moved with his parents to New York City and received a classical education at a 

Newark (New Jersey) academy; enrolled at age sixteen in a New York militia company; at Alexander Hamilton’s recommendation during the emergency with France, 

was commissioned a cornet in the Regular Army, January 1799, and promoted to second lieutenant in March; was honorably discharged, June 1800; was commissioned a 

second lieutenant, 2d Infantry, February 1801, and served as secretary to a commission 

that treated with the Indians of the Southeast; was commissioned a first lieutenant 

in the Corps of Engineers, established in 1802 at West Point to constitute a military 

academy, and was thus one of the first officers to receive formal training there; married a cousin, Catharine Macomb, 1803; was promoted to captain, June 1805, major, 

February 1808, and lieutenant colonel, July 1810, in the Corps of Engineers; was chief 

engineer in charge of coastal fortifications in the Carolinas and Georgia, 1807–1812; 

was acting adjutant general of the Army, April–July 1812; was appointed colonel, 

3d Artillery, July 1812, and transferred to the field; commanded American troops 

at Sackett’s Harbor and participated in the capture of Fort George and in General 

James Wilkinson’s St. Lawrence campaign, 1813; was promoted to brigadier general, 

January 1814, and assigned to the Lake Champlain area; repulsed a superior British 

force at Plattsburg, New York, September 1814, for which he received a brevet major 

generalcy; as a token of thanks, was awarded a gold medal by Congress, November 

1814; was a member of a board on Army reorganization, then commanded the Third 

Military District at New York and the Fifth at Detroit; became chief of engineers with 

the rank of colonel, June 1821; married his second wife, Harriet Balch Wilson, 1826; 

was promoted to major general, May 1828; was commanding general of the United 

States Army, 29 May 1828–25 June 1841; espoused the position that the commanding 

general should have active command of the whole Army including the staff bureaus, 

under the loose supervision of the secretary of war; recommended a doubling of Army 

strength to hold the Indians in check, increases in enlisted pay to discourage desertion, augmentation of officers in the service branches to free line officers for field 

duty, relief for widows and orphans of Regular Army officer victims of wounds and 

disease, and a system of officer retirement and replacement; died while in office at 

Washington, D.C., on 25 June 1841.

The Artist

Thomas Sully (1783–1872) was born in England and came to America with his family when 

he was ten. He received his early art instruction from an older brother and a brother-in-law, 

both of artistic talent, and after a formative period in Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia, he 

moved to New York City to enter the mainstream of his career as a portraitist. He met and 

received valuable guidance from Gilbert Stuart in Boston and Benjamin West in London, and 

his introduction to Sir Thomas Lawrence opened the way to commissions for portraits of a 

number of important people. He established his home base in Philadelphia, where he painted 

the Marquis de Lafayette among others, and reached the pinnacle of his career on a second trip 

to England to paint Queen Victoria. His portrait of Maj. Gen. Alexander Macomb is reproduced from the collections of the West Point Museum, United States Military Academy.

78
Alexander Macomb

By Thomas Sully

Oil on canvas, 30" x 25," 1829 
Winfield Scott was born on the family estate near Petersburg, Virginia, on 

13 June 1786; attended William and Mary College briefly and studied law in the office 

of David Robinson; enlisted in Petersburg’s cavalry troop, 1807, and became a captain 

in the regular service, May 1808; received a one-year suspension for open criticism of 

General James Wilkinson, 1810; served in New Orleans on General Wade Hampton’s 

staff, 1811–1812; was promoted to lieutenant colonel, July 1812, and colonel, March 

1813; served on the Niagara front in the War of 1812, was captured and paroled, 

then participated in actions at Fort George, where he was wounded, and at Uphold’s 

Creek; was promoted to brigadier general, March 1814; as a brigade commander, was 

largely instrumental in American successes in the battles of Chippewa and Lundy’s 

Lane (where he was seriously wounded); for his valor, was brevetted major general, 

July 1814; supervised the preparation of the Army’s first standard drill regulations 

and headed a postwar officer retention selection board, 1815; visited Europe to study 

French military methods, 1815–1816; held regional command in the Division of the 

North, 1816; married Maria D. Mayo, 1817; was president of the Board of Tactics, 

1815, 1821, 1824, and 1826; commanded the Eastern Department, 1825; his resignation at being passed over for Army command refused, 1828; again visited Europe, then 

resumed command of the Eastern Department, 1829; his field command of the Black 

Hawk War forces forestalled by cholera among his reinforcing troops, 1832; was an 

effective presidential emissary to South Carolina during nullification troubles; commanded the field forces in the Second Seminole and Creek Wars, 1836; was cleared 

by a court of inquiry on his handling of both operations; assumed command of the 

Eastern Division, 1837; was dispatched to maintain order on the Canadian border, 

where American patriots were aiding Canadian rebels seeking an end to British rule; 

supervised removal of the Cherokees to the trans-Mississippi region, 1838; negotiated 

a peaceful resolution to the boundary dispute between Maine and New Brunswick, 

1839; was promoted to major general, June 1841; was commanding general of the 

United States Army, 5 July 1841–1 November 1861; led American forces in the 

decisive campaign of the Mexican War from the Vera Cruz landings to the capture of 

Mexico City, 1847; was the unsuccessful Whig candidate for president, 1852; received 

the brevet of lieutenant general by special act of Congress, 1855, retroactive to the 

date of Vera Cruz; settled the Anglo-American dispute over San Juan Island in Puget 

Sound, 1859; retired from active service, November 1861; died in West Point, New 

York, on 29 May 1866.

The Artist

Giuseppina Vannutelli (1874–1948), portrait and genre painter, was born in Rome, Italy, 

where she studied art under the tutelage of her accomplished father, Scipione Vannutelli 

(1834–1894). In 1897 she won an award in a competition of original works launched by the 

Académie St. Luc, and in 1900 she entered a major work, Mater Purissima, in the Espositzione 

Alinari. Her portrait of Brevet Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, which bears her signature and the 

inscription Roma, is reproduced from the Army Art Collection. 

80
Winfield Scott

By Giuseppina Vannutelli

Oil on canvas, 251⁄4" x 201⁄4," date unknown
George Brinton McClellan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 

on 3 December 1826; attended preparatory schools and left the University of 

Pennsylvania to accept an appointment to the United States Military Academy, 

graduating in 1846; served with distinction as an engineer officer under Generals 

Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott in the Mexican War, 1847, receiving brevets 

to first lieutenant in August and captain in September; was assistant instructor in 

practical military engineering at West Point, 1848–1851; was assistant engineer for 

the construction of Fort Delaware; participated in the Marcy expedition to explore 

the sources of the Red River, Texas, 1852; was chief engineer of the Department of 

Texas, 1852; conducted a survey for the projected Northern Pacific Railroad over 

the Cascade Mountains; was promoted to captain, March 1855, and assigned to 

the new 1st Cavalry Regiment; visited Europe to study foreign military systems and 

observe Crimean War operations, 1855–1856; designed and secured adoption of the 

McClellan saddle; resigned from the Army to become chief engineer (1857–1858) 

and vice president (1858–1860) of the Illinois Central Railroad; married Mary 

Ellen Marcy, 1860; was president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, 1860–1861; 

was appointed major general of Ohio Volunteers, April 1861; was appointed major 

general in the Regular Army and commander of the Department of the Ohio, May 

1861; cleared Confederate troops from western Virginia; successively commanded 

the Division, Department, and Army of the Potomac, July–November 1861; was 

commanding general of the Army, 1 November 1861–11 March 1862; was relieved 

of overall command to lead the Army of the Potomac in the Peninsular Campaign, 

including the siege of Yorktown, the battle of Fair Oaks, and the Seven Days’ Battles, 

1862; commanded the Washington defenses, September 1862; commanded the Army 

of the Potomac in the Maryland operations at South Mountain and Antietam and 

was placed on inactive status by President Lincoln for his failure to pursue Lee after 

Antietam, 1862–1864; resigned his commission to run unsuccessfully against Lincoln 

for the Presidency, 1864; spent three years in Europe; declined the presidency of two 

colleges and appointment as comptroller of New York City; was chief engineer of New 

York City’s Department of Docks, 1870–1872; was governor of New Jersey, 1878–

1881; was on the Board of Governors of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers, 

1881–1885; died in Orange, New Jersey, on 29 October 1885.

The Artist

Alexander Lawrie (1828–1917) was born in New York City, New York. He pursued his art 

training at the National Academy of Design in New York City and then went abroad to study 

under Emanuel Leutze in Düsseldorf, Francois Picot in Paris, and Greek and Italian painters 

in Florence. He later opened a studio in Philadelphia to exhibit his portraits, landscapes, and 

genre subjects; served in Pennsylvania volunteer units in the Civil War; and then returned 

to New York, participating annually in the National Academy’s exhibitions. His portrait of 

Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan was probably painted in this highly productive period of his 

career. It is reproduced from the collections of the West Point Museum, United States Military 

Academy.

82
George Brinton McClellan

By Alexander Lawrie

Oil on canvas, 34" x 32," date unknown
Henry Wager Halleck was born in Westernville, Oneida County, New 

York, on 16 January 1815; was educated at Hudson Academy, received the bachelor 

of arts degree from Union College, and graduated from the United States Military 

Academy in 1839; was commissioned in engineers and assigned to work on New 

York harbor fortifications; visited Europe and wrote a report on French fortifications 

that was published by the Congress as an official document, 1844; delivered a series 

of twelve lectures before the Lowell Institute of Boston, published in 1846 under the 

title Elements of Military Art and Science; while en route by sea to Mexican War service 

in California, translated Henri Jomini’s Vie politique et militaire de Napoléon, 1846; 

participated in military operations in Mexico and Lower California and held staff 

positions, including that of secretary of state of California, in the military government 

under Generals Richard B. Mason and Bennet Riley, 1847–1849; was brevetted captain for gallant conduct and meritorious service, May 1847; was aide to General Riley, 

1850, and a member of an engineer board for Pacific Coast fortifications, 1853–1854; 

resigned from the Army to pursue private interests, August 1854; married Elizabeth 

Hamilton, 1855; entered the practice of law as head of the firm of Halleck, Peachy 

and Billings, 1853–1854; was president of the Pacific and Atlantic Railroad, 1855, 

and director of the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine, 1853–1861; was major general 

of California militia, 1860–1861; published treatises on mining and international law; 

was reappointed major general in the Regular Army, August 1861; commanded the 

Department of the Missouri, 1861–1862, and the Department of the Mississippi, 1862; 

commanded the Union forces in the Corinth operations; was commanding general of 

the United States Army, 23 July 1862–9 March 1864; was an influential champion of 

discipline; published his Jomini translation in four volumes; was reassigned as chief 

of staff of the Army, 12 March 1864–19 April 1865; commanded the Division of the 

James, April–July 1865; commanded the Division of the Pacific, 1865–1869; commanded the Division of the South, 1869–1872; died at his headquarters in Louisville, 

Kentucky, on 9 January 1872.

The Artist

Jacob H. Lazarus (1822–1891) was born in New York City, New York. He later studied portraiture under Henry Inman and, after establishing his own studio, painted a number of eminent 

figures of his time. His portrait of Inman was presented to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 

where his widow and daughter sponsored and supported a scholarship bearing his name and 

awarded annually to the most proficient male pupil in the painting class at the museum’s art 

school. An associate member of the National Academy of Design, Lazarus also painted miniature portraits and was represented in this medium in the academy’s centennial exhibition in 

1925. His portrait of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck is reproduced from the collections of the 

West Point Museum, United States Military Academy.

84
Henry Wager Halleck

By Jacob H. Lazarus

Oil on canvas, 343⁄4" x 287⁄8," date unknown
Ulysses Simpson Grant was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, on 27 April 

1822; was educated at local schools; attended the United States Military Academy, 

1839–1843, and was commissioned in infantry; served with the 4th Infantry on the 

frontier and in the occupation of Texas, 1843–1846; served under Generals Zachary 

Taylor and Winfield Scott in the Mexican War and was brevetted first lieutenant and 

captain for gallant conduct at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec, 1846–1848; married 

Julia Dent, 1848; was promoted to first lieutenant, September 1847, and served as 

quartermaster, 4th Infantry at various posts; was promoted to captain while on frontier 

duty in the Northwest, August 1853; resigned from the Army, July 1854; was generally 

unsuccessful at farming, real estate, and clerical activities, 1854–1861; was appointed 

colonel of the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry, June 1861, then brigadier general of 

volunteers, August 1861; commanded the field forces in the battles of Forts Henry 

and Donelson and at Shiloh, 1862; was promoted to major general of volunteers, 

February 1862; commanded the District of West Tennessee and then the Department 

of Tennessee, 1862–1863; defeated the Confederate forces at Vicksburg, July 1863, 

to bring the Mississippi River under Union control; was appointed major general 

in the Regular Army, July 1863; received the thanks of Congress and a gold medal, 

December 1863; commanded the Division of the Mississippi, 1863–1864, and defeated the Confederates at Chattanooga in November 1863; was promoted to lieutenant 

general, March 1864; was commanding general of the United States Army, 9 March 

1864–4 March 1869; commanded the Union armies in the final battles in Virginia, 

1864–1865; received the unconditional surrender of General Lee at Appomattox 

Court House, April 1865; presided over the Army’s participation in Reconstruction, 

railroad construction, and Indian affairs; was promoted to general, July 1866; was secretary of war ad interim, 12 August 1867–13 January 1868; was the Republican candidate for president, 1868; was president of the United States, 4 March 1869–3 March 

1877; toured Europe with his family, 1877–1879, then engaged in several unsuccessful 

business ventures; was reappointed general and placed on the retired list, March 1885; 

died in Mount McGregor, New York, on 23 July 1885.

The Artist

Daniel Huntington (1816–1906) was born in New York City, New York. He developed an 

interest in art while attending Hamilton College at Utica, where the young portraitist Charles 

Loring Elliott encouraged Huntington’s artistic bent. He went on to study under Samuel F. B. 

Morse and Henry Inman in New York City and then pursued his studies in Europe, notably in 

Rome, in the late 1830s and into the 1840s, finally achieving a reputation as a leading portrait, 

historical, and landscape painter. He was elected a national academician and was twice president of the National Academy of Design. He received commissions from the Army to paint 

the portraits of a number of departmental secretaries and chiefs of staff. His portrait of General 

Ulysses S. Grant is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

86
Ulysses Simpson Grant

By Daniel Huntington

Oil on canvas, 301⁄4" x 251⁄4," 1875 
William Tecumseh Sherman was born at Lancaster, Ohio, on 8 

February 1820; upon his father’s death, was adopted into the family of Thomas Ewing, 

1829; was educated in a local academy, then attended the United States Military 

Academy, 1836–1840; was commissioned a second lieutenant, July 1840, and posted 

to the 3d Cavalry in Florida; was promoted to first lieutenant, November 1841, and 

served at various southern stations; served in California during the Mexican War as 

adjutant and aide to Generals Stephen W. Kearny, Persifor F. Smith, and Richard B. 

Mason, 1847–1850; married Ellen Ewing, 1850; was appointed captain, September 

1850, and assigned to commissary duty in St. Louis and New Orleans, 1850–1853; 

resigned his commission, September 1853; engaged unsuccessfully in banking and law, 

1853–1859; was superintendent of a military college at Alexandria, Louisiana, 1859–1861; 

was reappointed in the Regular Army as colonel, 13th Infantry, May 1861; was appointed brigadier general of volunteers, May 1861, and commanded a brigade at Bull Run 

in July; served in Missouri and Kentucky and commanded the Department of the 

Cumberland and the District of Paducah, 1861–1862; was appointed major general of 

volunteers, May 1862; commanded a division in the Tennessee-Mississippi campaigns 

and was wounded at Shiloh, April 1862; commanded the District of Memphis and the 

Vicksburg expedition, 1862; commanded the XV Corps in the Vicksburg operations 

to its surrender and was appointed brigadier general in the Regular Army, July 1863; 

commanded the Army of the Tennessee in the Chattanooga-Knoxville operations, 

1863–1864; commanded the Division of the Mississippi, 1864–1865, leading Union 

forces in the invasion of Georgia; was promoted to major general, August 1864; commanded the Armies of the Ohio, Tennessee, and Georgia in the final operations in 

the South, receiving the surrender of Confederate forces there, April 1865; was promoted to lieutenant general while in command of the Division of the Mississippi, July 

1866; was on a special mission to Mexico, November–December 1866; commanded 

the Division of the Missouri, 1866–1869; was promoted to general, March 1869; was 

commanding general of the United States Army, 8 March 1869–1 November 1883; 

was acting secretary of war, 6 September–25 October 1869; sought to establish senior 

officer control over bureau heads, pressed for Army control over Indian affairs, urged 

consolidation of troops at strategic locations, and established a school for infantry 

and cavalry; retired from active service, February 1884; died in New York City on 14 

February 1891.

The Artist

Daniel Huntington (1816–1906) painted the portraits of presidents and generals, writers and 

artists, Astors and Vanderbilts during seventy productive years as a working artist. About a 

thousand of his twelve hundred known works are portraits; of these, fifteen are of secretaries of 

war and two of secretaries ad interim who also were incumbent commanding generals—Ulysses 

S. Grant and William T. Sherman. Army records indicate that Huntington painted Grant and 

Sherman from life at a fee of $300 per portrait. His portrait of General William T. Sherman 

came into Army holdings in 1875, and is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

88
William Tecumseh Sherman

By Daniel Huntington

Oil on canvas, 291⁄2" x 241⁄2," 1875
Philip Henry Sheridan was born in Albany, New York, on 6 March 

1831; received a rudimentary education in a village school when his family moved 

to Somerset, Ohio; graduated from the United States Military Academy, July 1853; 

served as a brevet second lieutenant, 1st Infantry, on the Texas frontier and as a 

second lieutenant, 4th Infantry, on the northwestern frontier, 1854–1861; was promoted to first lieutenant, March 1861, then captain, 13th Infantry, May 1861; was 

quartermaster of the Army of Southwest Missouri and General Henry W. Halleck’s 

headquarters, 1861–1862; was appointed colonel, 2d Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, 

and commanded a brigade in Mississippi operations, May–July 1862; for his performance in the battle of Boonville, was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers; 

commanded a division in operations in Kentucky and Tennessee, including the 

battles of Perryville and Stones River, 1862; was promoted to major general of volunteers, December 1862; commanded a division in the battles of Chickamauga and 

Chattanooga, 1863; commanded the Army of the Potomac’s Cavalry Corps in the 

battles of the Wilderness, Todd’s Tavern, Yellow Tavern, and Trevilian Station, 1864; 

commanded the Army of the Shenandoah and the Middle Military Division, 1864–

1865; was promoted to brigadier general (September) and major general (November) 

in the Regular Army, 1864; was cavalry field commander in final Civil War operations 

in Virginia, including Five Forks and Appomattox Station; commanded the Divisions 

of the Southwest and of the Gulf, 1865, the Department of the Gulf, 1866–1867, and 

the Fifth Military District, 1867, with Reconstruction responsibilities; commanded 

the Department of the Missouri, 1867–1869, and conducted successful winter operations against Central Plains tribes; was promoted to lieutenant general, March 1869; 

commanded the Division of the Missouri, 1869–1883, with military responsibility for 

the heart of the trans-Mississippi West; visited the German armies in the field, 1870–

1871; married Irene Rucker, 1875; was commanding general of the United States 

Army, 1 November 1883–5 August 1888; urged congressional action to support the 

National Guard, pointed to the defenseless condition of the coasts to seaborne attack, 

made recommendations for a solution to the Indian problem, and sought a resolution 

of the problem of senior officer authority; was promoted to general, June 1888; died in 

Nonquitt, Massachusetts, on 5 August 1888.

The Artist

William F. Cogswell (1819–1903) was born in Sandusky, New York, and worked in a color 

factory in Buffalo before moving to New York City to take up a career as a professional artist and see his work exhibited at the National Academy of Design and the American Art 

Union. In 1849, the year of the gold rush, he explored California and then returned to New 

York to continue his career. His work includes the portraits of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses 

S. Grant, which hang respectively in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Art 

and in the Senate wing of the United States Capitol. His portrait of Commanding General 

Philip H. Sheridan, given by the latter as a gift to his valued aide and friend, Colonel Schuyler 

Crosby, and initially hung in the Readiness Region 3 headquarters at Fort George G. Meade, 

Maryland, is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

90
Philip Henry Sheridan

By William F. Cogswell

Oil on canvas, 443⁄8" x 321⁄2," date unknown
John McAllister Schofield was born in Gerry, New York, on 29 September 

1831; was educated in the public schools, then graduated from the United States 

Military Academy, 1853; was commissioned in artillery and served in the South, 

1854–1855; was promoted to second lieutenant, August 1853, and first lieutenant, 

August 1855; was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West 

Point, 1855–1860; married Harriet Bartlett, 1857; taught physics at Washington 

University of St. Louis, 1860–1861; was mustering officer for Missouri as the Civil 

War opened; was major, 1st Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and captain, 1st Artillery, in 

Missouri operations; was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and Missouri militia, November 1861, and major general of volunteers, November 1862; successively 

commanded the Missouri militia, 1861–1862, the Army of the Frontier, 1862–1863, 

the 3d Division of XIV Corps, 1863, the Department of the Missouri, 1863–1864, and 

the Department of the Ohio, 1864–1865; commanded the Army of the Ohio in the 

invasion of Georgia, including the battles of Kenesaw Mountain and Atlanta, 1864; 

commanded the XXIII Corps in Alabama-Tennessee operations, including the battles 

of Franklin and Nashville, 1864; was appointed brigadier general in the Regular Army, 

November 1864; commanded the Department of North Carolina, 1865; was brevetted major general, March 1865; served as a confidential diplomatic emissary to France 

concerning withdrawal of French troops from Mexico, 1865–1866; commanded the 

Department of the Potomac, 1867; served as secretary of war, 1 June 1868–13 March 

1869; was appointed major general, March 1869; commanded the Department of the 

Missouri, 1869–1870; commanded the Division of the Pacific, 1870–1876; served on 

a special mission to the Hawaiian Islands to assess their military value, 1872–1873; 

was superintendent of the United States Military Academy, 1876–1881; successively 

commanded the Divisions of the Pacific (1882–1883), the Missouri (1883–1886), 

and the Atlantic (1886–1888); married his second wife, Georgia Kilbourne, 1891; was 

commanding general of the United States Army, 14 August 1888–29 September 1895; 

was instrumental in clarifying lines of authority and achieving harmony between 

staff and line, espoused increases in pay for noncommissioned officers, advanced a 

plan to reduce desertions, initiated efficiency reports on officers, and recommended 

that incompetent officers be denied promotion; was promoted to lieutenant general, 

February 1895; retired from active service, September 1895; died in St. Augustine, 

Florida, on 4 March 1906.

The Artist

Stephen William Shaw (1817–1900) was born in Windsor, Vermont. At thirty-one he journeyed to California by way of New Orleans and Panama to settle in San Francisco, where he 

pursued a career as a portrait painter. He became the official artist to the Masonic order there, 

painting a large number of Masons and other Western notables. He also participated in the 

expedition that discovered Humboldt (now Kayo) Bay in New Guinea. He painted Maj. Gen. 

John McA. Schofield from life in 1874. The Schofield portrait, commissioned as one of the 

series on departmental secretaries, is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

92
John McAllister Schofield

By Stephen William Shaw

Oil on canvas, 30" x 25," 1874
Nelson Appleton Miles was born on the family farm near Westminster, 

Massachusetts, on 8 August 1839; attended local schools and received rudimentary 

military instruction from a former French officer; recruited a company of volunteers 

and received a commission as captain, September 1861; served on General Oliver O. 

Howard’s staff and was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks; was promoted to lieutenant 

colonel, 61st New York Volunteer Infantry, for gallantry in action, May 1862; replaced 

his seriously wounded commander at the battle of Antietam and was promoted to 

colonel, September 1862; was again wounded in the battle of Fredericksburg, 1862; 

was again wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville, 1863, where his gallant conduct 

later was recognized with the brevet of brigadier general (1867) and the Medal of 

Honor (1892); received the thanks of Congress for his conduct in the battles of the 

Wilderness and Spotsylvania, suffered slight wounds at the battle of Petersburg, and 

was appointed brigadier general of volunteers, May 1864; received his promotion to 

major general of volunteers, October 1865; commanded the District of Fort Monroe 

with supervision over Confederate President Jefferson Davis confined there; was 

appointed colonel in the regular establishment, July 1866; commanded the District of 

North Carolina during Reconstruction, 1866–1867; married General Sherman’s niece, 

Mary Hoyt Sherman, 1868; served in the frontier Indian wars, participating importantly in operations against Central Plains tribes, 1869–1874, and Northern Plains 

tribes, 1874–1880; commanded the Department of the Columbia, 1880–1884; commanded the Department of the Missouri, 1885–1886; commanded the Department of 

Arizona, 1886–1887, bringing the Apache Wars to a close; commanded the Division 

of the Pacific, 1888–1889; commanded the Division of the Missouri, 1889–1894, with 

overall responsibility for operations at Wounded Knee and in the Pullman Strike; was 

commanding general of the United States Army, 5 October 1895–8 August 1903; represented the United States at the Queen Victoria Jubilee Celebration, was an observer 

of Turco-Grecian War operations, and attended the maneuvers of the Russian, 

German, and French armies, 1897, observed operations in Cuba and conducted the 

campaign in Puerto Rico in the War with Spain, 1898; was advanced to three-star 

rank under the provisions of a 6 June 1900 act that specified the senior major general of the line commanding the Army shall have the rank, pay and allowances of a 

lieutenant general; was promoted to permanent lieutenant general, February 1901; 

visited the Philippines, the Far East, and Europe, 1902; retired from active service, 

August 1903; was the author of three books published in 1896, 1897, and 1911; died 

in Washington, D.C., on 15 May 1925.

The Artist

Caroline Thurber (1864–1950) was born in Oberlin, Ohio, and was reared and educated in 

Philadelphia. She studied in Italy, Germany, and England, and received some of her art training in Paris under Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant. Around the turn of the century 

she exhibited at the Royal Academy in London and the Paris Salon. Although her early subjects were children, she turned later to portraits of prominent individuals in the professions 

that include Supreme Court justices of several states, Governor Lucius Garvin of Rhode 

Island, and President Elizabeth Storrs Meade of Mount Holyoke College. Her portrait of Lt. 

Gen. Nelson A. Miles hangs in the United States Army Military History Institute at Carlisle 

Barracks, Pennsylvania.

94
Nelson Appleton Miles

By Caroline Thurber

Oil on canvas, 58" x 40," 1903

Chiefs of Staff

1903–2013
Samuel Baldwin Marks Young was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 

on 9 January 1840; attended Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania; enlisted 

as a private in Company K, 12th Pennsylvania Infantry, April 1861; was commissioned a captain in the 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry, September 1861; married Margaret 

McFadden, 1861; served in the Civil War with the Army of the Potomac, receiving 

promotions in the volunteers to major (1862), lieutenant colonel and colonel (1864), 

and brevet brigadier general (1865); entered the regular establishment as a second 

lieutenant, 12th Infantry, May 1866; was promoted to captain and transferred to the 

8th Cavalry, July 1866; served on the frontier in operations against southwestern 

Indian tribes, 1866–1879, receiving in 1867 three retroactive brevet ranks for gallantry and meritorious service in earlier actions at Sulphur Springs (major), Amelia 

Springs (lieutenant colonel), and Sayler’s Creek (colonel); served on the organizing 

faculty of the School of Application for Infantry and Cavalry at Fort Leavenworth, 

1882; was promoted to major, 3rd Cavalry, April 1883, to lieutenant colonel, 4th 

Cavalry, August 1892, and to colonel, 3d Cavalry, June 1897; was appointed brigadier general (May 1898) and major general (July 1898) of volunteers; commanded a 

brigade in the Santiago campaign in the War with Spain, 1898; was a brigade commander in the Philippine Insurrection, 1899–1901, led the advance forces in the final 

operations in northern Luzon, and was military governor of that district; was promoted to brigadier general in the regular establishment, January 1900, and advanced to 

major general, February 1901; commanded the Department of California, 1901–1902; 

was appointed president of the War College Board, November 1901; was first president of the Army War College, July 1902; was appointed a member of the General 

Staff Selection Board; March 1903, and of an Army and Navy board for cooperation 

between the services, 1903; was promoted to lieutenant general, August 1903, and 

commanded the Army for one week; was the first chief of staff of the United States 

Army, 15 August 1903–8 January 1904; supervised the initial implementation of the 

General Staff concept and recommended establishment of a general service corps to 

relieve combat personnel of technical service functions; retired from active service, 

January 1904; was president of a board that reviewed the circumstances and findings 

in the Brownsville Affair; died in Helena, Montana, on 1 December 1924.

The Artist

Marion Potter Sharpe (1924–) was born in Albany, New York. She attended Russell Sage 

College in Troy, New York; studied at the Art Students League in New York City; and established studios in Kennebunkport, Maine, Charleston, South Carolina, and Middleburg, 

Virginia, before moving her operations to Slingerlands, New York, during the winter and 

to Nantucket, Massachusetts, during the summer. In addition to painting, she taught at the 

Portland School of Fine Arts and the Albany Institute of History and Art, as well as was 

artist-in-residence at her alma mater. She has won a number of awards for her work, which has 

appeared in national shows at several locations. Her portrait of Lt. Gen. Samuel B. M. Young 

holds the anchor position in the Chiefs of Staff Hallway at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., 

and is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

98
Samuel Baldwin Marks Young

By Marion Potter Sharpe

Oil on canvas, 40" x 34," 1974
Adna Romanza Chaffee was born at Orwell, Ohio, on 14 April 1842; 

enlisted in the 6th Cavalry, July 1861; was promoted to sergeant and participated 

in the Peninsular and Antietam Campaigns, 1862; was advanced to first sergeant of 

Company K, September 1862; was commissioned a second lieutenant by direction of 

the secretary of war, May 1863; continued his Civil War service in the 6th Cavalry; 

was twice wounded and received the brevet of captain for gallant and meritorious 

service in action at Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia; was promoted to first lieutenant, February 1865, and captain, October 1867; married Kate Haynie Reynolds, 1868 

(deceased 1869); served in the Indian wars against Central Plains and southwestern 

tribes, 1867–1894; was brevetted major for action at Paint Creek, Texas (1868), 

and lieutenant colonel for actions at Red River, Texas (1874), and Big Dry Wash, 

Arizona (1882); married his second wife, Annie Frances Rockwell, 1875; was promoted to major and posted to the 9th Cavalry, July 1888; was instructor in tactics at 

the Infantry and Cavalry School, Fort Leavenworth, 1894–1896; was promoted to 

lieutenant colonel and transferred to the 3d Cavalry June 1897; was commandant 

of the Cavalry School, Fort Riley, 1897–1898; as the War with Spain opened, was 

promoted to brigadier general (May 1898) and major general (July 1898) of volunteers, and was reappointed to both grades after procedural lapse, April 1899 and July 

1900, respectively; commanded a brigade in the Santiago campaign and served as 

chief of staff to the military governor of Cuba, 1898–1900; was promoted to colonel, 

8th Cavalry, in the regular establishment, May 1899; commanded the American 

contingent in the multinational relief force sent to China during the Boxer uprising, 

1900–1901; was promoted to major general in the permanent establishment, February 

1901; commanded the Department of the Philippines and served as military governor, 

July 1901–October 1902; commanded the Department of the East, 1902–1903; was 

promoted to lieutenant general, January 1904; was chief of staff of the United States 

Army, 9 January 1904–14 January 1906; established territorial divisions to supervise 

field departments, emphasized the need for canteen services to forestall disciplinary 

problems, sought increases in officer strength to counteract diversions from troop 

duty, and pressed for increases in quarters allowances; served on an Army and Navy 

board for cooperation between the services; retired from active service, February 1906; 

was president of the Board of Public Works for the city of Los Angeles; died in Los 

Angeles, California, on 1 November 1914.

The Artist

Cedric Baldwin Egeli (1936–) was born in Shady Side, Maryland. He attended Principia 

College in Illinois before enrolling for two years of study at the Corcoran School of Art in 

Washington, D.C. A scholarship took him to the Art Students League in New York City for 

three years of work under Sidney Dickerson, Frank Reilly, and Frank Mason. He was artistin-residence at the University of Delaware in 1964–1965 before continuing his studies under 

his accomplished father, Bjorn Egeli, also a contributor to the Chiefs of Staff Hallway at the 

Pentagon, Washington, D.C. The portrait of Lt. Gen. Adna R. Chaffee was developed from a 

black and white photograph, and is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

100
Adna Romanza Chaffee

By Cedric Baldwin Egeli

Oil on canvas, 48" x 34," 1973
John Coalter Bates was born in St. Charles County, Missouri, on 26 

August 1842; was educated at Washington University of St. Louis; was commissioned a first lieutenant and assigned to the 11th Infantry, May 1861; served in the 

11th with the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War, including the battles of 

Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, and as aide to General 

George G. Meade; was promoted to captain, May 1863; received the brevet of 

major for faithful and meritorious service in the field, August 1864; was brevetted 

lieutenant colonel for gallant and meritorious service in operations resulting in the 

fall of Richmond and surrender of Lee’s Army, April 1865; was transferred to the 

20th Infantry, 1866; served on the Indian frontier from junior officer to regimental 

commander with extended service in both the 20th and 2d Infantry, 1866–1898; 

commanded a company on escort duty with the Northern Pacific Railroad survey 

party, 1871, and commanded the troops that captured insurgent Creek Indians during Indian Territory disturbances, 1883; was promoted to major (1882), lieutenant 

colonel (1886), and colonel (1892); was a member of a board that considered magazine rifles for Army use; upon the outbreak of the War with Spain, was promoted 

to brigadier general of volunteers, May 1898; commanded the American base at 

Siboney and participated in the assault on El Caney; was promoted to major general 

of volunteers, July 1898, and commanded the 3d Division, V Corps, in the closing 

stages of the Santiago campaign; commanded the Department of Santa Clara, 1899; 

was transferred to the Philippines, directed affairs in the Jolo-Mindanao districts 

and negotiated a treaty on American sovereignty with the Sultan of Sulu, 1899; 

was reappointed to major general of volunteers, 1900; commanded the 1st Division, 

VIII Corps, conducted operations against insurgents in southern Luzon, and then 

commanded that department, 1900–1901; was commissioned a brigadier general in 

the Regular Army, February 1901, and promoted to major general, July 1902; commanded a provisional division in maneuvers at Fort Riley, 1902; commanded the 

Departments of the Missouri and the Lakes, 1901–1904; commanded the Northern 

Division, 1904–1905; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 15 January–13 

April 1906; was promoted to lieutenant general, February 1906; retired from active 

service, April 1906; died in San Diego, California, 4 February 1919.

The Artist

Cedric Baldwin Egeli (1936–), portrait painter, art teacher, and founder of the Maryland 

Society of Portrait Painters, is represented in the collections of the state of Maryland with 

portraits of John Hanson, Lord Sterling, Judy Agnew, and Blair Lee. Among his portraits 

of prominent military figures are those of Admiral Arleigh Burke and General Arthur G. 

Trudeau in the collection of the American Defense Preparedness Association in Arlington, 

Virginia. He was elected as an “Exceptional Member” of the American Portrait Society, and 

his widely acclaimed work has appeared in many exhibitions and won him numerous prizes—

the National Portrait Competition’s Best in the Show Award (1979), the Corcoran’s Prix de 

Rome Award, the American Artists Professional League’s Gold Medal, and the Anne Arundel 

County Cultural Arts Foundation’s Annie Award for Visual Arts (2001). His portrait of Lt. 

Gen. John C. Bates was developed from a black and white photograph, and is reproduced from 

the Army Art Collection.

102
John Coalter Bates

By Cedric Baldwin Egeli

Oil on canvas, 36" x 30," 1974
James Franklin Bell was born near Shelbyville, Kentucky, on 9 January 

1856; was educated at local schools and graduated from the United States Military 

Academy, 1878; was commissioned a second lieutenant, 9th Cavalry, June 1878; 

transferred to the 7th Cavalry, Fort Lincoln, August 1878; married Sarah Buford, 

1881; served with the military escort for Northern Pacific Railroad construction 

crews, 1882; was engaged in troop training and escort duty, Fort Buford, 1882–1886; 

was professor of military science and tactics at Southern Illinois University, 1886–

1899; while there studied law and was admitted to the bar; was promoted to first 

lieutenant, December 1890, and served as adjutant of the 7th Cavalry, 1891–1894; 

was concurrently secretary of the Cavalry and Light Artillery School, Fort Riley, 

1893–1894; was aide to the commander of the Department of California, 1894–

1897; was on garrison duty, Fort Apache, 1897–1898; was appointed judge advocate, Department of the Columbia, 1898; was assigned to General Wesley Merritt’s 

Philippines expedition as major of volunteers and engineer officer, May 1898; was 

appointed chief of military information, Department of the Pacific, and dispatched to 

Manila to gather information, June 1898; participated in military operations against 

insurrectionists; was promoted to captain, 7th Cavalry, March 1899, and major of 

volunteers and assistant adjutant general, April 1899; was acting judge advocate and 

mustering officer, 2d Division, VIII Corps; was appointed colonel, 36th Volunteer 

Infantry, July 1899, earning the Medal of Honor for gallantry in action near Porac, 

Luzon, in September; was appointed brigadier general of volunteers, December 1899; 

commanded the 4th Brigade, 2d Division, Department of the Pacific, January 1900; 

was provost marshal of Manila, 1900–1901; was promoted to brigadier general in the 

regular establishment, February 1901; commanded the First District, Department of 

Luzon, 1901, and 3d Brigade in field operations, 1901–1902; was commandant of the 

Army service schools, Fort Leavenworth, 1902–1906; was promoted to major general, 

January 1907; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 14 April 1906–21 April 

1910; prepared and secured progressive passage of elements of a long-range legislative 

program calling for increases in strength, pay, technical services, and reserve forces; 

installed and commanded the Army of Cuban Pacification; presided over the development of Army aviation and relief efforts in the San Francisco earthquake; commanded 

the Department of the Philippines, 1911–1914, the 2d Division (Tactical), 1914–

1915, the Western Department, 1915–1917, and the Eastern Department, 1917; commanded Camp Upton and the 77th Division and visited the theater of war in France, 

1917–1918; resumed command of the Eastern Department, 1918–1919; died in New 

York City on 8 January 1919.

The Artist

Adrian Lamb (1901–1988) was born in New York City, where in the mid-1920s he studied at 

the Art Students League under Frank Vincent DuMond and George Bridgman. After attending the Académie Julien in Paris in 1929, he went on to travel and work in England, France, 

Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Mexico as he developed his talent as a portrait painter. 

He painted many prominent subjects, including David Rockefeller, John J. McCloy, Joseph 

P. Kennedy, and Bernard Baruch. He executed the Gordon Gray portrait for the Secretarial 

Portrait Gallery at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., and his paintings of other public figures 

hang in the United States Capitol, the Supreme Court, the Department of State, and the 

National Gallery of Art. His portrait of Maj. Gen. J. Franklin Bell is reproduced from the 

Army Art Collection.

104
James Franklin Bell

By Adrian Lamb

Oil on canvas, 361⁄2" x 30," 1973
106

Leonard Wood was born in Winchester, New Hampshire, on 9 October 1860; 

was educated in local schools and at Pierce Academy in Middleboro, Massachusetts; 

attended Harvard Medical School and received his doctor of medicine degree via 

internship at Boston City Hospital, 1884; received an interim appointment as contract surgeon with the Army, 1885; received an appointment as assistant surgeon in 

the regular establishment and served in Arizona as a medical and provisional troop 

officer in the final Apache operations, 1886; was later awarded the Medal of Honor 

for distinguished conduct in the Geronimo campaign; served as staff surgeon at 

department headquarters in Los Angeles and in the field in Arizona, 1887–1889; married Laura Condit Smith, 1890; was promoted to captain, January 1891; was assigned 

to Army headquarters in Washington, D.C., as assistant attending surgeon, 1895, with 

responsibility for the care of senior government officials including the president; was 

appointed colonel of the 1st Volunteer Cavalry (Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders”), May 

1898, and led it in the Cuban operations at Las Guasimas and San Juan Hill, June 

1898; for his gallant services, was promoted to brigadier general (July 1898) and major 

general (December 1898) of volunteers; was successively military governor of the city 

of Santiago, Santiago Province, and Cuba, 1898–1902, receiving reappointments to 

brigadier general (April 1899) and major general (December 1899) of volunteers; was 

promoted to brigadier general in the regular service, February 1901, and major general 

in August 1903; was transferred to the Philippines and served as governor of Moro 

Province, 1903–1906; commanded the Philippine Division, 1906–1908; commanded 

the Department of the East, 1908–1910; served as special ambassador to Argentina 

for its centennial celebration, 1910; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 22 

April 1910–20 April 1914; was a leading advocate of national preparedness, initiated 

the Plattsburg (New York) officer training camps, streamlined Army staff and administrative procedures, and pressed for increases in officer strength; commanded the 

Department of the East, 1914–1917; organized the new Southern Department, 1917; 

commanded the 89th Division and Camp Funston, 1917; visited Europe to observe 

allied operations, 1917–1918; trained the 10th Division at Camp Funston, 1918; 

was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for president, 1920; 

commanded the Central Division (Sixth Corps Area), 1919–1921; served on a special mission to the Philippines, 1921; retired from active service, October 1921; was 

governor general of the Philippines, 1921–1927; died in Boston, Massachusetts, on 7 

August 1927.

The Artist

Charles J. Fox is the pseudonym of Leo Fox, a New York City entrepreneur who for many years 

commissioned portraits of leading figures in government, business, society, and the professions. The portraits, signed C. J. Fox, were painted for the most part by New York artist Irving 

Resnikoff (1897–1988) during a forty-year association with Fox. Mr. Resnikoff was born in 

Russia and studied art at the Imperial Art Academy in St. Petersburg. He left his native land 

after the revolution and came to the United States in 1923 to settle in New York City and 

embark upon a career as a portraitist. In fulfillment of C. J. Fox commissions Resnikoff also 

painted the portraits of Secretaries of the Army Wilber M. Brucker, Elvis J. Stahr, Jr., and 

Stephen Ailes. His portrait of Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood is reproduced from the Army Art 

Collection. 
Leonard Wood

By Irving Resnikoff [signed C. J. Fox]

Oil on canvas, 401⁄4" x 301⁄4," 1974
William Wallace Wotherspoon was born in Washington, D.C., 

on 16 November 1850; was educated in private schools; served aboard ship as a 

mate in the United States Navy, 1870–1873; was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 12th Infantry, October 1873; served in the West during the 

Indian wars as a troop officer and quartermaster, 1874–1881; served with the 12th 

in northern New York, 1881–1887; married Mary C. Adams, 1887; was on sick leave 

1888–1889; superintended the enlargement of the Soldiers’ Home in Washington, 

1889–1890; served at Fort Sully and at Mount Vernon Barracks, where he trained a 

company of Apache prisoners, 1890–1894; was promoted to captain, 1893; was aide 

to General Oliver O. Howard, commander of the Department of the East, 1894; was 

professor of military science and tactics at Rhode Island College, 1894–1898; was 

on recruiting duty at Fort McPherson and organized the 3d Battalion, 12th Infantry, 

1898; served in the Philippines against insurgents and as collector of customs at Iloilo, 

1899–1901; was promoted to major and transferred to the 30th Infantry, 1901; commanded the 2d Battalion, 6th Infantry, at Fort Leavenworth and then taught at the 

General Staff College, 1902–1904; was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assigned 

to the 14th Infantry, 1904; was transferred to the 19th Infantry and graduated from 

the Army War College, 1905; was director of the Army War College, 1904–1906; was 

chief of staff of the Army of Cuban Pacification, 1906–1907; was acting president of 

the Army War College and chief of the Third Division, General Staff, 1907; was promoted to brigadier general, October 1907; was president of the Army War College, 

1907–1909 and 1910–1912, and largely instrumental in transforming it from an 

adjunct of the General Staff to an autonomous educational institution; was assistant 

to the chief of staff, 1901–1910 and 1912–1914; was promoted to major general, May 

1912, serving as commander of the Department of the Gulf until September; was chief 

of staff of the United States Army 21 April–15 November 1914; called attention to 

shortages of officers and noncommissioned officers for Army missions, emphasized the 

need to reevaluate coast defenses to meet heavier-gunned battleships, saw establishment of an aviation section in the Signal Corps and the completion of the Panama 

Canal; retired from active service, November 1914; served as superintendent of public works for the state of New York, 1915–1920; died in Washington, D.C., on 21 

October 1921.

The Artist

Thomas W. Orlando (1931–) received a bachelor of arts from City College of New York in 

1954 and then pursued advanced studies at the Art Students League, the National Academy 

of Design, the Cape School of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum. During a two-year tour in the 

United States Navy (1956–1957) he directed a number of art projects for the Office of Public 

Information. He later joined the faculty of the Pratt Institute on Manhattan, where he taught 

advanced drawing and painting until his retirement in 1994. During his career his work was 

featured in one-man shows at the Berkshire Museum, Newsweek Gallery 10, and a number of 

private galleries, as well as represented in group shows at the Allied Artists of America, the 

National Art Club, the Salmagundi Club, the Pratt Institute Gallery, and others. His portrait 

of Maj. Gen. William W. Wotherspoon was developed from photographs, and is reproduced 

from the Army Art Collection.

108
William Wallace Wotherspoon

By Thomas W. Orlando

Oil on canvas, 46" x 32," 1974
Hugh Lenox Scott was born at Danville, Kentucky, on 22 September 1853; 

graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1876; was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 9th Cavalry, June 1876, assuming that month a 

vacancy in the 7th Cavalry created by Little Bighorn battle casualties; was stationed 

at various posts in Dakota Territory and participated in the Nez Percé campaign, 1877; 

was promoted to first lieutenant, June 1878, and engaged in scouting and constructing telegraph lines, 1879–1882; married Mary Merrill, 1880; studied and became an 

authority on the language, customs, and history of the Plains Indians; served on an 

exploring expedition with the Geological Survey, 1884; was on recruiting service, 

1886–1888; was on duty at Fort Sill and scouting in the Central Plains, 1889; served 

in the Sioux outbreak of 1890, being involved in actions at Porcupine, Wounded 

Knee, and White Clay Creeks; organized and commanded Troop L (composed of 

Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Indians), 7th Cavalry, Fort Sill, 1892–1897; was promoted to captain, 1895; was in charge of Geronimo’s band of Chiricahua prisoners of 

war, 1894–1897; was assigned to the Adjutant General’s Department to work on the 

Indian sign language, 1897–1898; was promoted to major of volunteers and assigned 

as assistant adjutant general, I Corps, 1898–1899; became lieutenant colonel of volunteers and assistant adjutant general on the staff of the military governor of Cuba, 

1899–1900; was military governor of Sulu Archipelago, Philippines, and commander 

of the Jolo military post, 1903–1906; was wounded in action at Crater Lake while 

campaigning against the Moros, November 1903; was superintendent of the United 

States Military Academy, 1906–1910; served in the Office of the Chief of Staff, 1911; 

dealt with problems of various Indian tribes, 1908–1915; was promoted to lieutenant 

colonel (March) and colonel (August), 1911; commanded the 3d Cavalry, 1912, and 

the 2d Cavalry Brigade, 1913–1914, on the Mexican border; was assistant chief of staff 

of the United States Army, 1914; was promoted to brigadier general, March 1913, and 

major general, April 1915; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 16 November 

1914–21 September 1917; supervised the concentration of troops on the Mexican 

border preliminary to the Punitive Expedition; laid the foundations for mobilizing, 

training, and equipping the Army for World War I; espoused conscription over a volunteer system for the Army; was a member of the Root commission to Russia, 1917; 

retired from active duty, September 1917, but was recalled to inspect the battlefront 

in Europe; commanded the 78th Division and Camp Dix, 1918; retired permanently 

from the Army, May 1919; was a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners, 

1919–1920; died in Washington, D.C., on 30 April 1934.

The Artist

Robert Oliver Skemp (1910–1984), portraitist and muralist, studied at the Art Students 

League under Thomas Hart Benton, Frank Vincent DuMond, and Robert Laurent; at the 

Grand Central Art School under Harry Ballinger and Pruett Carter; and at the George Luks 

and Charles Baskerville studios. He enlarged upon this background with study in France and 

Spain. During his career he received a number of awards for his work, which is represented in 

numerous collections. He painted the portraits of many prominent personalities, including J. 

Paul Getty of Getty Oil Corporation, Chief Executive Officer Walter B. Wriston of Citicorp, 

and Chief Executive Officer Donald T. Regan of Merrill Lynch & Company. His portrait of 

Maj. Gen. Hugh L. Scott is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

110
Hugh Lenox Scott

By Robert Oliver Skemp

Oil on canvas, 36" x 30," 1973
Tasker Howard Bliss was born in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, on 31 

December 1853; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1875; was commissioned second lieutenant and assigned to the 1st Artillery, June 1875; performed 

routine garrison duties in Georgia and New York, 1875–1876; was assistant professor 

of French and assistant instructor of artillery tactics at West Point, 1876–1880; was 

promoted to first lieutenant, July 1880; was again on garrison duty in Connecticut 

and California, 1880–1882; married Eleanore E. Anderson, 1882; was adjutant of 

the Artillery School at Fort Monroe, 1884–1885, recorder of the Board on Interior 

Waterways, 1884, and instructor at the Naval War College, 1885–1888; was aide to 

the commanding general of the Army and concurrently inspector of artillery and 

small arms target practice, 1888–1895; was promoted to captain and staff subsistence 

(commissary) officer, 1892; was on special duty in the Office of the Secretary of War, 

1895–1897; was military attache to Spain, 1897–1898; was promoted to major and 

staff commissary officer, 1898; was promoted to lieutenant colonel of volunteers and 

chief commissary officer, May 1898; was chief of staff of the 1st Division, I Corps, in 

the Puerto Rican campaign, 1898, collector of customs for the port of Havana and 

island of Cuba, 1898–1899, and president of the commission to revise the Cuban 

tariff, 1901; was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers, 1901; was a member of 

the War College Board, 1902; was promoted to brigadier general in the Regular Army, 

July 1902; served as chief of the Third Division, General Staff, and as president of 

the Army War College, August 1903–June 1905; was successively commander of the 

Departments of Luzon and Mindanao, governor of Moro Province, and commander 

of the Philippine Division, 1905–1909; returned to the General Staff and again 

headed the Army War College, 1909–1910; served successively as commander of the 

Departments of California, 1910–1911, the East, 1911–1913, and the South, 1913–1915; 

was assistant chief of staff of the United States Army, February 1915–September 1916; 

was promoted to major general, November 1915, and to temporary general, October 

1917; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 22 September 1917–18 May 

1918; visited Europe twice to observe conditions at the front and serve as the War 

Departments representative with the American section of the Supreme War Council 

at Versailles, his reports contributing to the formulation of policy and the prosecution 

of the war; was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference, 1918–1919; was governor of 

the Soldiers’ Home in Washington, D.C., 1920–1927; retired from active service, June 

1930; was advanced to general on the retired list by act of Congress, June 1930; died 

in Washington, D.C., on 9 November 1930.

The Artist

Frank Ingoglia (1907–1998) was born in Brooklyn, New York. He began as an active artist from the early age of nine, when he won the Wanamaker Award in a citywide contest for 

school children. He graduated from the Fawcett School of Applied Arts and then attended 

the Art Students League in New York City, where he studied under George Bridgman, Alvin 

Kleinfeld, and Kinon Nickolaides before entering upon a career in design and illustration. 

In 1950 he turned to portraiture, studying with Jerry Farnsworth, Robert Phillips, Wallace 

Bassford, and Sam Oppenheim. During his career his illustrations appeared in national newspapers and magazines, and his paintings were widely exhibited and collected. His portrait of 

General Tasker H. Bliss is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

112
Tasker Howard Bliss

By Frank Ingoglia

Oil on canvas, 40" x 32," 1973
Peyton Conway March was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, on 27 

December 1864; attended Lafayette College, 1880–1884, and graduated from the 

United States Military Academy, 1888; was commissioned an additional second lieutenant and assigned to the 3d Artillery, June 1888, advancing to second lieutenant in 

November; performed routine garrison duties in Washington, D.C., and California, 

1888–1896; married Josephine Smith Cunningham, 1891 (deceased 1904); was 

promoted to first lieutenant and assigned to the 5th Artillery, 1894; attended the 

Artillery School, Fort Monroe, 1896–1898; organized and was designated captain 

of the Astor Battery, 1898; commanded it in the Philippines campaign and in the 

capture of Manila, 1898–1899; was aide to General Arthur MacArthur, 1899; was 

promoted to major, 33d Volunteer Infantry, July 1899, and participated in numerous operations of the Philippine Insurrection; was promoted to temporary lieutenant 

colonel, 1900; was a provincial governor and commissary of prisoners, 1900–1901; 

was reverted to regular captaincy in artillery, 1901, and commanded the 19th Battery, 

Field Artillery, at Fort Riley, to 1903; was a member of the new War Department 

General Staff, 1903–1907, and a military observer to the Japanese Army during the 

Russo-Japanese War, 1904; was promoted to major, January 1907, and served on the 

Artillery Board; commanded the 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery, 1907–1911; was 

detailed to the Adjutant General’s Department and served successively as adjutant of 

Fort Riley, the Department of the Missouri, the Central Department, the 2d Division, 

and at department headquarters in Washington, D.C., 1911–1916; was promoted to 

colonel, July 1916, and commanded the 8th Field Artillery on the Mexican border, 

1916–1917; was promoted to brigadier general, June 1917, and placed in command 

of the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces; was 

promoted to major general in the National Army, August 1917, and commanded the 

first Army and nondivisional artillery, American Expeditionary Forces, June 1917; was 

promoted to major general in the regular establishment, September 1917; was again 

assigned to the General Staff and was acting chief of staff, March–May 1918; was promoted to temporary general, May 1918; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 

19 May 1918–30 June 1921; established the primacy of the chief of staff in the Army 

hierarchy; presided over the buildup of American forces in World War I; centralized control over supply; created an Air Service, Tank Corps, and Chemical Warfare 

Service; and supervised the demobilization at war’s end; retired as a major general, 

November 1921, and was advanced to general on the retired list, June 1930; married 

Cora V. McEntee, 1923; died in Washington, D.C., on 13 April 1955.

The Artist

Nicodemus David Hufford (1915–1986) was born in Columbus, Ohio. In the 1930s he studied 

his chosen profession at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago School of Professional Art, 

and the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and in the early 1940s he served an apprenticeship under two top illustrators, Haddon Sundblom and Harry Anderson. During his career 

he painted the portraits of a number of leading American families, including the Rockefellers, 

du Ponts, and Dukes, and his paintings hang in many homes in the United States and abroad. 

His portrait of General Peyton C. March was developed from photographs, and is reproduced 

from the Army Art Collection

114
Peyton Conway March

By Nicodemus David Hufford

Oil on canvas, 40" x 32," 1974
John Joseph Pershing was born near Laclede, Missouri, on 13 September 

1860; attended the State Normal School, then graduated from the United States 

Military Academy, 1886; was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 

6th Cavalry, July 1886; performed garrison and field duties in the Southwest and 

Northern Plains, 1886–1890, and participated in the Wounded Knee campaign; was 

professor of military science and tactics at University of Nebraska, 1891–1895, studying law concurrently and receiving his degree, 1893; was promoted to first lieutenant 

and assigned to the 10th Cavalry, October 1892; served in Montana, 1895–1896; after 

a brief tour at Army headquarters, was assistant instructor in tactics at West Point, 

1897–1898; served with the 10th in Cuba, including operations at San Juan Hill; 

was promoted to major of volunteers, detailed in ordnance, and assigned to Army 

headquarters and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War, 1898–1899, where he 

organized a Bureau of Insular Affairs; was reverted to a regular captaincy, June 1901, 

and assigned successively to the 1st and 10th Cavalry; served in the Philippines as a 

departmental adjutant general and engineer officer, collector of customs, and cavalry 

squadron commander, participating in actions against Moros, 1899–1903; served on 

the War Department General Staff, 1903–1904, and as assistant chief of staff of the 

Southwestern Division, 1904; attended the Army War College, 1904–1905; married 

Frances Warren, 1905; was military attaché to Japan and an observer of the RussoJapanese War, 1905–1906; at President Roosevelt’s nomination, was promoted to 

brigadier general over 862 senior-ranking officers, September 1906; commanded the 

Department of California, 1906, and Fort McKinley, 1907–1908; was assigned to the 

Office of the Chief of Staff, 1908–1909; was governor of Moro Province and commander, Department of Mindanao, 1909–1913; commanded the 8th Infantry Brigade 

at the Presidio of San Francisco, 1914–1916, where in 1915 he lost his wife and three 

daughters in a fire; led the Mexican Punitive Expedition, 1916–1917, receiving promotion to major general during the campaign; was promoted to general, October 

1917; commanded the American Expeditionary Forces in France in World War I, 

1917–1919; was advanced to General of the Armies, September 1919; moved his 

headquarters to Washington, prepared a report on the war, and made an extended 

tour of military inspection, 1919–1921; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 1 

July 1921–13 September 1924; established the War Plans Board; pressed for national 

preparedness, a strong Army, increased efficiency and economy, officer schooling, and 

a well-regulated militia; retired from active service, September 1924; was chairman of 

the American Battle Monuments Commission, 1923–1948, and headed the TacnaArica Boundary Commission, 1925–1926; died in Washington, D.C., on 15 July 1948.

The Artist

Richard Leopold Seyffert (1915–1979), son of the renowned portraitist Leopold Seyffert, was 

born in Philadelphia, received his formal schooling in Switzerland, and then studied with Leon 

Kroll and Gifford Beal at the National Academy of Design in New York City. He continued 

his studies in Italy before embarking upon his professional career in Chicago at the end of the 

1930s. During World War II he served in the Navy as a photographer’s mate and then spent 

three postwar years in Peru painting prominent personalities in the diplomatic and social 

worlds. Later, established in New York City, he continued painting such notable figures as W. 

K. Kellogg, Edward R. Murrow, Fannie Hurst, W. H. Auden, and Richard Rogers. His portrait 

of General John J. Pershing is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

116
John Joseph Pershing

By Richard Leopold Seyffert

Oil on canvas, 36" x 30," 1975
John Leonard Hines was born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, 

on 21 May 1868; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1891; was 

commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 2d Infantry, June 1891; performed troop and staff duties on the frontier in Nebraska and Montana, 1891–1898; 

was promoted to first lieutenant, April 1898; was acting quartermaster of the 2d 

Infantry in the Cuban expedition and participated in action at San Juan Hill; married Harriet Schofield Wherry, 1898; served with his regiment in the United States 

and returned to Cuba for quartermaster and civil affairs duty, 1899–1900; served 

against the Moros in the Philippine Insurrection, 1900–1901; was promoted to captain and assigned to the 23d Infantry, December 1900; was post and organizational 

quartermaster at various locations in the United States, the Philippines, and Japan, 

1901–1912; was promoted to major, 6th Infantry, May 1912; was adjutant general 

of the Western Department, 1913, and detailed in that service, 1914; was adjutant 

of the 8th Infantry Brigade and the El Paso District, 1914–1916; was adjutant of 

the Mexican Punitive Expedition, 1916–1917; was assistant adjutant of the Eastern 

Department, 1917; was promoted to lieutenant colonel and designated adjutant general, May 1917; was assistant to the adjutant general of the American Expeditionary 

Forces, May–October 1917; was promoted to colonel, 16th Infantry, October 1917, 

and attached to French First Army at the front, 1917–1918; was promoted to brigadier 

general in the National Army, April 1918, and commanded the 1st Infantry Brigade, 

1st Division, in the Montdidier, Marne, and Saizerais operations, May–August 1918; 

was promoted to major general in the National Army, August 1918, and commanded 

the 4th Division and then V Corps in final World War I operations, and the III Corps 

in the occupation of the Rhineland, 1918–1919; was promoted to brigadier general 

in the Regular Army, November 1918; commanded the 4th, 5th, and 2d Divisions in 

postwar training, 1919–1921; received a recess appointment as major general in the 

Regular Army, July 1920; confirmed as permanent major general, March 1921; commanded the Eighth Corps Area, 1921–1922; was deputy chief of staff of the United 

States Army, December 1922–September 1924; was chief of staff of the United States 

Army, 14 September 1924–20 November 1926; stressed the need for balance in funding and personnel for all parts of the permanent establishment, pointed up the effects 

of strength deficiencies upon Army capability to meet the provisions of the National 

Defense Act of 1920, and urged action on housing and promotions to promote personnel retention; commanded the Ninth Corps Area, 1926–1930, and the Philippine 

Department, 1930–1932; retired from active service, May 1932; died in Washington, 

D.C., on 13 October 1968, aged 100 years.

The Artist

Joyce Ballantyne Brand (1918–2006) was born in Norfolk, Nebraska. After attending the 

University of Nebraska, she completed her art education at the American Academy of Art 

in Chicago and at the Art Students League in New York City. She worked as an illustrator 

for the outdoor magazine Sports Afield for over twenty years, and also as a pinup artist in the 

1940s. Throughout her career she specialized in commercial art for such major corporations 

as Ovaltine, Coca Cola, Pepsi, and General Motors, to name a few; two of her most famous 

images were the Coppertone Girl and the Pampers Baby. Highly respected for creating realistic images that capture the persona of her subjects, she received many commissions to paint 

the portraits of prominent TV personalities, including Jonathan Winters, Durward Kirby, and 

Commander Whitehead, as well as other luminaries in the fields of business and the professions. Her portrait of Maj. Gen. John J. Hines was developed from photographs, and is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

118
John Leonard Hines

By Joyce Ballantyne Brand

Oil on canvas, 72" x 36," 1974
Charles Pelot Summerall was born in Blunts Ferry, Florida, on 4 

March 1867; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1892; was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 1st Infantry, June 1892; transferred 

to the 5th Artillery, March 1893; performed garrison duty in California, 1893–1895; 

served at Fort Hamilton, 1895–1898; was assigned to the Department of the Gulf as 

aide to the commander and as an engineer officer, 1898–1899; was promoted to first 

lieutenant, March 1899; participated with his unit in the Philippine Insurrection, 

1899–1900; was a member of the China Relief Expedition, 1900–1901, and participated in the attack on Peking; was promoted to captain and assigned to the 106th 

Coast Artillery Company, July 1901; married Laura Mordecai, August 1901; served 

at Forts Walla Walla and Lawton, commanding the latter post, 1901–1902; was on 

duty at Camp Skagway and commanded and was in charge of preliminary work at Fort 

Seward; commanded Fort Flagler, 1902–1903; was transferred to the 3d Field Artillery 

Battery with duty at Camp Thomas and Fort Myer, 1903–1905; was senior instructor 

of artillery tactics at West Point, 1905–1911; was promoted to major, March 1911; 

commanded the field artillery of the Maneuver Division, San Antonio, Texas; commanded the summer camps of instruction for Army and National Guard artillery, 

1912–1914; was assistant chief of the Militia Bureau and in charge of National Guard 

artillery, 1915–1917; was engaged in purchasing artillery ranges and was a member 

of the Ordnance Board, 1915–1916, the commission to investigate the manufacture 

of munitions, 1916, the Board of Ordnance and Fortification, 1917, and the military 

mission to British and French armies, 1917; was promoted to lieutenant colonel, 1916, 

colonel, 1917, and brigadier general in the National Army, August 1917; commanded 

the 67th Field Artillery Brigade and the 1st Field Artillery Brigade in operations in 

France, 1917; was promoted to major general in the National Army and successively 

commanded his brigade, the 1st Division, and the V Corps in the Cantigny, Soissons, 

St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne operations, 1918; commanded the IX and IV Corps 

and served on the American Peace Commission, 1919; commanded the 1st Division, 

1919–1921, receiving promotions in the Regular Army to brigadier general (February 

1919) and major general (April 1920); commanded the Hawaiian Department, 

1921–1924, and Eighth and Second Corps Areas, 1924–1926; was chief of staff of the 

United States Army, 21 November 1926–20 November 1930, with promotion to general in February 1929; directed the formation of a mechanized force and recommended 

an integrated mobile force of tank, artillery, engineer, and quartermaster elements; 

retired from active service, March 1931; was president of The Citadel, in Charleston, 

South Carolina, 1931–1953; died in Washington, D.C., on 14 May 1955.

The Artist

Ray Edward Goodbred (1929–2011) was born in Brooklyn, New York. His studied art in New 

York City, first at the Art Students League under Robert Brackman and then at the National 

Academy of Design under Ogden Pleissner. After moving to Charleston, South Carolina, he 

opened a studio and specialized in portraits, figures, and still life. He also taught at the Gibes 

Museum’s Hastie School of Art in Charleston, and in 1975 he was invited to teach at the Art 

Students League of New York. During his career he received numerous awards for his work, 

which has been widely exhibited and collected. He painted the portraits of many prominent 

individuals in the fields of business and the professions, as well as three of The Citadel’s presidents—Army General Mark W. Clark, Army Maj. Gen. James W. Duckett, and Air Force Lt. 

Gen. Claudius E. Watts III. His portrait of General Charles P. Summerall is reproduced from 

the Army Art Collection.

120
Charles Pelot Summerall

By Ray Edward Goodbred

Oil on canvas, 36" x 30," 1974
122

Douglas MacArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on 26 January 

1880; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1903; was commissioned a 

second lieutenant of engineers and served in the Philippines, 1903–1904; was promoted to first lieutenant, April 1904; was an engineer officer and aide to the commander 

of the Pacific Division, 1904–1906; served with the 2d Engineer Battalion, attended 

the Engineer School, and was aide to President Theodore Roosevelt, 1906–1908; was 

troop commander, adjutant, and Army service schools instructor, Fort Leavenworth, 

1908–1912; was promoted to captain, February 1911; was on the General Staff, 

1913–1917; took part in the Vera Cruz Expedition; was promoted to major, December 

1915, and colonel, August 1917; was chief of staff of the 42d Division in France, 

1917–1918; was promoted to brigadier general in the National Army, June 1918, 

took part in Marne operations, and commanded the 84th Infantry Brigade in the St. 

Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives; commanded the 42d Division in the Sedan 

offensive, 1918; served with the Army of Occupation, 1918–1919; was superintendent 

of the United States Military Academy, 1919–1922; became a brigadier general in the 

Regular Army, January 1920; married Louise Cromwell Brooks, 1922 (divorced 1929); 

was promoted to major general, January 1925; successively commanded the District of 

Manila, 1922–1923, the Fourth and Third Corps Areas, 1925–1928, and the Ninth 

Corps Area, 1930; was promoted to temporary general, November 1930; was chief of 

staff of the United States Army, 21 November 1930–1 October 1935; stressed Army 

deficiencies in personnel and materiel, presided over development of plans for industrial mobilization and manpower procurement, established an Air Force headquarters, 

administered Army control over the Civilian Conservation Corps, and supervised 

eviction of “bonus marchers” from Washington; resumed his permanent rank of 

major general and became military adviser to the government of the Philippines, 

1935–1941; married Jean Marie Faircloth, 1937; retired from active service, December 

1937, but continued as adviser to the Philippine government; was recalled to active 

duty as lieutenant general and named commander, United States Army Forces in 

the Far East, July 1941; was promoted to temporary general, December 1941; led 

American forces in Pacific campaigns as Supreme Allied Commander, 1941–1945; 

was promoted to temporary General of the Army December 1944; received the Medal 

of Honor for Philippine defense preparations and operations; was appointed Supreme 

Allied Commander, Japan, 1945; rank as General of the Army made permanent, 

April 1946; was designated commander in chief, Far East Command, 1947; upon the 

North Korean invasion of South Korea, was designated commander, United Nations 

Command in the Far East, July 1950; was relieved of his command by President 

Truman, April 1951; died in Washington, D.C., on 5 April 1964.

The Artist

Robert Oliver Skemp (1910–1984) was born in Scottdale, Pennsylvania. He taught private 

art classes at Gary, Indiana, in the mid-1930s and was an instructor at the Chicago School 

of Professional Art in the mid-1940s, during which time he pursued his primary professional 

occupation of portraitist and muralist. In addition to his portraits of prominent figures in business and the professions, he illustrated war bond publications during World War II; executed 

murals for the Mormon Church and for the world’s fairs at New York and Osaka, Japan; and, as 

a fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists, painted nineteenth-century clipper ships 

and other marine subjects. His portrait of General Douglas MacArthur is reproduced from the 

Army Art Collection.
Douglas MacArthur

By Robert Oliver Skemp

Oil on canvas, 44" x 32," 1973
Malin Craig was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on 5 August 1875; graduated 

from the United States Military Academy, 1898; was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 4th Infantry, April 1898; served with the 6th Cavalry in the 

Santiago campaign in Cuba, 1898; was transferred to the 4th Cavalry and served in 

Wyoming and Oklahoma, 1898–1900; participated in the China Relief Expedition, 

1900–1902; was promoted to first lieutenant and assigned to the 6th Cavalry, February 

1901; married Genevieve Woodruff, April 1901; attended the Infantry and Cavalry 

School (1903–1904) and Staff College (1904–1905), Fort Leavenworth; was promoted to captain and assigned to the 10th Cavalry, May 1904, and the 1st Cavalry, 

1905; was regimental quartermaster, Fort Clark, 1906–1909, then adjutant in the 

Philippines, 1909; was at the Army War College as student, 1909–1910, and instructor, 1910–1911; was a member of the General Staff and chief of staff of the Maneuver 

Division, 1911; was assistant to the chief of staff of the Western Department, 1911–1912; 

served with the 1st Cavalry in the West, 1912–1916; was instructor at the Army service 

schools, Fort Leavenworth, 1916–1917; served in the Adjutant General’s Department 

and was detailed to the General Staff Corps, 1917; was promoted to major of cavalry, 

May 1917; was promoted to lieutenant colonel of field artillery and appointed chief 

of staff of the 41st Division, August 1917; served with the American Expeditionary 

Forces in France in that position and as chief of staff of I Corps, participating in the 

Toul, Marne, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne operations; was promoted to colonel (February) and brigadier general (June) in the National Army, 1918; was chief 

of staff of the Army of Occupation in Germany, 1918–1919; reverted to basic rank 

of major and was director of the Army War College, 1919–1920; was promoted to 

colonel of cavalry and assigned as commander, District of Arizona, 1920–1921; was 

promoted to brigadier general in the Regular Army, April 1921; served as commandant of the Cavalry School, Fort Riley, 1921–1923; commanded the Coast Artillery 

District of Manila, 1923–1924; was promoted to major general and assigned as chief 

of cavalry, 1924–1926; was assistant chief of staff, G–3, of the Army, 1926–1927, then 

commanded the Fourth Corps Area, 1927, the Panama Canal Division, 1927–1928, 

the Panama Canal Department, 1928–1930, and the Ninth Corps Area, 1930–1935; 

was commandant of the Army War College, 1935; was promoted to general, October 

1935; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 2 October 1935–31 August 1939; 

pointed out to Congress the Army’s lack of preparedness in manpower and materiel, 

stressed the essentiality of lead time in military preparedness, focused attention on 

Army planning, and, within governmental constraints, prepared the Army for World 

War II; retired from active service, August 1939; was recalled to head the secretary of 

war’s Personnel Board, September 1941; died in Washington, D.C., on 25 July 1945.

The Artist

Frank Ingoglia (1907–1998), designer, illustrator, and portraitist, used his diverse talents in a 

number of military-related artistic endeavors. During World War II he designed the instruction 

manual for the Sperry Gyroscope Corporation and worked on Army and Navy recruiting publicity materials among other armed services undertakings, receiving a citation for meritorious 

service from the National War Fund. From 1926 to 1938 he was a member of the New York 

Athletic Club’s fencing team and competed against cadets of the military and naval academies. 

After turning from design and illustration to portraiture, he painted the portraits of members 

of some of America’s leading business families and also other distinguished personalities. His 

portrait of General Malin Craig is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

124
Malin Craig

By Frank Ingoglia

Oil on canvas, 42" x 341⁄2," 1973
George Catlett Marshall was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 

on 31 December 1880; graduated from Virginia Military Institute, 1901; married 

Elizabeth Carter Cole, 1902 (deceased 1927); was commissioned a second lieutenant, 

February 1902, and served with the 30th Infantry in the Philippines, 1902–1903, and 

at Fort Reno, 1903–1906; was promoted to first lieutenant, March 1907; graduated 

from the Infantry and Cavalry School (1907) and was a student (1908) and instructor (1908–1910) at the Staff College, Fort Leavenworth; was inspector-instructor of 

the Massachusetts National Guard, 1911–1912, and then served with the 4th Infantry 

at Forts Logan H. Roots and Crocket, and the 13th Infantry in the Philippines, 

1913–1916; was promoted to captain, July 1917, and then to temporary major, August 

1917, lieutenant colonel, January 1918, and colonel, August 1918; served with the 

American Expeditionary Forces in France as operations officer of the 1st Division 

and the First Army, and chief of staff of the VIII Corps, 1917–1918, participating in 

the Cantigny, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne operations; was aide 

to General John J. Pershing, 1919–1924; was promoted to permanent major, July 

1920, and lieutenant colonel, August 1923; commanded the 15th Infantry in China, 

1924–1927; was instructor at the Army War College, 1927, and assistant commandant 

of the Infantry School, Fort Benning, 1927–1932; married Katherine Boyce Tupper 

Brown, 1930; was promoted to colonel and placed in command of the 8th Infantry at 

Fort Screven, September 1933; was senior instructor of the Illinois National Guard, 

1933–1936; was promoted to brigadier general, October 1936, and was commander 

of the 5th Infantry Brigade, 1936–1938; was head of the War Plans Division, General 

Staff, 1938; was deputy chief of staff, 1938–1939, and acting chief, July–September 

1939; was promoted to major general and immediately full general, September 1939; 

was chief of staff of the United States Army, 1 September 1939–18 November 1945; 

centralized the professional leadership of the Army in the chief of staff’s office; exercised control over mobilization, staff planning, industrial conversion, and personnel 

requirements; streamlined administration and tactical organization; mastered grand 

strategy and was the principal American military architect of Allied victory; was promoted to temporary grade of General of the Army, December 1944 (made permanent 

retroactively in April 1946); was special representative of the president to China, 

1945–1947; retired from active service, February 1947; was secretary of state, 21 

January 1947–21 January 1949; was the architect of the Marshall Plan to aid European 

nations, April 1948; was restored to the active list, March 1949; was president of the 

American Red Cross, 1949–1950; was secretary of defense, 12 September 1950–12 

September 1951; received the Nobel Peace Prize for the Marshall Plan, 1953; was 

chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission, 1949–1959; died in 

Washington, D.C., on 16 October 1959.

The Artist

John Edward Bannon (1933–) was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He received a bachelor of 

fine arts from the Maryland Institute of Art and a master of fine arts from the University 

of Pennsylvania. Initially as a student and later as an associate, he studied with M. Jacques 

Maroger, former technical director of the laboratories of The Louvre and president of the 

Society of Restorers of France, and in the course of his career mastered a variety of media, 

including oil, pastel, pen, sculpture, and lithography. His vibrant portraits, still lifes, and 

landscapes are housed in many public and private collections. A member of the Oil Painters 

of America, he has won the Henry Walters Award and numerous others. He has painted the 

portraits of many prominent figures, including Pope John XXIII, Senator Charles M. Mathias, 

Judge Edward A. Beard, and conductor Reginald Stewart. His portrait of General of the Army 

George C. Marshall is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

126
George Catlett Marshall

By John Edward Bannon

Oil on canvas, 401⁄4" x 36," 1974
128

Dwight David Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, on 14 October 

1890; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1915; was commissioned 

a second lieutenant and served with the 19th Infantry, 1915–1917; married Mamie 

Geneva Doud, 1916; was promoted to first lieutenant, July 1916, and to captain, May 

1917; served successively with the 57th Infantry and as instructor in officer courses at 

Forts Oglethorpe and Leavenworth, 1917–1918; commanded the Tank Corps at Camp 

Colt and served with it at several posts, 1918–1919; was promoted to temporary major 

(June) and lieutenant colonel (October), 1918; commanded the Heavy Tank Brigade 

at Camp Meade, 1919–1920; reverted to grade of captain (June) and advanced to 

major (July), 1920; graduated from the Infantry Tank School at Camp Meade, 1921, 

and commanded the 301st Tank Battalion, 1921–1922; was executive officer at 

Camp Gaillard, Panama Canal Zone, 1922–1924; again reverted to grade of captain, 

November 1922, and was again promoted to major, August 1924; graduated from the 

Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, 1926, and the Army War 

College, 1928; served in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War and attended the 

Army Industrial College, 1929–1933; served in the Office of the Chief of Staff as aide 

to General Douglas MacArthur, 1933–1935; was a military adviser to the Philippine 

government under MacArthur, 1935–1939; was promoted to lieutenant colonel, July 

1936; was executive officer of the 15th Infantry at Fort Ord, and successively chief of 

staff of the 3d Division, IX Corps, and Third Army, 1940–1942; received temporary 

promotions to colonel (March 1941), brigadier general (September 1941), major 

general (March 1942), and lieutenant general (July 1942); was chief of the War 

Plans Division and assistant chief of staff of the Operations Division, 1942; was designated commanding general, European Theater of Operations, June 1942; commanded 

American forces in North African landings and was designated commander in chief 

for Allied operations in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, 1942–1943; was promoted to 

temporary general, February 1943, temporary General of the Army, December 1944, 

and permanent General of the Army, April 1946, with rank from December 1944; 

was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Western European 

operations that led to Nazi Germany’s defeat, 1944–1945; was military governor of 

the United States Occupation Zone of Germany, 1945; was chief of staff of the United 

States Army, 19 November 1945–7 February 1948; presided over postwar demobilization, spoke out against excessive reduction of the armed forces, supported unification 

of the services, stressed the importance of research and development, and carried out a 

reorganization of the Army that decentralized functions; retired from active service to 

become president of Columbia University, 1948–1950; was recalled to active duty to 

be Supreme Allied Commander, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1950–1952; was 

president of the United States, 20 January 1953–20 January 1961; was reappointed 

General of the Army, March 1961; died in Washington, D.C., on 28 March 1969.

The Artist

Nicodemus David Hufford (1915–1986) was no stranger to the military subject area, for he 

served in the Army during World War II and spent two years in the art section at Fort Knox, 

Kentucky, applying his special talents to the field of training literature. To fulfill a commission 

by the Army, he painted Dwight Eisenhower’s portrait some four years after the death of the 

former chief of staff and thirty-fourth president of the United States, drawing inspiration from 

photographs. His portrait of General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower is reproduced from 

the Army Art Collection.
Dwight David Eisenhower

By Nicodemus David Hufford

Oil on canvas, 38" x 30," 1973
Omar Nelson Bradley was born in Clark, Missouri, on 12 February 1893; 

graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1915, was commissioned a second lieutenant, and assigned to the 14th Infantry, June 1915; married Mary Quayle, 

1916 (deceased 1965); performed troop duty in the West, 1915–1919; was promoted 

to first lieutenant, July 1916, to captain, May 1917, and to temporary major, June 1918; 

was on Reserve Officer Training Corps duty in Minnesota and South Dakota, 1919–1920; 

was instructor in mathematics at West Point, 1920–1924; reverted to grade of captain, 1920 and 1922, and was returned to major, 1922 and 1924; graduated from 

the advanced course at the Infantry School, Fort Benning, 1925; served in Hawaii 

with both the 19th and 27th Infantry, 1925–1927, and was in charge of National 

Guard and Reserve affairs for the Hawaiian Islands, 1927–1928; graduated from the 

Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, 1929; was instructor in tactics and weapons at the Infantry School, 1929–1933; graduated from the Army War 

College, 1934; was instructor in tactics and plans and training officer at the United 

States Military Academy, 1934–1938; was promoted to lieutenant colonel, June 1936; 

was chief of the Operations Branch, G–1, War Department headquarters, 1938–1940; 

was assistant secretary of the General Staff, 1940–1941; was promoted to temporary 

brigadier general, February 1941; was commandant of the Infantry School and set up 

the Infantry Officer Candidate Program, 1941–1942; was promoted to the temporary 

ranks of major general, February 1942, and lieutenant general, June 1943; successively 

commanded the 82d and 28th Infantry Divisions, 1942–1943; was personal representative in the field for the commander of the North African Theater of Operations, 

1943; commanded II Corps in operations against Axis forces in North Africa and 

Sicily, 1943; was promoted to permanent ranks of brigadier general, September 1943, 

and major general, September 1944; commanded the First Army and the 12th Army 

Group in the invasion and final campaigns of Western Europe, 1944–1945; was promoted to temporary general, March 1945, a rank and date made permanent in January 

1949; was administrator of veterans affairs, 1945–1947; was chief of staff of the United 

States Army, 7 February 1948–16 August 1949; responded to the National Security 

Act of 1947 by initiating a study of Army organization that led to appointment of a 

vice chief of staff and two deputies and to consolidation of technical services under 

the director of logistics, administrative services under the director of personnel and 

administration, and financial and management functions under the comptroller of the 

Army; was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 16 August 1949–16 August 

1953; was promoted to General of the Army, September 1950; was first chairman of 

the Military Staff Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1949–1950; 

married Esther Dora Buhler, 1966; while attending a meeting of the Association of 

the United States Army in New York City, died on 8 April 1981.

The Artist

Clarence Lamont MacNelly (1920–1986) came to art and portraiture in middle life after 

successful careers in several other lines of endeavor. A graduate of Rutgers University with 

a degree in economics, he saw World War II service as a Navy officer and then became a 

senior executive and creative director of a Madison Avenue advertising agency, as well as 

a magazine publisher. He was in his forties when he turned to art and the study of portraiture under Austrian-born Frederic Taubes—instructor at Cooper Union School, lecturer at 

the Art Students League, and author of numerous works on art subjects. Taubes considered 

MacNelly a born portrait painter. The portrait of General Omar Bradley is reproduced from 

the Army Art Collection.

130
Omar Nelson Bradley

By Clarence Lamont MacNelly

Oil on canvas, 381⁄4" x 281⁄4," 1972
Joseph Lawton Collins was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 1 May 

1896; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1917; was commissioned 

a second lieutenant and assigned to the 22d Infantry, April 1917; was promoted 

to first lieutenant, May 1917, and temporary captain, August 1917; attended the 

Infantry School of Arms, Fort Sill and served with his regiment at various locations, 

1917–1919; was promoted to captain, June 1918, and to temporary major, September 

1918; commanded the 3d Battalion, 22d Infantry, in France, 1919, and was assistant 

chief of staff, G–3, of American Forces in Germany, 1920–1921; married Gladys 

Easterbrook, 1921; reverted to captain, 1920; was instructor in the department of 

chemistry at West Point, 1921–1925; graduated from the company officer course at 

the Infantry School, Fort Benning, 1926, and from the advanced course at the Field 

Artillery School, Fort Sill, 1927; was an instructor in weapons and tactics at the 

Infantry School, 1927–1931; was promoted to major, August 1932; was executive 

officer of the 23d Brigade, Manila, 1933–1934, and operations and intelligence officer, 

G–2/3, Philippine Division, 1934–1936; graduated from the Army Industrial College, 

1937, and the Army War College, 1938; was an instructor at the Army War College, 

1938–1940; was promoted to lieutenant colonel, June 1940; was chief of staff of the 

VII Corps, 1941; was promoted to the temporary ranks of colonel, January 1941, 

brigadier general, February 1942, and major general, May 1942; was chief of staff of 

the Hawaiian Department, 1941–1942, and commanding general of the 25th Infantry 

Division on Oahu and in operations against the Japanese on Guadalcanal, 1942–

1943; commanded VII Corps in the Normandy invasion and in Western European 

campaigns until German surrender, 1944–1945; was promoted to temporary lieutenant 

general (April) and permanent brigadier general (June), 1945; was deputy commanding general and chief of staff of Army Ground Forces, August–December 1945; was 

director of information (later chief of public information) of the Army, 1945–1947; 

was deputy (later vice) chief of staff of the United States Army, 1947–1949; was promoted to temporary general and permanent major general, January 1948; was chief 

of staff of the United States Army, 16 August 1949–15 August 1953; was the Army’s 

senior officer throughout the Korean War, directed the Army’s operation of the railroads, brought the first Special Forces group into the order of battle, and was closely 

associated with the development of the Army’s contribution to the newly established 

North Atlantic Treaty Organization; was representative of the United States to the 

Military Staff Committee and the Standing Group of NATO, 1953–1954; was special 

representative of the United States in Vietnam with ambassadorial rank, 1954–1955; 

returned to his NATO assignment; retired from active service, March 1956; died in 

Washington, D.C., on 12 September 1987.

The Artist

Lloyd Bowers Embrey (1913–1979) was born in Washington, D.C. He studied there at the 

Corcoran School of Art in his younger years, was granted a scholarship at the Phillips Gallery, 

and then completed his specialized education with a degree in fine arts from Yale University. 

He dedicated his efforts to the field of portraiture. He particularly enjoyed painting beautiful women and children, but his subjects also included prominent figures in various walks of 

life—from government, business, society, and the professions. His portrait of General J. Lawton 

Collins is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

132
Joseph Lawton Collins

By Lloyd Bowers Embrey

Oil on canvas, 40" x 40," 1972
Matthew Bunker Ridgway was born at Fort Monroe, Virginia, on 

3 March 1895; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1917; was 

commissioned a second lieutenant in April, a first lieutenant in May, and a temporary 

captain in August 1917; was a company commander and adjutant of the 3d Infantry, 

1917–1918; was instructor in Spanish and athletics executive at West Point, 1918–

1924; was promoted to permanent captain, 1919; graduated from the Infantry School 

at Fort Benning and served with the 15th Infantry in China and the 9th Infantry in 

Texas, 1925–1927; served on the American Electoral Commission in Nicaragua and 

the Bolivia-Paraguay Commission of Inquiry and Conciliation, 1927–1929; married 

Margaret Wilcox, 1930 (divorced 1946); served with the 33d Infantry in the Canal 

Zone, 1931–1932; was technical adviser to the governor general of the Philippines, 

1932–1933; was promoted to major, October 1932; graduated from the Command 

and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, 1935, and the Army War College, 

1937; was assistant chief of staff, G–3, of Sixth Corps Area, Second Army, and Fourth 

Army, 1935–1939; served in the War Plans Division of the General Staff, 1939–1942; 

was promoted to lieutenant colonel, July 1940, and to temporary ranks of colonel, 

December 1941, brigadier general, January 1942, and major general, August 1942; 

commanded the 82d Airborne Division in operations against Axis forces in Sicily, 

Italy, and France, 1942–1944, and the XVIII Airborne Corps in European operations 

leading to Germany’s surrender, 1944–1945; was promoted to temporary lieutenant 

general, June 1945; commanded the Mediterranean Theater of Operations and was 

Deputy Supreme Allied Commander there, 1945–1946; married Mary Anthony, 

1947; was representative of the United States to the United Nations Military Staff 

Committee and chairman of the Inter-American Defense Board, 1946–1948; was 

commander in chief, Caribbean Command, 1948–1949; was deputy chief of staff 

for administration, 1949–1950; commanded the Eighth Army against Communist 

forces in Korea, 1950–1951; was promoted to general, May 1951; was American 

and Supreme Allied Commander in the Far East, 1951–1952; was Supreme Allied 

Commander in Europe, 1952–1953; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 

16 August 1953–30 June 1955; dealt with postwar demobilization, training of the 

South Korean Army, strengthening of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 

establishment of a NATO line of communications, potential crises in Indochina and 

Formosa, and the effects of budget cuts upon the Army’s capability to carry out its 

mission; retired from active service, June 1955, died in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania, on 

26 July 1993.

The Artist

Clarence Lamont MacNelly (1920–1986), graduate economist, Navy officer, pilot, advertising 

executive, magazine publisher, jazz pianist, and portraitist, has created the likenesses of a wide 

variety of subjects. His images of children are especially appealing, and his Navy background 

led him spontaneously to the field of yachting and portraits of several prominent skippers like 

Robert Lyon Hamill. His portrait of one of America’s great performers, Jimmy Durante, has 

garnered considerable critical acclaim. Art runs in the family; MacNelly’s son Jeffrey won a 

Pulitzer Prize as cartoonist of the Richmond (Virginia) News Leader. The portrait of General 

Matthew B. Ridgway is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

134
Matthew Bunker Ridgway

By Clarence Lamont MacNelly

Oil on canvas, 381⁄4" x 281⁄4," 1972
Maxwell Davenport Taylor was born in Keytesville, Missouri, on 26 

August 1901; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1922; was commissioned a second lieutenant of engineering, June 1922, and attended his branch 

course; served in Hawaii with the 3d Engineers, 1923–1926; married Lydia Gardner 

Hopper, 1925; transferred to field artillery and served with the 10th Field Artillery, 

1926–1927; was promoted to first lieutenant, February 1927; studied French in Paris 

and was instructor in French and later Spanish at West Point, 1927–1932; graduated from the Field Artillery School, Fort Sill, 1933, and the Command and General 

Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, 1935; was promoted to captain, August 1935; was a 

student of Japanese at the American embassy in Tokyo, 1935–1939, with detached 

military attache duty at Peking, China, 1937; graduated from the Army War College, 

1940; was promoted to permanent major, July 1940; served in the War Plans Division 

and on a Hemisphere defense mission to Latin American countries, 1940; commanded the 12th Field Artillery Battalion, 1940–1941; served in the Office of the 

Secretary of the General Staff, 1941–1942; received temporary promotions to lieutenant colonel, December 1941, colonel, February 1942, and brigadier general, December 

1942; was chief of staff of the 82d Airborne Division, 1942, and then its artillery 

commander in operations in Sicily and Italy, 1942–1944; received temporary promotion to major general, May 1944; commanded the 101st Airborne Division in the 

Normandy invasion and the Western European campaigns, 1944–1945; was promoted 

to permanent lieutenant colonel, June 1945, and brigadier general, January 1948; was 

chief of staff of the United States European Command, Germany, 1949, and commander of the United States forces in Berlin, 1949–1951; was promoted to temporary 

lieutenant general and permanent major general, August 1951; was assistant chief of 

staff for operations, G–3, and deputy chief of staff for operations and administration, 

1951–1953; was promoted to temporary general, June 1953; was commander of the 

Eighth Army in the final operations of the Korean War, 1953; initiated the Korean 

armed forces assistance program, 1953–1954; commanded United States Forces, Far 

East, and the Eighth Army, 1954–1955, and was commander in chief, United Nations 

Command, 1955; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 30 June 1955–30 June 

1959; opposed dependence upon a massive retaliation doctrine, pushed for an increase 

in conventional forces to ensure a capability of flexible response, guided the transition 

to a “pentomic” concept, and directed Army participation in sensitive operations at 

Little Rock, Lebanon, Taiwan, and Berlin; retired from active service, July 1959; was 

recalled as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1962–1964; again retired; became 

ambassador to South Vietnam, 1964–1965; was special consultant to the president 

and chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, 1965–1969; was president of the Institute of Defense Analysis, 1966–1969; died in Washington, D.C., on 

19 April 1987.

The Artist

Bjorn Peter Egeli (1900–1984) was born in Horten, Norway. He attended school there 

until his mid-teens, when he came to the United States. During the 1920s he studied at the 

Miller Art School in Brooklyn, New York, and then attended the Corcoran School of Art 

in Washington, D.C., where he graduated with top honors after four years of tutelage under 

such leading instructors as Richard Meryman, Eugen Weisz, S. Burtis Baker, and Mathilda 

Leisenring. Mr. Egeli’s son, Cedric Baldwin Egeli, is also a contributor to the Chiefs of Staff 

Hallway at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. The portrait of General Maxwell D. Taylor is 

reproduced from the Army Art Collection. 

136
Maxwell Davenport Taylor

By Bjorn Peter Egeli

Oil on canvas, 47" x 33," 1972
Lyman Louis Lemnitzer was born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, on 29 

August 1899; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1920; was commissioned a second lieutenant, July 1920; attended the Coast Artillery School, Fort 

Monroe and then served with his battery in the United States and Philippines, 

1921–1926; married Katherine Mead Tryon, 1923; was promoted to first lieutenant, 

June 1925; was twice instructor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point, 

1926–1930 and 1934–1935; again served as a troop and staff officer in the Philippines, 

1931–1934; was promoted to captain, August 1935; was instructor in tactics at the 

Coast Artillery School, 1936; graduated from the Command and General Staff 

School, Fort Leavenworth, 1936, and the Army War College, 1940; served in the 

70th Coast Artillery and the 38th Coast Artillery (Antiaircraft) Brigade, 1940–1941; 

was promoted to major, July 1940, and to temporary lieutenant colonel, December 

1941; was a plans and operations officer on the General Staff and at Army Ground 

Forces Headquarters, 1941–1942; was promoted to temporary colonel and brigadier 

general, June 1942; commanded the 34th Coast Artillery (Antiaircraft) Brigade 

and was concurrently plans and operations officer at Allied Forces Headquarters in 

England and North Africa and deputy chief of staff of Fifth Army in North Africa, 

1942–1943; was promoted to temporary major general (May) and permanent brigadier general (June), 1944; was chief of staff to the Supreme Allied Commander, 

Mediterranean, and United States theater commander there, 1944–1945; was senior 

Army member of the Joint Strategic Survey Committee, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1945–

1947; was deputy commandant of the National War College, 1947–1949; was director 

of the Office of Military Assistance, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1949–1950; 

was promoted to permanent major general (April) and temporary lieutenant general 

(August), 1952; commanded the 11th Airborne Division in the United States and the 

7th Infantry Division in operations in Korea, 1951–1952; was deputy chief of staff for 

Plans and Research, 1952–1955; was promoted to temporary general, March 1955; was 

commanding general of United States Forces, Far East, and the Eighth Army, 1955; 

was commander in chief of the Far East and United Nations Commands and governor 

of the Ryukyu Islands, 1955–1957; was vice chief of staff of the United States Army, 

1957–1959; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 1 July 1959–30 September 

1960; stressed the need to modernize the Army and pressed for adequate appropriations; was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1960–1962; was commanding general of United States Forces, Europe, 1962–1969; was Supreme Allied Commander, 

Europe, 1963–1969; retired from active service, July 1969; was a member of a panel 

that investigated domestic activities of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1975; died in 

Washington, D.C., on 12 November 1988.

The Artist

Bjorn Peter Egeli (1900–1984), Norwegian-born and American-trained portraitist, painted the 

likenesses of many prominent military figures, such as Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 

Army General Douglas MacArthur, and Marine General Alexander A. Vandegrift, during an 

active career in the national capital region. His work is represented at numerous public institutions, including the Pentagon, the United States Military Academy, the Supreme Court, the 

National Archives, the Maryland statehouse, Brandeis University, the Mayo Clinic, and others. His portrait of General Lyman L. Lemnitzer is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

138
Lyman Louis Lemnitzer

By Bjorn Peter Egeli

Oil on canvas, 381⁄8" x 321⁄8," 1972
George Henry Decker was born in Catskill, New York, on 16 February 

1902; graduated from Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, with a degree in economics, 1924; was commissioned a second lieutenant, June 1924, and served with 

the 26th Infantry at Plattsburg Barracks, 1924–1928; married Helen E. Inman, 1926; 

served with the 35th Infantry in Hawaii, 1928–1931; was promoted to first lieutenant, 

April 1930; graduated from the Infantry School, Fort Benning, 1932, and then served 

with the 29th Infantry, Fort Benning, 1932–1935, and with the 7th Infantry, Fort 

Vancouver, 1935–1936; was promoted to captain, August 1935; graduated from the 

Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, 1937; served with the 10th 

Infantry, Forts Thomas and McClellan, and the 9th Infantry, Fort Bragg, 1937–1940; 

established and commanded Headquarters Company, I Corps, Fort Jackson, and was 

assistant supply and logistics officer, 1940–1941; was promoted to temporary major 

(January), permanent major (June), and temporary lieutenant colonel (December), 

1941; served on the War Department General Staff in the Office of the Assistant 

Chief of Staff for Supply, 1941–1942; was promoted to temporary colonel, October 

1942; was deputy chief of staff of the Third Army, Fort Sam Houston, 1942–1944; 

served in the Southwest Pacific as deputy chief of staff (1943–1944) and chief of staff 

(1944–1946) of the Sixth Army; participated in operations from New Guinea to the 

Philippines and in the early occupation of Japan; was promoted to temporary ranks of 

brigadier general, August 1944, and major general, June 1945; served in Washington 

successively in Army Ground Forces and Army Service Forces headquarters, 1946; was 

deputy commander and chief of staff of United States Forces, Middle Pacific, Hawaii, 

1946–1948; was promoted to the permanent ranks of lieutenant colonel, June 1947, 

and colonel, June 1948; commanded the 5th Infantry Division, Fort Jackson, 1948–

1950; served in the Office of the Comptroller of the Army as chief of the Budget Division, 

1950–1952; was promoted to temporary lieutenant general, June 1952; was comptroller of the Army, 1952–1955; was promoted to permanent brigadier general, April 

1953, and major general, July 1954; commanded VII Corps at Stuttgart, Germany, 

1955–1956; was promoted to temporary general, May 1956; was deputy commander in 

chief of the United States European Command, France, 1956–1957; was concurrently 

commander in chief of the United Nations Command and commander of United 

States Forces and Eighth Army, Korea, 1957–1959; was vice chief of staff of the 

Army, 1959–1960; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 1 October 1960–30 

September 1962; supervised augmentations to meet a crisis in Berlin, an increase in 

special warfare forces, initiation of new divisional (ROAD) and forward depot concepts, and expansion of the Army to sixteen divisions; retired from active service, 

September 1962; died in Washington, D.C., on 6 February 1980.

The Artist

Woodi Ishmael (1914–1995) was born in Lewis County, Kentucky, and entered his profession 

through the Cleveland (Ohio) Institute of Arts and the Art Students League in New York 

City. As a painter and illustrator, he illustrated a weekly syndicated column for Associated 

Press Newsfeatures, called “The Power of Faith”; served as an official artist for the United 

States Air Force, completing several portraits of Air Force chiefs of staff; sailed as artist-inresidence on major ocean liners to deliver art lectures and demonstrations; and officiated as 

the only courtroom artist at the Jack Ruby trial. His portrait of General George H. Decker is 

reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

140
George Henry Decker

By Woodi Ishmael

Oil on canvas, 36" x 30," 1972
142

Earle Gilmore Wheeler was born in Washington, D.C., on 13 January 

1908; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1932; was commissioned 

a second lieutenant and served with the 29th Infantry, Fort Benning, 1932–1936; 

married Frances Rogers Howell, 1932; was promoted to first lieutenant, August 1935; 

completed the Infantry School regular course, 1937; served with the 15th Infantry in 

China and at Fort Lewis, 1937–1940; was promoted to temporary captain, September 

1940; taught mathematics at West Point, 1940–1941; was aide to the commander of 

the 36th Infantry Division, 1941; graduated from the Command and General Staff 

College, Fort Leavenworth, 1942; was promoted to temporary major (February), permanent captain (June), and temporary lieutenant colonel (November), 1942; was 

a battalion commander, 141st Infantry, 36th Infantry Division, 1942; was promoted 

to temporary colonel, June 1943; was assistant chief of staff for operations of the 

99th Infantry Division, 1942–1944, and chief of staff of the 63d Infantry Division in 

the final battles in Europe, 1944–1945; was instructor in combined arms training at 

the Field Artillery School, Fort Sill, 1945–1946; was assistant chief of staff for supply at the Western Base Section in Paris, 1946, and deputy chief of staff for operations of the United States Constabulary in Germany, 1947–1949; after reversion to 

peacetime rank, was again promoted to temporary ranks of lieutenant colonel, July 

1947 (made permanent July 1948), and colonel, September 1950 (made permanent 

October 1953); graduated from the Army War College, 1950; was a member of the 

Joint Intelligence Group, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1950–1951; commanded 

the 351st Infantry in Italy 1951–1952, and was briefly deputy commander of Trieste 

United States Troops, 1952; was promoted to temporary brigadier general, November 

1952; was assistant chief of staff for plans and operations at Allied Forces Southern 

Europe headquarters, Naples, Italy, 1952–1955; was promoted to temporary major 

general, December 1955; was director of plans in the Office of the Deputy Chief 

of Staff for Plans and Operations, 1955–1957; was assistant deputy chief of staff for 

military operations, 1957–1958; commanded the 2d Armored Division, Fort Hood, 

1958–1959, and III Corps there, 1959–1960; was promoted to temporary ranks of 

lieutenant general, April 1960, and general, March 1962, and permanent ranks of 

brigadier general, May 1960, and major general, June 1961; was deputy commander in 

chief of the United States European Command, France, 1962; was chief of staff of the 

United States Army, 1 October 1962–2 July 1964; supervised a major reorganization 

of the Department of the Army, the deployment of troops in Cuban missile, school 

integration, and Vietnam crises, and tests of an air assault division concept and overseas reinforcement system; was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during most of 

the Vietnam War, 1964–1970; retired from active service, July 1970; died in Frederick, 

Maryland, on 18 December 1975.

The Artist

Lloyd Bowers Embrey (1913–1979), noted Washington portrait painter, exhibited widely during his career as an artist, and is represented in numerous collections in the United States 

and abroad. His work extended well beyond the confines of oil portraiture; his sculpture of 

President John F. Kennedy, for example, is displayed in New York City’s Harvard Club, and his 

bronze bust of Nikita Khrushchev, sculpted to commemorate the visit of the Russian premier 

to the United States, is in the Kremlin. In the military line, he painted the Arctic landscape 

surrounding the Thule Air Force Base in Greenland. His portrait of General Earle G. Wheeler 

is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.
Earle Gilmore Wheeler

By Lloyd Bowers Embrey

Oil on canvas, 42" x 32," 1972
Harold Keith Johnson was born in Bowesmont, North Dakota, on 22 

February 1912; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1933; was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 3d Infantry, Fort Snelling, 1933–1937; 

married Dorothy Rennix, 1935; was promoted to first lieutenant, June 1936; graduated from the Infantry School, Fort Benning, 1938; served in the 28th Infantry, 

Fort Niagara, 1938–1940; was assigned to the 57th Infantry, Philippine Scouts, at 

Fort McKinley, 1940; was promoted to temporary ranks of captain, September 1940, 

major, September 1941, and lieutenant colonel, April 1942, and permanent captain, June 1943; was a battalion commander in the defense of the Philippines, was 

taken prisoner when Bataan fell, survived the “Death March” and imprisonment in 

the Philippines, Japan, and Korea, and was liberated by the 7th Infantry Division, 

1942–1945; was promoted to temporary colonel, September 1945; graduated from the 

Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, 1947, and was an instructor 

there, 1947–1949; graduated from the Armed Forces Staff College, 1950; commanded 

the 3d Battalion, 7th Infantry, at Fort Devens, 1950; was a battalion commander and 

commander of both the 5th and 8th Cavalry in Korean War operations, 1950–1951; was 

plans and operations officer of the I Corps, Far East Command, 1951; was a plans and 

operations officer in the Office of the Chief of Army Field Forces, Fort Monroe, 1951–1952; 

graduated from the National War College, 1953; was chief of the Joint War Plans Branch, 

Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G–3, 1954–1955; was promoted to temporary 

brigadier general (January) and permanent colonel (February), 1956; was executive 

officer in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G–3, 1955–1956; was assistant 

division commander of the 8th Infantry Division, 1956–1957; was chief of staff of 

the American Seventh Army in Germany 1957–1959, and of the Central Army 

Group, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1959–1960; was promoted to permanent 

brigadier general, June 1960, was commandant of the Command and General Staff 

College, 1960–1963; was assistant and then acting deputy chief of staff for military 

operations, 1963; was promoted to temporary major general, October 1959, permanent major general, April 1963, temporary lieutenant general, July 1963, and temporary general, July 1964; was deputy chief of staff for military operations, 1963–1964, 

was chief of staff of the United States Army, 3 July 1964–2 July 1968; supervised the 

Army during the major expansion and deployments occasioned by the Vietnam War, 

the commitment in the Dominican Republic, the fielding of an airmobile division, 

and the shift of the United States line of communications in Europe from France to 

Germany and the Benelux countries; retired from active service, July 1968; died in 

Washington, D.C., on 24 September 1983. 

The Artist

Joseph Richards Essig (1902–1975) was born in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. He pursued 

his art training at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia, the 

Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 

in Philadelphia, and the British Academy of Arts in Rome, Italy. While in the Army from 

1941 to 1945, he took advantage of a period in England to study under Augustus John and 

then served on the Continent as a draftsman in the 655th Engineer Topographic Battalion 

attached to the Ninth Army. Later established in Philadelphia, he studied art with Sam 

Morrow Palmer, Charles H. Woodbury, Leopold Seyffert, and Ceasar Riccardi. His portrait of 

General Harold K. Johnson, which was painted from life, is reproduced from the Army Art 

Collection.

144
Harold Keith Johnson

By Joseph Richards Essig

Oil on canvas, 40" x 30," 1972
William Childs Westmoreland was born in Spartanburg County, 

South Carolina, on 26 March 1914; graduated from the United States Military 

Academy, 1936; was commissioned a second lieutenant, June 1936, and served 

with the 18th Field Artillery, Fort Sill, 1936–1939; was promoted to first lieutenant, June 1939; was a battery officer and commander and a battalion staff officer of 

the 8th Field Artillery, Schofield Barracks, 1939–1941; was promoted to temporary 

major (February) and lieutenant colonel (September), 1942; was operations officer 

of the 34th Field Artillery Battalion, 9th Infantry Division, in the United States 

and North Africa and a battalion commander in operations in Tunisia and Sicily, 

1942–1944; was executive officer of the 9th Division Artillery in Western European 

operations, 1944; was promoted to temporary colonel, July 1944; was chief of staff 

of the 9th Infantry Division in the closing operations of World War II in Germany, 

1944–1945; commanded the 60th Infantry, 1945–1946; was promoted to permanent captain, June 1946; was chief of staff and later commander of the 71st Infantry 

Division, 1946; received airborne training at the Infantry School, 1946; commanded 

the 504th Parachute Infantry, 82d Airborne Division, 1946–1947; married Katherine 

S. Van Deusen, 1947; was chief of staff of the 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, 

1947–1950, receiving his promotion to permanent major in July 1948; was instructor 

at the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, 1950–1951, and the 

Army War College, 1951–1952; commanded the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat 

Team in operations in Korea, 1952–1953; was promoted to temporary brigadier general, 

November 1952, and permanent lieutenant colonel, July 1953; was deputy assistant 

chief of staff, G–1, for manpower control, 1953–1955; attended the advanced management program at Harvard Business School, 1954; was secretary of the General 

Staff, 1955–1958; was promoted to temporary major general, December 1956; was 

commander of the 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell, 1958–1960; was 

superintendent of the United States Military Academy, 1960–1963; was promoted to 

permanent ranks of colonel, June 1961, and brigadier general, February 1963, and to 

temporary lieutenant general, July 1963; was commander of the Strategic Army Corps 

and XVIII Airborne Corps, 1963–1964; was successively deputy commander and acting commander of United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, 1964; was 

promoted to temporary general, August 1964, and permanent major general, August 

1965; was commander of United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, and 

United States Army, Vietnam, at the peak of the Vietnam War, 1964–1968; was chief 

of staff of the United States Army, 3 July 1968–30 June 1972; supervised the Army’s 

disengagement from Vietnam, the transition from the draft to an all-volunteer footing, and the employment of troops in a period of active civil disturbance; centered 

attention upon efforts to improve service life, officer professionalism, job attractiveness, and public understanding; retired from active service, July 1972; died in 

Charleston, South Carolina, on 18 July 2005.

The Artist

Herbert Elmer Abrams (1921–2003) was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He studied art 

at the Norwich Art School in Connecticut and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, as 

well as under Frank Vincent DuMond at the Art Students League in New York City. Drafted 

into World War II, he trained as a pilot and, by war’s end, was an advanced flying instructor for 

multiengine aircraft. Thereafter he pursued his career as a painter, earning critical acclaim for 

his work. In 1972, commissioned by the Army to depict scenes from the war in Vietnam, he 

executed a number of paintings of soldiers in various activities. His portrait of General William 

C. Westmoreland is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

146
William Childs Westmoreland

By Herbert Elmer Abrams

Oil on canvas, 36" x 30," 1972
Bruce Palmer, Jr., was born in Austin, Texas, on 13 April 1913; graduated 

from the United States Military Academy in 1936; was commissioned a second lieutenant and served with the 8th Cavalry, Fort Bliss, 1936–1939; married Kay Sibert, 

1936; was promoted to first lieutenant, June 1939, and served as regimental adjutant, 

June–September 1939; graduated from the Cavalry School at Fort Riley, 1940; was a 

troop and squadron commander of the 6th Cavalry (Mechanized), 1940–1942; was 

promoted to temporary ranks of captain, October 1940, and major, February 1942; 

served in the Operations Division of the War Department General Staff, 1942–1943; 

was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel, February 1943; was chief of staff of the 

6th Infantry Division in Southwest Pacific operations in World War II, 1944–1945; 

was promoted to temporary colonel, January 1945, and permanent captain, June 1946, 

and major, July 1948; commanded the 63d Infantry in the Korean occupation, 1945–1946; 

was chief of plans and operations of the First Army, 1947–1949; was instructor of tactics and then director of instruction at the Infantry School, Fort Benning, 1949–1951; 

concurrently completed the basic airborne course; graduated from the Army War 

College, 1952; was secretary of the general staff and chief of the Plans Division, 

United States Army, Europe, 1952–1954; was promoted to permanent lieutenant 

colonel, July 1953; was commander of the 16th Infantry, 1954–1955; served on the 

faculty of the Army War College, 1955–1957; was deputy secretary of the General 

Staff and White House liaison officer, Office of the Chief of Staff, 1957–1959; was 

promoted to temporary brigadier general, August 1959; was deputy commandant of 

the Army War College, 1959–1961; was assistant division commander of the 82d 

Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, 1961–1962; was promoted to permanent colonel, 

June 1961, and temporary major general, May 1962; was chief of staff of the Eighth 

Army, Korea, 1962–1963; was assistant deputy chief of staff for plans and operations, 

1963–1964, and deputy chief of staff for military operations, 1964–1965; was promoted to 

permanent brigadier general, February 1963, and temporary lieutenant general, July 

1964; was commander of Task Force 120 and United States Land Forces, Dominican 

Republic, May 1965; was concurrently commander of United States Forces and Army 

Forces and deputy commander of the Inter-American Peace Force in operations in 

the Dominican Republic, May 1965–January 1966; was commander of the XVIII 

Airborne Corps, 1965–1967; was commander of the II Field Force, Vietnam, and 

deputy commander of the United States Army, Vietnam, 1967–1968; was promoted to 

temporary general, August 1968, and served as vice chief of staff of the United States 

Army, 1 August 1968–30 June 1972; was acting chief of staff of the United States 

Army, 1 July–11 October 1972; provided managerial continuity at the top of the 

Army during the Westmoreland-Abrams interregnum, supervised the continuing drawdown of Army forces from Vietnam and related Army-wide readjustments, and prepared 

major revisions in Army organizational structure; resumed duties as vice chief of staff; 

was commander in chief of the United States Readiness Command, 1973–1974; retired 

from the Army, September 1974; died in Alexandria, Virginia, on 10 October 2000.

The Artist

Herbert Elmer Abrams (1921–2003) gave televised lectures on painting, discussed art during 

interviews on radio, and wrote about the work of his distinguished teacher, Frank Vincent 

DuMond, for American Artist. A 1975 film, A Different Light, on Abrams and his art won the 

Keith L. Ware Annual Award for Excellence in Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, and Television, 

as well as the Department of Defense’s Thomas Jefferson Award for outstanding achievement 

in promoting a fuller understanding of the mission of the armed forces. The portrait of General 

Bruce Palmer, Jr., is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

148
Bruce Palmer, Jr.

By Herbert Elmer Abrams

Oil on canvas, 42" x 36," 1975
150

Creighton Williams Abrams, Jr., was born in Springfield, 

Massachusetts, on 15 September 1914; graduated from the United States Military 

Academy, 1936; married Julia Harvey, 1936; was commissioned a second lieutenant 

and served in the 1st Cavalry Division, 1936–1940; was promoted to first lieutenant, 

June 1939, and to temporary captain, September 1940; was briefly a tank company 

commander in the 1st Armored Division, 1941; was a battalion commander in the 

37th Armored Regiment, 1942–1943; was promoted to temporary major (February) 

and lieutenant colonel (September), 1943; commanded the 37th Tank Battalion and 

Combat Command B, 4th Armored Division, in Allied operations across Europe, 

1943–1945; was promoted to temporary colonel, April 1945; served on the Army 

General Staff, 1945, and in the War Plans section of the Army Ground Forces headquarters, 1945–1946; was director of tactics of the Armored School, Fort Knox, 

1946–1948; was promoted to permanent ranks of captain, June 1946, and major, July 

1948; graduated from the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, 

1949; commanded the 63d Tank Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, United States Army, 

Europe, 1949–1951; was again promoted to temporary colonel after postwar reversion, 

June 1951; commanded the 2d Armored Cavalry, United States Army, Europe, 1951–1952; 

graduated from the Army War College, 1953; was successively chief of staff of the I, 

X, and IX Corps, United States Army Forces, Far East, Korea, 1953–1954; was chief 

of staff of the Armor Center, Fort Knox, 1954–1956; was promoted to temporary 

brigadier general, February 1956; was deputy assistant chief of staff for reserve components, 1956–1959; was assistant division commander of the 3d Armored Division, 

1959–1960, and deputy chief of staff for military operations, United States Army, 

Europe, 1960; was promoted to temporary major general, June 1960, and permanent 

colonel, June 1961; was commander of the 3d Armored Division, 1960–1962; was 

assistant deputy chief of staff and director of operations, Office of the Deputy Chief 

of Staff for Operations, 1962–1963; was assistant chief of staff for force development, 

1963; commanded V Corps in Germany, 1963–1964; was promoted to permanent 

brigadier general (February) and temporary lieutenant general (August), 1963; was 

acting vice chief of staff and vice chief of staff of the United States Army, August 

1964–April 1967; was promoted to general, September 1964, and permanent major 

general, August 1965; was deputy commander and then commander of United States 

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, 1967–1972; was chief of staff of the United 

States Army, 12 October 1972–4 September 1974; supervised the Army in the closing stages of the Vietnam War, including withdrawal of American troops from the war 

zone, overall reductions in Army strength, elimination of the draft, transition to a volunteer status, and execution of a major reorganization; died of cancer in Washington, 

D.C., on 4 September 1974.

The Artist

Herbert Elmer Abrams (1921–2003) painted the portraits of many prominent personalities 

in the fields of government, business, and the professions, including President Jimmy Carter, 

Governor Thomas E. Meskill of Connecticut, Texas oilman Clint Murchison, and playwright 

Arthur Miller. During his career as a painter he taught art, including classes for officers at the 

United States Military Academy, as well as lectured on art for commercial and cable television 

stations. His portrait of General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr., is reproduced from the Army Art 

Collection.
Creighton Williams Abrams, Jr.

By Herbert Elmer Abrams

Oil on canvas, 42" x 36," 1975
Frederick Carlton Weyand was born in Arbuckle, California, on 

15 September 1916; was commissioned a second lieutenant through the Reserve 

Officers Training Corps program at the University of California at Berkeley, 1938, 

where he graduated in 1939; married Arline Langhart, 1940; was called to active 

duty and served with the 6th Artillery, 1940–1942; was promoted to temporary first 

lieutenant, June 1941, and to captain in February and major in November 1942; 

graduated from the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, 1942; 

was adjutant of the Harbor Defense Command, San Francisco, 1942–1943; served 

in the Office of the Chief of Intelligence, War Department General Staff, 1944; 

was assistant chief of staff for intelligence, China-Burma-India Theater, 1944–1945; 

was in the Military Intelligence Service, Washington, 1945–1946; was promoted to 

temporary lieutenant colonel, March 1945, and permanent captain, July 1948; was 

chief of staff for intelligence, United States Army Forces, Middle Pacific, 1946–1949; 

graduated from the Infantry School, Fort Benning, 1950; was battalion commander 

in the 7th Infantry and assistant chief of staff, G–3, of the 3d Infantry Division in the 

Korean War, 1950–1951; served on the faculty of the Infantry School, 1952–1953; 

attended the Armed Forces Staff College, 1953; was military assistant in the Office 

of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management, 1953–1954; 

was military assistant and executive to the secretary of the Army, 1954–1957; was 

promoted to permanent major, July 1953, and temporary colonel, July 1955; graduated 

from the Army War College, 1958; commanded the 3d Battle Group, 6th Infantry, in 

Europe, 1958–1959; served in the Office of the United States Commander in Berlin, 

1960; was promoted to temporary brigadier general, July 1960; was chief of staff, 

Communications Zone, United States Army, Europe, 1960–1961; was deputy chief 

and chief of legislative liaison, Department of the Army, 1961–1964; was promoted 

to permanent lieutenant colonel, September 1961, and to temporary major general, 

November 1962; was commander of the 25th Infantry Division, Hawaii, 1964–1966, 

and in Vietnam operations, 1966–1967; was promoted to permanent colonel, 

September 1966; was deputy, acting commander, and commander of II Field Force, 

Vietnam, 1967–1968; was chief of the Office of Reserve Components, 1968–1969; 

was promoted to permanent brigadier and major general and temporary lieutenant 

general, August 1968, and temporary general, October 1970; was military adviser at 

the Paris peace talks, 1969–1970; was assistant chief of staff for force development, 

1970; was successively deputy commander and commander of the United States Military 

Assistance Command, Vietnam, 1970–1973; was commander in chief of the United 

States Army, Pacific, 1973; was vice chief of staff of the United States Army, 1973–

1974; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 3 October 1974–31 September 

1976; supervised Army moves to improve the combat-to-support troop ratio, to 

achieve a sixteen-division force, to enhance the effectiveness of roundout units, and 

to improve personnel and logistical readiness; retired from active service, October 

1976; died in Honolulu, Hawaii, on 10 February 2010.

The Artist

Bjorn Peter Egeli (1900–1984), who won several awards for portraiture, drew upon his native 

Norwegian connections to execute the likenesses of Crown Princess Martha, wife of future 

King Olav V of Norway, and of the nation’s longtime ambassador to the United States, 

Wilhelm Munthe de Morgenstierne. Mr. Egeli’s children have become accomplished artists 

in their own right. His son, Cedric Baldwin Egeli, is also a contributor to the Chiefs of Staff 

Hallway at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. The portrait of General Frederick C. Weyand is 

reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

152
Frederick Carlton Weyand

By Bjorn Peter Egeli

Oil on canvas, 45" x 36," 1975
Bernard William Rogers was born in Fairview, Kansas, on 16 July 1921; 

graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1943; was commissioned a second lieutenant, June 1943, and attended the basic course at the Infantry School, Fort 

Benning; was promoted to temporary first lieutenant, December 1943, and assigned 

to the 275th Infantry, 1943–1944; married Ann Ellen Jones, 1944; was instructor of 

economics, government, and history at West Point, 1944–1946; was promoted to 

temporary captain, February 1945; was aide to the High Commissioner to Austria 

and to the commander of the Sixth Army, 1946–1947; attended Oxford University, 

England, as a Rhodes scholar, 1947–1950, receiving bachelor and master of arts degrees 

in philosophy, politics, and economics; was aide to the chief of Army Field Forces, 

1950–1951; was promoted to permanent captain, January 1949, and temporary major, 

July 1951; graduated from the Infantry School advanced course, 1952; commanded 

the 3d Battalion, 9th Infantry, in Korean operations, 1952–1953; was promoted to 

temporary lieutenant colonel, August 1953; was aide to the commander in chief and 

staff intelligence officer of the United Nations and Far East Commands, 1953–1954; 

graduated from the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, 1955; 

commanded the 1st Battalion, 23d Infantry, 1955–1956; served in the Coordination 

Division, Office of the Chief of Staff, 1956–1958; was executive and senior aide to the 

chief of staff, 1958–1959; was promoted to permanent major (January) and temporary 

colonel (September), 1959; graduated from the Army War College, 1960; commanded 

the 1st Battle Group, 19th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division, in Europe, 1960–1961; was 

chief of staff of the 24th Division and chief of the Troop Operation Branch, Operations 

Division, United States Army, Europe, 1961–1962; was military assistant and executive officer to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs, 1962–1966; was promoted 

to permanent lieutenant colonel, January 1964, temporary brigadier general, October 

1966, and permanent colonel, June 1968; was assistant division commander of the 1st 

Infantry Division in Vietnam, 1966–1967; was commandant of cadets at West Point, 

1967–1969; was commander of the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) and Fort 

Carson, 1969–1970; was promoted to temporary major general, February 1970, and 

permanent brigadier general, August 1971; was chief of legislative liaison, 1971–1972; 

was promoted to temporary lieutenant general, November 1972, and permanent major 

general, June 1973; was deputy chief of staff for personnel of the Army, 1972–1974; 

was promoted to temporary general, November 1974; was commander of the United 

States Army Forces Command, Fort McPherson, 1974–1976; was chief of staff of the 

United States Army, 1 October 1976–21 June 1979; supervised the Army’s move to a 

24-division all-component force, established priorities for near-term readiness, midterm 

modernization, and long-term sustainability, established a program to enhance the 

quality of life of Army personnel, and suggested a limited draft to fill the Individual 

Ready Reserve; was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, North Atlantic Treaty 

Organization, July 1979; retired from active service, June 1987; died in Falls Church, 

Virginia, on 27 October 2008.

The Artist

Robert Clark Templeton (1929–1991) was born in Red Oak, Iowa. He studied at the Kansas 

City Art Institute in the late 1940s; pursued private study with John Sloan; and attended 

the Art Students League in New York City in the early 1950s, training under Louis Bouche, 

Reginald Marsh, and Louis Bosa. During a tour of military service in the 1950s he designed 

and executed murals for the Army and was an Army staff photographer for a service newspaper 

in Heidelberg, Germany. He painted the portraits of many prominent individuals, including 

President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, Roy Wilkins, and 

Stan Musial. His portrait of General Bernard W. Rogers is reproduced from the Army Art 

Collection.

154
Bernard William Rogers

By Robert Clark Templeton

Oil on canvas, 46" x 36," 1977
156

Edward Charles Meyer was born in St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania, on 11 

December 1928; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1951; was commissioned a second lieutenant and attended the Infantry School, Fort Benning, 1951; 

was a platoon leader, Company C, 25th Armored Infantry Battalion, in Korean operations, 1951–1952; was promoted to first lieutenant, July 1952; was a platoon leader, 

company commander, and battalion staff officer, 224th Infantry, in Korean operations, 1952–1953; served in the 1st Officer Candidate Regiment, Infantry School, 

1953–1954; married Carol McCunliffe, 1954; was aide to the assistant commandant, 

Infantry School, 1954, and instructor in operations there, 1954–1957; was promoted 

to temporary captain, July 1956; graduated from the infantry officers advanced and 

basic airborne courses, Fort Benning, 1957; was commander of Headquarters and 

Headquarters Company, 1st Airborne Battle Group, 501st Infantry, 1957–1958, and 

commander of Company D, 1958–1959; graduated from the Command and General 

Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, 1960; was promoted to permanent captain, February 

1958, and to temporary major, October 1960; was manpower control officer, Office of 

the Assistant Chief of Staff, G–1, United States Army, Europe (Rear), 1960–1961; 

was assistant executive and aide to the chief of staff at Supreme Headquarters, Allied 

Powers Europe, 1961–1963; graduated from the Armed Forces Staff College, 1964; was 

promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel, May 1964, and permanent major, June 1965; 

served in the Coordination Division of the Office of the Chief of Staff, 1964–1965; was 

deputy commander of the 3d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), in Vietnam 

operations, 1965; was commander of the 2d Battalion, 5th Cavalry, in Vietnam operations, 1965–1966; graduated from the National War College, 1967; served in the Plans 

and Operations Division, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1967–1969; was promoted 

to temporary colonel, November 1968; was commander of the 2d Brigade, 1st Cavalry 

Division (Airmobile), and division chief of staff in Vietnam operations, 1969–1970; 

was a federal executive fellow at the Brookings Institution, 1970–1971; was promoted 

to temporary brigadier general, August 1971, and permanent lieutenant colonel, June 

1972; was assistant division commander (support) of the 82d Airborne Division, 

1971–1972; was deputy commandant of the Army War College, 1972–1973; was 

deputy chief of staff for operations, United States Army, Europe, and Seventh Army, 

1973–1974; was promoted to temporary major general, August 1973; was commanding general of the 3d Infantry Division, United States Army, Europe, 1974–1975; 

was assistant deputy chief and deputy chief of staff for operations and plans, United 

States Army, 1975–1979; was promoted to permanent colonel, March 1976, and temporary lieutenant general, October 1976, and general, June 1979; was chief of staff 

of the United States Army, 22 June 1979–21 June 1983; prosecuted an Army-wide 

modernization program with emphasis on quality over quantity, stressed the need for 

a long-term investment in land force materiel, and launched a unit-manning system 

to reduce personnel turbulence and to enhance readiness; retired from active service, 

June 1983.

The Artist

Everett Raymond Kinstler (1926–) began his art career drawing comic strips while still in his 

teens. A protégé of James Montgomery Flagg, he also studied under Frank Vincent DuMond 

and Sidney Dickinson at New York City’s Art Students League, where he would later teach. 

In 1955 he made the transition from illustrator to portraitist, to become one of the foremost 

in his field. He is an academician of the National Academy of Design, as well as a member of 

a number of art societies. He has won several awards, including the Copley Medal from the 

Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Notable commissions include portraits of seven U.S. 

presidents and fifty cabinet members. His portrait of General Edward C. Meyer is reproduced 

from the Army Art Collection.
Edward Charles Meyer

By Everett Raymond Kinstler

Oil on canvas, 50" x 40," 1984
John Adams Wickham, Jr., was born in Dobbs Ferry, New York on 25 June 1928; 

graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1950; was commissioned a second 

lieutenant and assigned to the 18th Infantry; was a troop officer in the 6th Infantry in 

the United States and Europe, 1950–1953; was promoted to temporary first lieutenant, 

December 1951; graduated from the infantry officer basic course at the Infantry School, 

Fort Benning, 1953; was a platoon leader and executive officer in Company L, 511th 

Airborne Infantry, 1953–1954; was an aide-de-camp successively in Headquarters, 37th and 

10th Infantry Divisions, 1954; was promoted to temporary captain, October 1954; attended 

Harvard University to earn degrees in public administration and in politics, economics, 

and government, 1954–1956; married Ann Lindsley Prior, 1955; was instructor/assistant 

professor of the department of social sciences, West Point, 1956–1960; attended infantry 

officer advanced course at the Infantry School, Fort Benning, 1958; was promoted to 

temporary major, June 1959; graduated from the Command and General Staff College, 

Fort Leavenworth, 1961; was operations officer of the 1st Battle Group, 5th Cavalry, in 

Korea, 1961–1962; graduated from the Armed Forces Staff College, 1963; served in the 

Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Military 

Operations, 1963–1964; was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel, July 1963; served 

in the Special Studies Group, Office of the Chief of Staff, 1964; was assistant executive 

officer and aide to the chief of staff of the United States Army, 1964–1966; graduated from 

the National War College, 1967; commanded the 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry 

Division (Airmobile), in Vietnam, 1967; was wounded and hospitalized at Walter Reed 

Medical Center, 1967–1968; was promoted to temporary colonel, August 1968; served in 

the Strategic Plans and Policy Division, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1968–1969; was 

commander of the 1st Brigade, 3d Infantry Division, United States Army, Europe, 1969–

1970; was a staff group member in the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 

1970–1971; was deputy chief of staff for economic affairs, United States Military Assistance 

Command, Vietnam, 1971–1973; was promoted to temporary brigadier general, July 1972; 

was deputy chief and U.S. representative, Four-Party Joint Military Commission, Vietnam, 

1973; was promoted to temporary major general, July 1973; was military assistant to the 

secretary of defense, 1973–1976; commanded the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), 

1976–1978; was assistant deputy chief of staff for operations and plans in the Office of 

the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, 1978; was promoted to temporary 

lieutenant general, August 1978; was director of the Joint Staff, 1978–1979; was promoted 

to temporary general, July 1979; was commander in chief of the United Nations Command 

and commander of the United States Forces and Eighth Army, Korea, 1979–1982; was vice 

chief of staff of the United States Army, 1982–1983; was chief of staff of the United States 

Army, 23 July 1983–23 June 1987; implemented an Army concept for a new light division 

structure, supervised a corollary increase in force structure from sixteen to eighteen regular 

divisions and eight to ten reserve divisions with attendant stationing arrangements, and 

stressed measures to care for Army families; retired from active service, June 1987.

The Artist

Margaret Holland Sargent (1927–) was born in Hollywood, California. She received her 

education in art at the University of California–Los Angeles and the Art Students League in 

New York City, supplemented by private study with Herbert Abrams and John Sanden. Praised 

for outstanding achievement, especially her ability to use light and explore special relationships, she was the first woman artist certified by the American Portrait Society, and in 2001 

was given the added distinction of being listed as one of twelve best portraitists in America. 

Her widely exhibited and collected work has won her a number of awards, including several 

from the Salmagundi Club and from the Painter’s Club. She has painted the portraits of many 

prominent government leaders, celebrated personalities, and private citizens. Her portrait of 

General John A. Wickham, Jr., is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

158
John Adams Wickham, Jr.

By Margaret Holland Sargent

Oil on canvas, 52" x 32," 1986
160

Carl Edward Vuono was born in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, on 18 

October 1934; graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1957; was commissioned a second lieutenant and attended artillery officer basic course at the 

Artillery and Missile School, Fort Sill, 1957; served with howitzer elements, 3d 

Armored Cavalry, 1958–1960; was promoted to temporary and permanent first lieutenant, December 1958 and June 1960, respectively; married Patricia A. Hall, 1960; 

served with howitzer elements, 82d Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division, in Korea, 1960–

1961; was promoted to temporary and permanent captain, December 1961 and June 

1964; attended artillery officer advanced course at the Air Defense School, Fort Bliss, 

1961–1962; served with XVIII Airborne Corps Artillery, 1962–1963; was an exchange 

officer with the British 7th Royal Horse Artillery (Parachute), 16th Parachute Group, 

in England, 1963–1965; was promoted to temporary major, August 1965; was team 

chief, Fire Support Coordination Element, VII Corps Artillery, United States Army, 

Europe, 1965–1966; was executive officer, 1st Battalion, 7th Artillery, 1st Infantry 

Division, in Vietnam, 1966–1967; attended the Marine Command and Staff College, 

Quantico, 1967–1968; was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel, August 

1968; was personnel management officer, Field Artillery Branch, Officer Personnel 

Directorate, U.S. Army, 1968–1970; was executive officer, 1st Cavalry Division 

Artillery, in Vietnam, 1970; was promoted to permanent major, June 1971; was commander, 1st Battalion, 77th Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division, in Vietnam, 1970–1971; 

was operations research/systems analyst, Office of the Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, 

1971–1972; was executive officer, Office of the Project Manager for Reorganization of 

the Army, Office of the Chief of Staff, 1972; attended the Army War College, 1972–

1973; was chief, Budget Division, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, 

U.S. Army, 1973–1975; was promoted to temporary colonel, February 1974; was 

commander, 82d Airborne Division Artillery, 1975–1976; was executive to the 

chief of staff, U.S. Army, 1976–1977; was promoted to temporary brigadier general, 

January 1977, and permanent lieutenant colonel, June 1978; was assistant division 

commander, 1st Infantry Division, 1977–1979; was deputy chief of staff for combat 

developments, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, 1979–1981; 

was promoted to temporary major general, July 1980, permanent colonel, June 1981, 

and permanent major general, January 1982; was commanding general, 8th Infantry 

Division, United States Army, Europe, 1981–1983; was deputy commanding general, 

United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, and commanding general, 

United States Army Combined Arms Center, 1983–1985; was promoted to temporary 

lieutenant general, June 1983; was deputy chief of staff for operations and plans, U.S. 

Army, 1985–1986; was promoted to permanent general, July 1986; was commanding 

general, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, 1986–1987; was chief 

of staff of the United States Army, 23 June 1987–21 June 1991; provided leadership 

to the Army through a period of great challenge and change that included the end of 

the Cold War, increasingly friendly relations with the Soviet Union, Army operations 

in Panama to restore the legal government there, and operations in Southwest Asia to 

free Kuwait from Iraqi occupation; retired from active service, June 1991.

The Artist

Ned Bittinger (1951–) has been a full-time painter since 1982. He pursued his art education 

and training at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and at George Washington University 

in Washington, D.C. He has received numerous awards and participated in many exhibitions around the world, including an exhibition of Washington and Moscow painters at the 

Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, 1990–1991. His portrait of General Carl E. Vuono is reproduced 

from the Army Art Collection.
Carl Edward Vuono

By Ned Bittinger

Oil on canvas, 46" x 36," 1991
Gordon Russell Sullivan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 25 

September 1937; was commissioned a second lieutenant through the Reserve Officers 

Training Corps at Norwich University, where he graduated in 1959; entered active 

duty and attended the officer basic course at the U.S. Army Armor School, Fort 

Knox, 1959–1960; served with the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor, 2d Armored Division, 

1960–1961; was promoted to temporary and permanent first lieutenant, May 1961 

and November 1962, respectively; served with 3d Battalion, 40th Armor, 1st Cavalry 

Division, in Korea, 1961–1962; was assistant Civil Guard/Self-Defense Corps adviser, 

21st Infantry Division, Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam, 1962–1963; 

was promoted to temporary captain, November 1963; was executive assistant to the 

assistant chief of staff, J–2 (Intelligence), Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, 

1963–1964; graduated from armor officer advanced course, 1965; married Miriam Gay 

Loftus, 1965; was promoted to permanent captain, November 1966; served with 3d 

Battalion, 32d Armor, 3d Armored Division, United States Army, Europe, 1965–1966; 

served with the Military Personnel Division, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for 

Personnel, United States Army, Europe, 1966–1967; was promoted to temporary major, 

September 1967; graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 

Fort Leavenworth, 1969; was personnel services officer, Plans and Operations Division, 

G–1 (Personnel), Headquarters, I Field Force, Vietnam, 1969–1970; was personnel 

management officer, Personnel Actions Section, Armor Branch, Office of Personnel 

Operations, 1970–1973; was promoted to permanent major, November 1973; attended 

University of New Hampshire to earn a master of arts in political science, 1973–1974; 

was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel, May 1974; commanded 4th Battalion, 

73d Armor, 1st Infantry Division (Forward), United States (Operations), VII Corps, 

United States Army, Europe, 1980–1981; was promoted to temporary colonel, July 

1980, and permanent lieutenant colonel, November 1980; was commander, 1st 

Brigade, 3d Armored Division, United States Army, Europe, 1981–1983; was promoted to permanent colonel, March 1982; was chief of staff, 3d Armored Division, 

United States Army, Europe, 1983; was assistant commandant of the Armor School, 

1983–1985; was promoted to permanent brigadier general, October 1984; was deputy 

chief of staff for support, Central Army Group, Europe, 1985–1987; was deputy commandant, United States Army Command and General Staff College, 1987–1988; 

commanded the 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized), 1988–1989; was promoted to 

temporary lieutenant general, July 1989; was deputy chief of staff for operations and 

plans, United States Army, 1989–1990; was promoted to temporary general, June 1990; 

was vice chief of staff of the United States Army, 1990–1991; was chief of staff of the 

United States Army, 21 June 1991–20 June 1995; led the Army through fundamental 

transformation after the liberation of Kuwait, which included force reductions and base 

closures accompanied by doctrinal change, successes in peacekeeping, emphasis on new 

ways of war, and experiments that moved the Army into the information age; retired 

from active service, June 1995; became president and chief executive officer of the 

Association of the United States Army in February 1998.

The Artist

Ned Bittinger (1951–), a native Washingtonian, is an award-winning portrait painter whose 

alla prima technique gives his paintings energy and immediacy. Also to his credit, he was commissioned by Scholastic, Inc., to paint the illustrations for two of its books—one for children 

on the Passover seder, the other on the Civil War. He has painted the portraits of prominent 

figures, including James A. Baker, Shirley MacLaine, Nancy M. Kissinger, and many others. 

His portrait of General Gordon R. Sullivan is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

162
Gordon Russell Sullivan

By Ned Bittinger

Oil on canvas, 40" x 32," 1995
164

DENNIS JOE REIMER was born 12 July 1939 and grew up in Medford, Oklahoma; 

graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1962; was commissioned a second 

lieutenant and attended artillery officer basic course at the Artillery and Missile School, 

Fort Sill, 1962; married Mary Jo Powers, 28 December 1962; completed ranger and airborne training, Fort Benning, 1962–1963; served as assistant executive officer and executive officer, 20th Artillery, 5th Infantry Division, 1963–1964; promoted to temporary 

first lieutenant, December 1963; served as assistant battalion adviser, Advisory Team 60, 

United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, 1964–1965; promoted to permanent first lieutenant and temporary captain, June 1965 and November 1965; attended artillery officer advanced course at the Air Defense School, Fort Bliss, 1965–1966; 

commanded Company C, 11th Battalion, 3d Brigade, U.S. Army Training Center, Fort 

Benning, 1966–1967; served as aide-de-camp to the commandant, Armed Forces Staff 

College, Norfolk, 1967–1968; promoted to temporary major and permanent captain, 

September 1968 and June 1969; served as executive officer and S–3 (Operations), 2d 

Battalion, 4th Artillery, 9th Infantry Division, in Vietnam, 1968–1970; was instructor at the Field Artillery School, Fort Sill, 1970; attended the Command and General 

Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, 1970–1971; was personnel management officer, 

Assignment Section, Field Artillery Branch, Office of Personnel Operations, Wash., 

D.C., 1971–1972; served in Office of the Chief of Staff as assistant executive officer and 

aide to General Creighton W. Abrams, Jr., 1972–1974; served as executive officer and 

S–3, 4th Infantry Division Artillery, Fort Carson, 1975–1976; promoted to temporary 

lieutenant colonel and permanent major, June 1975 and June 1976; commanded 1st 

Battalion, 27th Artillery, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, 1976–1978; was commandant of the Training Command, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, 1978; attended the 

Army War College, 1978–1979; received a master of arts in public administration from 

Shippensburg State College, 1979; promoted to temporary colonel, August 1979; served 

as deputy commander and later special assistant to the commander, V Corps Artillery, 

United States Army, Europe, 1979–1980; commanded 8th Infantry Division Artillery, 

United States Army, Europe, 1980–1982; promoted to permanent colonel, March 1982; 

served as chief of staff, 8th Infantry Division, United States Army, Europe, 1982–1983; 

was deputy assistant commandant, Field Artillery Center and School, Fort Sill, 1983–

1984; promoted to permanent brigadier general, September 1984; was commanding 

general, III Corps Artillery, Fort Sill, 1984–1986; served as chief of staff, U.S. Army 

Element, Combined Field Army, in Korea, 1986; was assistant chief of staff, C–3/J–3, 

Republic of Korea/U.S. Combined Forces Command, 1986–1988; promoted to major 

general, September 1987; commanded 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, 1988–1990; 

promoted to permanent lieutenant general, July 1990; was deputy chief of staff for 

operations and plans, U.S. Army, and senior Army member, Military Staff Committee, 

United Nations, Wash., D.C., 1990–1991; promoted to general, June 1991; was vice 

chief of staff of the United States Army, 1991–1993; served as commanding general, 

United States Army Forces Command, Fort McPherson, 1993–1995; was chief of staff 

of the United States Army, 20 June 1995–20 June 1999; revamped the Army personnel system to accommodate modernization and technical diversity; redesigned force 

structure based upon extensive analyses labeled Division XXI; led the Army during a 

period of high-tempo deployments, including peacekeeping in Bosnia-Herzegovina and 

Kosovo; retired from active service, August 1999.

The Artist

Christine Conniff Sheahan (1940–) was born in Los Angeles, California. She majored in 

art at Marymount College in New York, where she later worked first as an illustrator/graphic 

designer and then as a magazine publisher while simultaneously fulfilling many commissions as 

a portrait painter. Well known in New York, she has painted the portraits of prominent personalities, including actress Susan Lucci, and also a number of business and community leaders. 

Her portrait of General Dennis J. Reimer is reproduced from the Army Art Collection.
Dennis Joe Reimer

By Christine Conniff Sheahan

Oil on canvas, 44" x 33," 1999
ERIC KEN SHINSEKI was born in Lihue on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, on 28 

November 1942; graduated from the United States Military Academy and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Artillery, 1965; married Patricia “Patty” Yoshinobu, 

26 June 1965; served as forward observer with Battery B, 2d Battalion, 9th Artillery, 

in Vietnam, and was wounded in action, 1965–1966; served as assistant secretary and 

then secretary to General Staff, U.S. Army, Hawaii, Schofield Barracks, 1967–1968; 

transferred to Armor and attended armor officer advanced course at the Armor 

School, Fort Knox, 1968–1969; commanded Troop A, 3d Squadron, 5th Cavalry, 

in Vietnam, and was wounded in action, 1970; served as personnel staff officer in 

Headquarters, United States Army, Pacific, 1971–1974; received a master of arts in 

English from Duke University, 1976; taught English at the United States Military 

Academy, 1976–1978; graduated from the Command and General Staff College, Fort 

Leavenworth, 1979; served as regimental adjutant and then squadron executive officer 

with 3d Armored Cavalry, Fort Bliss, 1979–1981; served in Office of the Deputy Chief 

of Staff for Operations and Plans, U.S. Army, 1981–1982; commanded 3d Squadron, 

7th Cavalry, 3d Infantry Division, United States Army, Europe, 1982–1984; was the 

division’s assistant chief of staff, G–3 (Operations), 1984–1985; graduated from the 

National War College, 1986; served as chief, Institutional Training Division, Office 

of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, U.S. Army, 1986–1987; served 

in Europe as commander of 2d Brigade, 3d Infantry Division, 1987–1989, assistant 

chief of staff, G–3, VII Corps, 1989–1990, deputy chief of staff (support), Allied 

Land Forces Southern Europe, 1990–1992, and assistant division commander, 3d 

Infantry Division, 1992–1993; served as director of training, Office of the Deputy 

Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, U.S. Army, 1993–1994; commanded 1st 

Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, 1994–1995; appointed as assistant deputy chief of staff 

for operations and plans, U.S. Army, 1995; became deputy chief of staff for operations and plans, 1996; served simultaneously as commanding general, United States 

Army, Europe, and Seventh Army, commanding general, NATO Land Forces, Central 

Europe, and commander of the NATO-led Stabilization Force, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 

1997–1998; was vice chief of staff of the United States Army, 1998–1999; was chief 

of staff of the United States Army, 22 June 1999–11 June 2003; initiated the Army 

Transformation campaign to address both the emerging strategic challenges of the 

early twenty-first century and the need for cultural and technological change in 

the Army; following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, led the Army during 

Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom; integrated the pursuit of the 

Global War on Terrorism with Army Transformation, enabling the Army to continue to transform while at war; retired from active service, August 2003; became the 

seventh secretary of veterans affairs, 21 January 2009. 

The Artist

John Boyd Martin (1936–) was born in Ottawa, Kansas. He majored in art at the University 

of Kansas School of Fine Arts, after which he went on to establish himself as an accomplished 

portrait artist around the world. His distinctive style, achieved through the use of a broad 

brush and a palette of rich diversified colors, captures not only a strong, vibrant, accurate likeness but also the essence of each subject. His commissions have crossed the sports, educational, 

business, and political arenas. He has painted the portraits of many distinguished personalities, 

including Joe DiMaggio, Arnold Palmer, University of North Carolina Chancellor Christopher 

Fordham, AT&T Chief Executive Officer Robert Allen, Brookings Institution President Bruce 

McLaury, and Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera. His portrait of General Eric K. Shinseki is 

reproduced from the Army Art Collection.

166
Eric Ken Shinseki

By John Boyd Martin

Oil on canvas, 46" x 36," 2003
PETER JAN SCHOOMAKER was born on 12 February 1946 in Michigan, 

and was raised in an Army family; was commissioned a second lieutenant through 

the Reserve Officers Training Corps at the University of Wyoming upon graduation in 1969; entered active duty and attended armor officer basic course at the 

Armor School, Fort Knox, 1969; completed airborne and ranger training, Fort 

Benning, 1969; served as reconnaissance platoon leader, 2d Battalion, 4th Infantry, 

Fort Campbell, 1970–1971; promoted to first lieutenant, June 1970; commanded 

Company C, 2d Battalion, 4th Infantry, United States Army, Europe, 1970–1972; 

promoted to captain, June 1971; served as assistant S–3 (Operations) and later 

as S–4 (Logistics), 1st Squadron, 2d Armored Cavalry, United States Army, 

Europe, 1972–1973; commanded Troop C, 1st Squadron, 2d Armored Cavalry, 

United States Army, Europe, 1973–1974; served as assistant inspector general, 

2d Infantry Division, in Korea, 1974; served as S–3, 1st Battalion, 73d Armor, 2d 

Infantry Division, in Korea, 1974–1975; attended the Marine Amphibious Warfare 

School, Quantico, 1975–1976; served as assignment officer, United States Army 

Military Personnel Center, Wash., D.C., 1976–1978; received a master of arts in 

management from Central Michigan University, 1977; commanded a squadron 

in 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment D, 1978–1981; promoted to major, 

July 1979; married Cynthia A. “Cindy” Petroski, 14 January 1980; attended the 

Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, 1981–1982; served as 

executive officer, 2d Squadron, 2d Armored Cavalry, United States Army, Europe, 

1982–1983; served as J–3, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, 1983–

1985; promoted to lieutenant colonel, July 1985; served in various command positions in 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment D, 1985–1988; attended the 

National War College, 1988–1989; commanded 1st Special Forces Operational 

Detachment D, 1989–1992; promoted to colonel, June 1990; served as assistant 

division commander, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, 1992–1993; promoted to 

brigadier general, January 1993; served as deputy director for operations, readiness, 

and mobilization, United States Army, Wash., D.C., 1993–1994; commanded Joint 

Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, 1994–1996; promoted to major general, 

March 1996; commanded United States Army Special Operations Command, Fort 

Bragg, 1996–1997; promoted to lieutenant general, August 1996, and general, 

October 1997; served as commander in chief, United States Special Operations 

Command, MacDill Air Force Base, 1997–2000; retired from active duty, December 

2000; returned to active duty and became chief of staff of the United States Army, 1 

August 2003; retired again from active service, April 2007.

The Artist

Michael C. Poulsen (1952–) was born in Akron, Ohio. He moved west at the age of nine to 

his father’s 15,500-acre ranch in Cody, Wyoming, an experience that broadened his artistic 

interests to include Western art and lifestyle. He studied art while in the U.S. Marine Corps 

in 1970–1973 stationed at Quantico, Virginia, and Honolulu, Hawaii. Upon discharge from 

the military, he attended Arizona State University and continued his art education. He began 

his professional career in 1974, and his paintings are in museum and private collections across 

the country. He is noted for his portraiture, and his portrait of Chief of Staff General Peter J. 

Schoomaker hangs in the Chiefs of Staff Hallway at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. 

168
Peter Jan Schoomaker

By Michael C. Poulsen

Oil on canvas, 461/4" x 36," 2008
170

GEORGE WILLIAM CASEY, JR., was born on 22 July 1948 in Sendai, Japan, 

and was raised in an Army family. He was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry 

through the Reserve Officers Training Corps at Georgetown University upon graduation 

in 1970; married Sheila Lynch, 27 June 1970; attended infantry officer basic course, Fort 

Benning, 1970; completed airborne training, Fort Benning, 1971; served as a platoon leader 

in Company A, 2d Battalion, 509th Infantry (Airborne), Germany, 1971–1973; promoted 

to first lieutenant, October 1971; served as executive officer, Company A, 1st Battalion, 

509th Infantry (Airborne Battalion Combat Team), Italy, 1973–1974; promoted to captain, October 1974; completed ranger training and infantry officer advanced course, Fort 

Benning, 1974–1975; served as S–4 (Logistics), 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry, Fort Carson, 

1975–1977; commanded Company C, later Combat Support Company, 1st Battalion, 

11th Infantry, Fort Carson, 1977–1978; received a master of arts in international affairs 

from the University of Denver Korbel School, 1980; attended Armed Forces Staff College, 

Norfolk, 1980–1981; promoted to major, September 1980; served as a United Nations 

military observer, United States Military Observer Group, Israel and Egypt, 1981–1982; 

served as S–3 (Operations), later executive officer, 1st Battalion, 10th Infantry, Fort Carson, 

1982–1984; served as secretary of the general staff, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, 

1984–1985; promoted to lieutenant colonel, August 1985; commanded 1st Battalion, 

10th Infantry, Fort Carson, 1985–1987; served as Army Senior Service College fellow, 

the Atlantic Council, 1987–1988; served in the Office of the Chief of Legislative Liaison, 

Wash., D.C., 1988–1989; special assistant to the chief of staff, Army, Wash., D.C., 1989–

1991; promoted to colonel, May 1991; served as chief of staff, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort 

Hood, 1991–1993; commanded 3d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, 1993–1995; 

was the assistant chief of staff, G–3 (Operations), later chief of staff, V Corps, Germany, 

1995–1996; promoted to brigadier general, July 1996; assistant division commander 

(maneuver), later assistant division commander (support), 1st Armored Division, Germany 

and Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1996–1997; served as deputy director for politico-military affairs, 

J–5, the Joint Staff, Wash., D.C., 1997–1999; promoted to major general, September 1999; 

commanded 1st Armored Division, Germany, 1999–2001; subsequently commanded Joint 

Warfighting Center/director, Joint Training, J–7, United States Joint Forces Command, 

Suffolk, 2001; promoted to lieutenant general, October 2001; served as director, strategic 

plans and policy, J–5, later director, the Joint Staff, Wash., D.C., 2001–2003; was vice chief 

of staff of the United States Army, 2003–2004; promoted to general, December 2003; commanded Multi-National Force–Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2004–2007; was chief of 

staff of the United States Army, 10 April 2007–11 April 2011; signed the Army Family 

Covenant in 2007 to bolster programs for Army families and spouses; worked to reshape 

and rebalance the force; oversaw the Army's portion of the 2005 Base Realignment and 

Closure Act; continued to lead the Army during Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring 

Freedom; retired from active service, 1 June 2011.

The Artist

Stephen Craighead (1954–) was raised in Fort Worth, Texas, and began his artistic career as a 

teenager, traveling extensively throughout North America to sketch and paint portraits. He studied 

at the National Academy of Design in New York City, the Cape School of Art in Massachusetts, the 

University of Texas at Austin, and in the Maryland studio of the celebrated portrait painter Cedric 

Egeli. Notable commissions include former Virginia governors James S. Gilmore III and Timothy M. 

Kaine. His portrait of Chief of Staff of the Army General George W. Casey, Jr., is reproduced from 

the Army Art Collection. 
George William Casey, Jr.

By Stephen Craighead

Oil on canvas, 40" x 30," 2011
172

Martin Edward Dempsey was born on 14 March 1952 in Bayonne, New 

Jersey. He graduated from the United States Military Academy and was commissioned 

a second lieutenant of Armor, 1974; served as platoon leader, Troop B, 1st Squadron, 

2d Armored Cavalry, Germany, 1975–1976; promoted to first lieutenant, June 1976; 

married Diane “Deanie” Sullivan, 10 July 1976; served as support platoon leader, 1st 

Squadron, 2d Armored Cavalry, Germany, 1976–1977; served as S–1 (Personnel), 

1st Squadron, 2d Armored Cavalry, Germany, 1977–1978; promoted to captain, 

August 1978; attended armor officer advanced course, United States Army Armor 

School, Fort Knox, 1978–1979; served as motor officer, 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry, 

4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Carson, 1979–1980; commanded Troop 

A, 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Carson, 

1980; served as S–3 (Operations), 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry, 4th Infantry Division 

(Mechanized), Fort Carson, 1980–1981; commanded Headquarters and Headquarters 

Troop, 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Carson, 

1981–1982; received a master of arts in English from Duke University, 1984; served 

as instructor, later assistant professor, Department of English, United States Military 

Academy, 1984–1987; promoted to major, September 1985; attended the Command 

and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, and received a master of military arts 

and sciences, 1988; served as executive officer, 4th Battalion, 67th Armor, 3d Armored 

Division, Germany, 1988–1989; served as S–3 (Operations), later executive officer, 3d 

Brigade, 3d Armored Division, Germany, and Operations Desert Shield and Desert 

Storm, 1989–1991; promoted to lieutenant colonel, 1 April 1991; commanded 4th 

Battalion, 67th Armor, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Germany, 1991–1993; 

became chief, Armor Branch, Combat Arms Division, Officer Personnel Management 

Directorate, United States Total Army Personnel Command, Alexandria, Virginia, 

1993–1995; promoted to colonel, 1 September 1995; attended National Defense 

University and received a master of science in national security and strategic studies, 

1996; commanded 3d Armored Cavalry, Fort Carson, 1996–1998; served as assistant 

deputy director for politico-military affairs, Europe and Africa, J–5, the Joint Staff, 

Wash., D.C., 1998–1999; served as special assistant to the chairman of the Joint 

Chiefs of Staff, 1999–2001; promoted to brigadier general, 1 August 2001; served 

as program manager, Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program, Saudi 

Arabia, 2001–2003; commanded 1st Armored Division, Operation Iraqi Freedom, 

2003–2004; promoted to major general, 1 September 2004; commanded 1st Armored 

Division, Germany, 2004–2005; promoted to lieutenant general, 8 September 2005; 

commanded Multi-National Security Transition Command–Iraq and NATO Training 

Mission–Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2005–2007; served as deputy commander, 

United States Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, 2007–2008; subsequently 

acting commander, United States Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, 2008; 

promoted to general, 8 December 2008; commanded United States Army Training and 

Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, 2008–2011; was thirty-seventh chief of staff, United 

States Army, 11 April 2011–7 September 2011; became the eighteenth chairman of the 

Joint Chiefs of Staff, 30 September 2011.

The Artist

Laurel Stern Boeck (1959–) was born and raised on Long Island, New York. She studied at the 

School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League in New York City, in Europe, and with artist 

John Murray. Her studio is in upstate New York. Notable commissions include Secretary of 

the Navy John H. Dalton, Commandant of the Marine Corps General Charles C. Krulak, and 

several congressmen. Her portrait of Chief of Staff of the Army General Martin E. Dempsey is 

reproduced from the Army Art Collection.
Martin Edward Dempsey

By Laurel Stern Boeck

Oil on canvas, 481⁄2" x 37," 2012 
174

Raymond Thomas Odierno was born on 8 September 1954 in Dover, New 

Jersey. He graduated from the United States Military Academy and was commissioned a 

second lieutenant of Artillery, 1976; married Linda Marie Burkarth, 26 June 1976; served 

as support platoon leader, later firing platoon leader, Battery C, 1st Battalion, 41st Field 

Artillery, 56th Field Artillery Brigade, Germany, 1976–1978; served as survey officer, 1st 

Battalion, 41st Field Artillery, 56th Field Artillery Brigade, Germany, 1978; promoted to 

first lieutenant, June 1978; served as aide-de-camp to the commanding general, 56th Field 

Artillery Brigade, Germany, 1978–1979; completed field artillery advanced course, Fort 

Sill, 1979–1980; served as liaison officer, 1st Battalion, 73d Field Artillery, XVIII Airborne 

Corps, Fort Bragg, 1980; promoted to captain, August 1980; commanded Service Battery, 

later Battery A, 1st Battalion, 73d Field Artillery, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, 

1980–1982; served as assistant S–3 (Operations), 1st Battalion, 73d Field Artillery, XVIII 

Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, 1982–1983; served as S–3 (Operations), 3d Battalion, 8th 

Field Artillery, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, 1983–1984; received a master of science 

in nuclear effects engineering from North Carolina State University, 1986; promoted to 

major, December 1986; served as nuclear research officer, later chief, Acquisition Support 

Division, Defense Nuclear Agency, later detailed as military adviser for arms control, 

Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1986–1989; attended United States Naval Command 

and Staff Course, Newport, 1989–1990; received a master of arts in national security and 

strategy from the United States Naval War College, 1990; served as executive officer, 2d 

Battalion, 3d Field Artillery, 3d Armored Division, Germany, 1990; served as executive 

officer, Division Artillery, 3d Armored Division, Germany, and Operations Desert 

Shield and Desert Storm, 1990–1991; served as executive officer, 42d Field Artillery 

Brigade, V Corps, Germany, 1991–1992; promoted to lieutenant colonel, February 1992; 

commanded 2d Battalion, 8th Field Artillery, 7th Infantry Division (Light), Fort Ord 

(relocated to Fort Lewis), 1992–1994; attended Army War College, 1994–1995; promoted 

to colonel, September 1995; commanded Division Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort 

Hood, 1995–1997; served as chief of staff, V Corps, Germany, 1997–1998; served as 

assistant division commander (support), 1st Armored Division, Germany, to include 

duty as deputy commanding general for ground operations, Task Force Hawk, Operation

Allied Force, Albania, 1998–1999; promoted to brigadier general, July 1999; served as 

director, force management, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, 

Wash., D.C., 1999–2001; promoted to major general, November 2001; commanded 4th 

Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Hood, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2001–2004; 

promoted to lieutenant general, November 2004; served as assistant to the chairman 

of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2004–2006; commanded III Corps and Fort Hood, 2006; 

commanded Multi-National Corps–Iraq and III Corps, Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2006–

2008; commanded III Corps and Fort Hood, 2008; promoted to general, September 2008; 

commanded Multi-National Force–Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and United States 

Forces–Iraq, Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn, 2008–2010; commanded United 

States Joint Forces Command, Norfolk, 2010–2011. He became chief of staff of the United 

States Army, 7 September 2011.

The Photographer

Monica A. King (1965–) is from Burlington, North Carolina. She started work for the U.S. Army 

Visual Information Center at the Pentagon in 1989 as a photographic lab technician. In 1999 

she became a photographer who covered special events and ceremonies with foreign dignitaries 

and other government officials. After 11 September 2001, she photographed the crash site and 

personal effects of the victims of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. In 2004 she became the first 

female portrait photographer for the Army Multimedia and Visual Information Directorate at the 

Pentagon. She has worked for the Army Multimedia and Visual Information Directorate for over 

twenty years.
Raymond Thomas Odierno

By Monica A. King

Photographic Portrait, 2011

Appendices

and

Bibliographies

179

Chronological List of Chief Executive Authorities, Departmental 

Secretaries, and Senior Officers

Executive Agency Presiding Official Commanding General

Continental Congress ———— George Washington

1775–1776 15 Jun 1775–

Board of War and Ordnance John Adams George Washington

1776–1777

Board of War Horatio Gates (president) George Washington

 Timothy Pickering

Richard Peters

1777–1781

War Office Benjamin Lincoln (secretary at war) George Washington

1781–1783 –23 Dec 1783

 Joseph Carleton (acting) Henry Knox

1783–1785 23 Dec 1783–20 Jun 1784

 Henry Knox John Doughty

1785–1789 20 Jun 1784–12 Aug 1784

 Josiah Harmar

12 Aug 1784–

President Secretary of War Commanding General

George Washington Henry Knox Josiah Harmar

30 Apr 1789–3 Mar 1797 12 Sep 1789–31 Dec 1794 –4 Mar 1791

 Arthur St. Clair

4 Mar 1791–5 Mar 1792

 Timothy Pickering Anthony Wayne

2 Jan 1795–10 Dec 1795 13 Apr 1792–15 Dec 1796

 James McHenry James Wilkinson

27 Jan 1796– 15 Dec 1796–13 Jul 1798

John Adams James McHenry George Washington

4 Mar 1797–3 Mar 1801 –13 May 1800 13 Jul 1798–14 Dec 1799

 Samuel Dexter Alexander Hamilton

13 May 1800–31 Jan 1801 14 Dec 1799–15 Jun 1800

 James Wilkinson

15 Jun 1800–

Thomas Jefferson Henry Dearborn James Wilkinson

4 Mar 1801–3 Mar 1809 5 Mar 1801– 

Appendix A
180

Chronological List of Chief Executive Authorities, Departmental 

Secretaries, and Senior Officers—Continued

President Secretary of War Commanding General

James Madison Henry Dearborn James Wilkinson

4 Mar 1809–3 Mar 1817 –7 Mar 1809

 William Eustis James Wilkinson

7 Mar 1809–13 Jan 1813 –27 Jan 1812

 John Armstrong Henry Dearborn

13 Jan 1813–27 Sep 1814 27 Jan 1812–

 James Monroe Henry Dearborn

27 Sep 1814–2 Mar 1815 –15 Jun 1815

 William H. Crawford Jacob J. Brown

1 Aug 1815–22 Oct 1816 15 Jun 1815–

James Monroe John C. Calhoun Jacob J. Brown

4 Mar 1817–3 Mar 1825 8 Oct 1817–

John Quincy Adams John C. Calhoun Jacob J. Brown

4 Mar 1825–3 Mar 1829 –7 Mar 1825

 James Barbour Jacob J. Brown

7 Mar 1825–23 May 1828 –24 Feb 1828

 Peter B. Porter Alexander Macomb

26 May 1828– 29 May 1828–

Andrew Jackson Peter B. Porter Alexander Macomb

4 Mar 1829–3 Mar 1837 –9 Mar 1829

 John H. Eaton Alexander Macomb

9 Mar 1829–18 Jun 1831

 Lewis Cass Alexander Macomb

1 Aug 1831–5 Oct 1836

Martin Van Buren Joel R. Poinsett Alexander Macomb

4 Mar 1837–3 Mar 1841 7 Mar 1837–

William H. Harrison Joel R. Poinsett Alexander Macomb

4 Mar 1841–4 Apr 1841 –5 Mar 1841

 John Bell Alexander Macomb

5 Mar 1841–

John Tyler John Bell Alexander Macomb

6 Apr 1841–3 Mar 1845 –13 Sep 1841 –25 Jun 1841

 John C. Spencer Winfield Scott

12 Oct 1841–3 Mar 1843 5 Jul 1841–

 James M. Porter Winfield Scott

8 Mar 1843–30 Jun 1844

 William Wilkins Winfield Scott

15 Feb 1844–4 Mar 1845

James K. Polk William L. Marcy Winfield Scott

4 Mar 1845–3 Mar 1849 6 Mar 1845–4 Mar 1849

Zachary Taylor George W. Crawford Winfield Scott

5 Mar 1849–9 Jul 1850 8 Mar 1849–
181

President Secretary of War Commanding General

Millard Fillmore George W. Crawford Winfield Scott

10 Jul 1850–3 Mar 1853 –23 Jul 1850

 Charles M. Conrad Winfield Scott

15 Aug 1850–

Franklin Pierce Charles M. Conrad Winfield Scott

4 Mar 1853–3 Mar 1857 –7 Mar 1853

 Jefferson Davis Winfield Scott

7 Mar 1853–

James Buchanan Jefferson Davis Winfield Scott

4 Mar 1857–3 Mar 1861 –6 Mar 1857

 John B. Floyd Winfield Scott

6 Mar 1857–29 Dec 1860

 Joseph Holt Winfield Scott

18 Jan 1861–

Abraham Lincoln Joseph Holt Winfield Scott

4 Mar 1861–15 Apr 1865 –5 Mar 1861 –1 Nov 1861

 Simon Cameron George B. McClellan

5 Mar 1861–14 Jan 1862 1 Nov 1861–11 Mar 1862

 Edwin M. Stanton Henry W. Halleck

20 Jan 1862– 23 Jul 1862–9 Mar 1864

 Ulysses S. Grant

9 Mar 1864–

Andrew Johnson Edwin M. Stanton Ulysses S. Grant

15 Apr 1865–3 Mar 1869 –28 May 1868

 John M. Schofield Ulysses S. Grant

1 Jun 1868– –4 Mar 1869

Ulysses S. Grant John M. Schofield William T. Sherman

4 Mar 1869–3 Mar 1877 –13 Mar 1869 8 Mar 1869–

 John A. Rawlins William T. Sherman

13 Mar 1869–6 Sep 1869

 William W. Belknap William T. Sherman

25 Oct 1869–2 Mar 1876

 Alphonso Taft William T. Sherman

8 Mar 1876–22 May 1876

 James D. Cameron William T. Sherman

22 May 1876–3 Mar 1877

Rutherford B. Hayes George W. McCrary William T. Sherman

4 Mar 1877–3 Mar 1881 12 Mar 1877–10 Dec 1879

 Alexander Ramsey William T. Sherman

10 Dec 1879–

James A. Garfield Alexander Ramsey William T. Sherman

4 Mar 1881–19 Sep 1881 –5 Mar 1881

 Robert T. Lincoln William T. Sherman

5 Mar 1881–

Chester A. Arthur Robert T. Lincoln William T. Sherman

20 Sep 1881–3 Mar 1885 –1 Nov 1883

 Philip H. Sheridan

1 Nov 1883–
182

Chronological List of Chief Executive Authorities, Departmental 

Secretaries, and Senior Officers—Continued

President Secretary of War Commanding General

Grover Cleveland Robert T. Lincoln Philip H. Sheridan

4 Mar 1885–3 Mar 1889 –5 Mar 1885 –5 Aug 1888

 William C. Endicott John M. Schofield

5 Mar 1885– 14 Aug 1888–

Benjamin Harrison William C. Endicott John M. Schofield

4 Mar 1889–3 Mar 1893 –5 Mar 1889

 Redfield Proctor John M. Schofield

5 Mar 1889–5 Nov 1891

 Stephen B. Elkins John M. Schofield

17 Dec 1891–

Grover Cleveland Stephen B. Elkins John M. Schofield

4 Mar 1893–3 Mar 1897 –5 Mar 1893 –29 Sep 1895

 Daniel S. Lamont Nelson A. Miles

5 Mar 1893– 5 Oct 1895–

William McKinley Daniel S. Lamont Nelson A. Miles

4 Mar 1897–14 Sep 1901 –5 Mar 1897

 Russell A. Alger Nelson A. Miles

5 Mar 1897–1 Aug 1899

 Elihu Root Nelson A. Miles

1 Aug 1899–

Theodore Roosevelt Elihu Root Nelson A. Miles

14 Sep 1901–3 Mar 1909 –8 Aug 1903

 Chief of Staff

 Elihu Root Samuel B. M. Young

–31 Jan 1904 15 Aug 1903–8 Jan 1904

 William H. Taft Adna R. Chaffee

1 Feb 1904–30 Jun 1908 9 Jan 1904–14 Jan 1906

 Luke E. Wright John C. Bates

Jul 1908– 15 Jan 1906–13 Apr 1906

 J. Franklin Bell

14 Apr 1906–

William H. Taft Luke E. Wright J. Franklin Bell

4 Mar 1909–3 Mar 1913 –11 Mar 1909

 Jacob M. Dickinson J. Franklin Bell

12 Mar 1909–21 May 1911 –21 Apr 1910

 Henry L. Stimson Leonard Wood

22 May 1911–4 Mar 1913 22 Apr 1910–
183

President Secretary of War Chief of Staff

Woodrow Wilson Lindley M. Garrison Leonard Wood

4 Mar 1913–3 Mar 1921 5 Mar 1913–10 Feb 1916 –20 Apr 1914

 Newton D. Baker William W. Wotherspoon

9 Mar 1916–4 Mar 1921 21 Apr 1914–15 Nov 1914

 Hugh L. Scott

16 Nov 1914–21 Sep 1917

Tasker H. Bliss

22 Sep 1917–18 May 1918

Peyton C. March

19 May 1918–

Warren G. Harding John W. Weeks Peyton C. March

4 Mar 1921–2 Aug 1923 5 Mar 1921– –30 Jun 1921

 John J. Pershing

1 Jul 1921–

Calvin Coolidge John W. Weeks John J. Pershing

3 Aug 1923–3 Mar 1929 –13 Oct 1925 –13 Sep 1924

 Dwight F. Davis John L. Hines

14 Oct 1925– 14 Sep 1924–20 Nov 1926

 Charles P. Summerall

21 Nov 1926–

Herbert C. Hoover Dwight F. Davis Charles P. Summerall

4 Mar 1929–3 Mar 1933 –5 Mar 1929

 James W. Good Charles P. Summerall

6 Mar 1929–18 Nov 1929

 Patrick J. Hurley Charles P. Summerall

9 Dec 1929–3 Mar 1933 –20 Nov 1930

 Douglas MacArthur

21 Nov 1930–

Franklin D. Roosevelt George H. Dern Douglas MacArthur

4 Mar 1933–12 Apr 1945 4 Mar 1933–27 Aug 1936 –1 Oct 1935

 Harry H. Woodring Malin Craig

25 Sep 1936–20 Jun 1940 2 Oct 1935–31 Aug 1939

 Henry L. Stimson George C. Marshall

10 Jul 1940– 1 Sep 1939–

Harry S. Truman Henry L. Stimson George C. Marshall

12 Apr 1945–20 Jan 1953 –21 Sep 1945 –18 Nov 1945

 Robert P. Patterson Dwight D. Eisenhower

27 Sep 1945–18 Jul 1947 19 Nov 1945–

 Kenneth C. Royall Dwight D. Eisenhower

19 Jul 1947–

 Secretary of the Army

 Kenneth C. Royall Dwight D. Eisenhower

–27 Apr 1949 –7 Feb 1948

 Gordon Gray Omar N. Bradley

20 Jun 1949–12 Apr 1950 7 Feb 1948–16 Aug 1949

 Frank Pace, Jr. J. Lawton Collins

12 Apr 1950–20 Jan 1953 16 Aug 1949–
184

Chronological List of Chief Executive Authorities, Departmental 

Secretaries, and Senior Officers—Continued

President Secretary of the Army Chief of Staff

Dwight D. Eisenhower Robert T. Stevens J. Lawton Collins

20 Jan 1953–20 Jan 1961 4 Feb 1953–21 Jul 1955 –5 Aug 1953

 Matthew B. Ridgway

16 Aug 1953–30 Jun 1955

 Wilber M. Brucker Maxwell D. Taylor

21 Jul 1955–19 Jan 1961 30 Jun 1955–30 Jun 1959

 Lyman L. Lemnitzer

1 Jul 1959–30 Sep 1960

George H. Decker

1 Oct 1960–

John F. Kennedy Elvis J. Stahr, Jr. George H. Decker

20 Jan 1961–22 Nov 1963 24 Jan 1961–30 Jun 1962

 Cyrus R. Vance George H. Decker

5 Jul 1962– –30 Sep 1962

 Earle G. Wheeler

1 Oct 1962–

Lyndon B. Johnson Cyrus R. Vance Earle G. Wheeler

22 Nov 1963–20 Jan 1969 –21 Jan 1964 –2 Jul 1964

 Stephen Ailes Harold K. Johnson

28 Jan 1964–1 Jul 1965 3 Jul 1964–

 Stanley R. Resor Harold K. Johnson

2 Jul 1965– –2 Jul 1968

 William C. Westmoreland

3 Jul 1968–

Richard M. Nixon Stanley R. Resor William C. Westmoreland

20 Jan 1969–9 Aug 1974 –30 Jun 1971

 Robert F. Froehlke William C. Westmoreland

1 Jul 1971–14 May 1973 –30 Jun 1972

 Bruce Palmer, Jr. (acting)

1 Jul 1972–11 Oct 1972

Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.

12 Oct 1972–

 Howard H. Callaway Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.

15 May 1973– –4 Sep 1974

Gerald R. Ford Howard H. Callaway Fred C. Weyand

9 Aug 1974–20 Jan 1977 –3 Jul 1975 3 Oct 1974–

 Martin R. Hoffmann Fred C. Weyand

5 Aug 1975– –30 Sep 1976

 Bernard W. Rogers

1 Oct 1976–
185

President Secretary of the Army Chief of Staff

Jimmy (James E.) Carter Martin R. Hoffmann Bernard W. Rogers

20 Jan 1977–20 Jan 1981 –13 Feb 1977 –21 Jun 1979

 Clifford L. Alexander, Jr. Edward C. Meyer

14 Feb 1977–20 Jan 1981 22 Jun 1979–

Ronald W. Reagan John O. Marsh, Jr. Edward C. Meyer

20 Jan 1981–20 Jan 1989 21 Jan 1981– –21 Jun 1983

 John A. Wickham, Jr.

23 Jun 1983–23 Jun 1987

Carl E. Vuono

23 Jun 1987–

George Bush John O. Marsh, Jr. Carl E. Vuono

20 Jan 1989–20 Jan 1993 –13 Aug 1989

 Michael P. W. Stone Carl E. Vuono

14 Aug 1989–19 Jan 1993 –21 Jun 1991

 Gordon R. Sullivan

21 Jun 1991–

William J. Clinton Togo D. West, Jr. Gordon R. Sullivan

20 Jan 1993–20 Jan 2001 22 Nov 1993–5 May 1998 –20 Jun 1995

 Dennis J. Reimer

20 Jun 1995–

 Louis E. Caldera Dennis J. Reimer

2 Jul 1998–20 Jan 2001 –20 Jun 1999

 Eric K. Shinseki

22 Jun 1999–

George W. Bush Thomas E. White Eric K. Shinseki

20 Jan 2001–20 Jan 2009 31 May 2001–9 May 2003 –11 Jun 2003

 Peter J. Schoomaker

1 Aug 2003–

 Francis J. Harvey Peter J. Schoomaker

 19 Nov 2004– 9 Mar 2007 –10 Apr 2007

 Preston M. Geren George W. Casey, Jr.

9 Mar 2007– 10 Apr 2007–

Barack H. Obama Preston M. Geren George W. Casey, Jr.

 20 Jan 2009– –21 Sep 2009 

 John M. McHugh George W. Casey, Jr.

21 Sep 2009– –11 Apr 2011

 Martin E. Dempsey

11 Apr 2011–7 Sep 2011

 Raymond T. Odierno

7 Sep 2011–
186

Gen2 George Washington 22 Feb 1732 15 Jun 1775 43/4 23 Dec 1783 8/6 14 Dec 1799 67/10

Maj Gen Henry Knox 25 Jul 1750 23 Dec 1783 33/5 20 Jun 1784 0/6 25 Oct 1806 56/3

Capt John Doughty 25 Jul 1754 20 Jun 1784 29/11 12 Aug 1784 0/2 16 Sep 1826 72/2

Bvt Brig Gen Josiah Harmar 10 Nov 1753 12 Aug 1784 30/9 4 Mar 1791 6/7 20 Aug 1813 59/9

Maj Gen Arthur St. Clair 23 Mar 17363 4 Mar 1791 55/0 5 Mar 1792 1/0 31 Aug 1818 82/5

Maj Gen Anthony Wayne 1 Jan 1745 13 Apr 1792 47/3 15 Dec 1796 4/8 15 Dec 1796 51/11

Brig Gen James Wilkinson circa 1757 15 Dec 1796 39/0 13 Jul 1798 1/7 28 Dec 1825 68/0

Lt Gen George Washington 22 Feb 1732 13 Jul 1798 66/5 14 Dec 1799 1/5 14 Dec 1799 67/10

Maj Gen Alexander Hamilton 11 Jan 1757 14 Dec 1799 42/11 15 Jun 1800 0/6 12 Jul 1804 47/6

Brig Gen James Wilkinson circa 1757 15 Jun 1800 43/0 27 Jan 1812 11/7 28 Dec 1825 68/0

Maj Gen Henry Dearborn 23 Feb 1751 27 Jan 1812 60/11 15 Jun 1815 3/5 6 Jun 1829 78/3

Maj Gen Jacob J. Brown 9 May 1775 15 Jun 1815 40/1 24 Feb 1828 12/8 24 Feb 1828 52/9

Maj Gen Alexander Macomb 3 Apr 1782 29 May 1828 46/2 25 Jun 1841 13/1 25 Jun 1841 59/3

Bvt Lt Gen Winfield Scott 13 Jun 1786 5 Jul 1841 55/1 1 Nov 1861 20/4 29 May 1866 79/11

Maj Gen George B. McClellan 3 Dec 1826 1 Nov 1861 34/11 11 Mar 1862 0/4 29 Oct 1885 58/11

Maj Gen Henry W. Halleck 16 Jan 1815 23 Jul 1862 47/6 9 Mar 1864 1/7 9 Jan 1872 56/11

Gen2 Ulysses S. Grant 27 Apr 1822 9 Mar 1864 41/10 4 Mar 1869 5/0 23 Jul 1885 63/3

Gen2 William T. Sherman 8 Feb 1820 8 Mar 1869 49/1 1 Nov 1883 14/8 14 Feb 1891 71/0

Gen2 Philip H. Sheridan 6 Mar 1831 1 Nov 1883 52/8 5 Aug 1888 4/9 5 Aug 1888 57/5

Lt Gen John McA. Schofield 29 Sep 1831 14 Aug 1888 56/11 29 Sep 1895 7/1 4 Mar 1906 74/5

Lt Gen Nelson A. Miles 8 Aug 1839 5 Oct 1895 56/2 8 Aug 1903 7/10 15 May 1925 85/9

Lt Gen Samuel B. M. Young 9 Jan 1840 15 Aug 1903 63/7 8 Jan 1904 0/5 1 Sep 1924 84/9

Lt Gen Adna R. Chaffee 14 Apr 1842 9 Jan 1904 61/8 14 Jan 1906 2/0 1 Nov 1914 72/7

Lt Gen John C. Bates 26 Aug 1842 15 Jan 1906 63/4 13 Apr 1906 0/3 4 Feb 1919 76/5

Maj Gen T. Franklin Bell 9 Jan 1856 14 Apr 1906 50/3 21 Apr 1910 4/0 8 Jan 1919 63/0

Maj Gen Leonard Wood 9 Oct 1860 22 Apr 1910 49/6 20 Apr 1914 4/0 7 Aug 1927 66/10

Maj Gen William W. 16 Nov 1850 21 Apr 1914 63/5 15 Nov 1914 0/7 21 Oct 1921 70/11

 Wotherspoon

Maj Gen Hugh L. Scott 22 Sep 1853 16 Nov 1914 61/1 21 Sep 1917 2/10 30 Apr 1934 80/7

Gen Tasker H. Bliss 31 Dec 1853 22 Sep 1917 63/8 18 May 1918 0/8 9 Nov 1930 76/10

Gen Peyton C. March 27 Dec 1864 19 May 1918 53/5 30 Jun 1921 3/1 13 Apr 1955 90/4

Gen2 John J. Pershing 13 Sep 1860 1 Jul 1921 60/9 13 Sep 1924 3/2 15 Jul 1948 87/10

Maj Gen John L. Hines 21 May 1868 14 Sep 1924 56/3 20 Nov 1926 2/2 13 Oct 1968 100/4

Gen Charles P. Summerall 4 Mar 1867 21 Nov 1926 59/8 20 Nov 1930 4/0 14 May 1955 88/2

Gen2 Douglas MacArthur 26 Jan 1880 21 Nov 1930 50/9 1 Oct 1935 4/11 5 Apr 1964 84/2

Gen Malin Craig 5 Aug 1875 2 Oct 1935 60/1 31 Aug 1939 3/11 25 Jul 1945 69/11

Gen of Army George C. Marshall 31 Dec 1880 1 Sep 1939 58/8 18 Nov 1945 6/2 16 Oct 1959 78/9

Gen of Army Dwight D. Eisenhower 14 Oct 1890 19 Oct 1945 55/1 7 Feb 1948 2/2 28 Mar 1969 78/5

Appendix B

Chronological List of Senior Officers of the United States Army

 Date of Date Took Age Left Tour Date of Age

Rank1 Name Birth Office Yrs/Mos Office Yrs/Mos Death Yrs/Mos
187

Gen2 Omar N. Bradley 12 Feb 1893 7 Feb 1948 54/11 16 Aug 1949 1/6 8 Apr 1981 88/1

Gen J. Lawton Collins 1 May 1896 16 Aug 1949 53/3 5 Aug 1953 4/0 12 Sep 1987 91/4

Gen Matthew B. Ridgway 3 Mar 1895 16 Aug 1953 58/5 30 Jun 1955 1/10 26 Jul 1993 98/4

Gen Maxwell D. Taylor 26 Aug 1901 30 Jun 1955 53/10 30 Jun 1959 4/0 19 Apr 1987 86/4

Gen Lyman L. Lemnitzer 29 Aug 1899 1 Jul 1959 59/10 30 Sep 1960 1/3 12 Nov 1988 89/3

Gen George H. Decker 16 Feb 1902 1 Oct 1960 58/7 30 Sep 1962 2/0 6 Feb 1980 77/11

Gen Earle G. Wheeler 13 Jan 1908 1 Oct 1962 54/8 2 Jul 1964 1/9 18 Dec 1975 67/11

Gen Harold K. Johnson 22 Feb 1912 3 Jul 1964 52/4 2 Jul 1968 4/0 24 Sep 1983 71/7

Gen William C. 26 Mar 1914 3 Jul 1968 54/3 30 Jun 1972 4/0 18 Jul 2005 91/4

 Westmoreland

Gen Bruce Palmer, Jr.4 13 Apr 1913 1 Jul 1972 56/2 11 Oct 1972 0/3 10 Oct 2000 87/6

Gen Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.15 Sep 1914 12 Oct 1972 58/1 4 Sep 1974 1/10 4 Sep 1974 59/11

Gen Frederick C. Weyand 15 Sep 1916 3 Oct 1974 58/0 30 Sep 1976 2/0 10 Feb 2010 93/4

Gen Bernard W. Rogers 16 Jul 1921 1 Oct 1976 55/2 21 Jun 1979 2/8 27 Oct 2008 87/3

Gen Edward C. Meyer 11 Dec 1928 22 Jun 1979 50/6 21 Jun 1983 4/0

Gen John A. Wickham, Jr. 25 Jun 1928 23 Jun 1983 57/0 23 Jun 1987 4/0

Gen Carl E. Vuono 18 Oct 1934 23 Jun 1987 52/8 21 Jun 1991 4/0

Gen Gordon R. Sullivan 25 Sep 1937 21 Jun 1991 53/9 20 Jun 1995 4/0

Gen Dennis J. Reimer 12 Jul 1939 20 Jun 1995 55/11 20 Jun 1999 4/0

Gen Eric K. Shinseki 28 Nov 1942 22 Jun 1999 56/7 11 Jun 2003 4/0

Gen Peter J. Schoomaker 12 Feb 1946 1 Aug 2003 57/6 10 Apr 2007 3/8

Gen George W. Casey, Jr. 22 Jul 1948 10 Apr 2007 58/9 11 Apr 2011 4/0

Gen Martin E. Dempsey 14 Mar 1952 11 Apr 2011 59/1 7 Sep 2011 0/5

Gen Raymond T. Odierno 8 Sep 1954 7 Sep 2011 57/0

1Rank indicated, whether permanent or temporary, is 

the highest rank held while in office.

2Lack of uniformity in upper-level military rank and 

title throughout Army history negates attempts to draw 

comprehensive comparisons and establish true seniority. 

In early years high rank was bestowed temporarily upon 

individuals rather than permanently through the grade 

structure. Variations in title and organization make it difficult to equate individuals and positions of one generation 

with those of another, and there has often been confusion between title and rank. From 1775 to 1783 George 

Washington was general and commander in chief of the 

Continental Army. When he was recalled in 1798, the 

Congress passed legislation that would have made him 

General of the Armies of the United States, but his services 

were not required in the field and the appointment was not 

made until the Bicentennial in 1976, when it was bestowed 

posthumously as a commemorative honor. After the Civil 

War Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and Philip H. 

Sheridan all held the grade of general, specified as General 

of the Army of the United States; but, unlike the more 

modern practice, the word General represented grade while 

the rest of the phrase denoted title—a style that extended 

to lower levels in similar titles of lieutenant general of the 

Army and, earlier, major general of the Army. In 1919 the 

rank of General of the Armies of the United States was 

given to John J. Pershing, who chose, however, to continue 

wearing four stars. Present-day formality entered the picture in 1944, when the temporary grade of General of the 

Army, identified by five stars and limited to four recipients, 

was established. It was made permanent for those holding it in 1946: George C. Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, 

Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Henry Arnold. The subsequent transfer of General of the Army Arnold to the Air 

Force opened the way for the promotion of General Omar 

N. Bradley to the vacated space.

3St. Clair’s date of birth conforms to the old style, or 

Julian calendar. Under the new style, or Gregorian calendar, the date would be 3 April 1736.

4Palmer provided key managerial continuity during 

the Westmoreland-Abrams interregnum, and therefore is 

included in the list of Army chiefs of staff.

 Date of Date Took Age Left Tour Date of Age

Rank1 Name Birth Office Yrs/Mos Office Yrs/Mos Death Yrs/Mos
188

General Bibliography

American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and 

Executive, of the Congress of the United States. . . . 

Class 5. Military Affairs. 7 vols. Washington, D.C.: 

Gales and Seaton, 1832–61.

Atkinson, Rick. The Long Gray Line: The American 

Journey of West Point’s Class of 1966. Boston: 

Houghton Mifflin, 1989.

Ball, Harry P. Of Responsible Command: A History of the 

U.S. Army War College. Rev. ed. Carlisle Barracks, 

Pa.: Alumni Assoc. of the United States Army War 

College, 1994.

Beaver, Daniel R. Newton D. Baker and the American 

War Effort, 1917–1919. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska 

Press, 1966.

Bell, William Gardner. Secretaries of War and Secretaries 

of the Army: Portraits and Biographical Sketches.

Rev. ed. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military 

History, United States Army, 2003.

Brown, John S. Kevlar Legions: The Transformation of 

the U.S. Army, 1989–2005. Washington, D.C.: Center 

of Military History, United States Army, 2011.

Cline, Ray S. Washington Command Post: The 

Operations Division. United States Army in World 

War II. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military 

History, United States Army, 1951.

Coffman, Edward M. The Old Army: A Portrait of the 

American Army in Peacetime, 1784–1898. New 

York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1986.

As the Army’s past is a substantive element 

of American history, its uniformed heads 

are, perforce, national as well as institutional 

figures. A knowledge of their roles and of the part 

played by their branch of the service in the events of 

the times is thus important to an understanding of 

both national and international affairs.

The literature of an institution and its leaders over an extended period of time is bound to 

be uneven. Not all senior officers are destined to 

be prominent figures during their tenures, nor is 

every era likely to see the Army in the forefront of 

American life. The ebb and flow of events, as well 

as the personality and style of an official, inevitably 

influence the degree of attention accorded an institution or an individual at any given time.

This general bibliography includes works on 

national defense, the Army, the departmental headquarters, the civil administration and selected civilian department heads, the General Staff, and the 

broad details of the organization and operation of the 

department.

———. The Regulars: The American Army, 1898–1941. 

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 2004.

———. The War To End All Wars: The American 

Military Experience in World War I. 1968. Reprint, 

with new preface, Lexington: Univ. Press of 

Kentucky, 1998.

Cole, Alice C.; Alfred Goldberg; Samuel A. 

Tucker; and Rudolph A. Winnacker, eds. 

The Department of Defense: Documents on 

Establishment and Organization, 1944–1978.

Washington, D.C.: Office of the Secretary of 

Defense, 1979.

Cooling, B. Franklin, ed. The New American State 

Papers. Military Affairs. 19 vols. Wilmington, Del.: 

Scholarly Resources, 1979.

Cosmas, Graham A. An Army for Empire: The United 

States Army in the Spanish-American War. 2d ed. 

Shippensburg, Pa.: White Mane, 1994.

Crackel, Theodore J. West Point: A Bicentennial History. 

Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas, 2002.

Cullum, George W. Biographical Register of the 

Officers and Graduates of the United States Military 

Academy. . . . Vols. 1–3. 3d ed. Boston: Houghton 

Mifflin, 1891. Vols. 4–9. Assoc. of Graduates, U.S. 

Military Academy, 1901–50.

Dawson, Joseph G., III, ed. Commanders in Chief: 

Presidential Leadership in Modern Wars. Lawrence: 

Univ. Press of Kansas, 1993.
189

Janowitz, Morris. The Professional Soldier: A Social and 

Political Portrait. Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1960.

Jessup, Philip C. Elihu Root. 2 vols. New York: Dodd, 

Mead, 1938.

Just, Ward S. The Military Men. New York: Knopf, 1970.

Kemble, Robert C. The Image of the Army Officer in 

America: Background for Current Views. Westport, 

Conn.: Greenwood, 1973.

Killigrew, John W. The Impact of the Great Depression 

on the Army. New York: Garland, 1979.

Kitfield, James. Prodigal Soldiers: How the Generation 

of Officers Born of Vietnam Revolutionized the 

American Style of War. 1995. Reprint, Washington, 

D.C.: Brassey, 1997.

Kohn, Richard H. Eagle and Sword: The Beginnings of 

the Military Establishment in America. New York: 

Macmillan, Free Press, 1964.

Kolodziej, Edward A. The Uncommon Defense and 

Congress, 1945–1963. Columbus: Ohio State Univ. 

Press, 1966.

Korb, Lawrence J. The Fall and Rise of the Pentagon: 

American Defense Policies in the 1970s. Westport, 

Conn.: Greenwood, 1979.

———. The Joint Chiefs of Staff: The First Twenty-five 

Years. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1976.

Linn, Brian McAllister. Echoes of Battle: The Army’s Way 

of War. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 2007. 

Masland, John W., and Laurence I. Radway. Soldiers and 

Scholars: Military Education and National Policy. 

Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1957.

May, Ernest R., ed. The Ultimate Decision: The President 

as Commander in Chief. New York: Braziller, 1960.

McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil 

War Era. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1988.

Meneely, Alexander Howard. The War Department, 

1861: A Study in Mobilization and Administration.

Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law, no. 

300. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1928.

Millett, Allan R., and Peter Maslowski. For the Common 

Defense: A Military History of the United States of 

America. 3d ed. New York: Free Press, 2012.

Millis, Walter. Arms and Men: A Study in American 

Military History. New York: Putnam, 1956.

Morison, Elting E. Turmoil and Tradition: A Study of 

the Life and Times of Henry L. Stimson. Boston: 

Houghton Mifflin, 1960.

Nelson, Otto L., Jr. National Security and the General 

Staff. Washington, D.C.: Infantry Journal Press, 1946.

Nenninger, Timothy K. The Leavenworth Schools and 

the Old Army: Education, Professionalism, and the 

Officer Corps of the United States Army, 1881–1918. 

Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1978.

Niven, John. John C. Calhoun and the Price of Union: 

A Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. 

Press, 1998.

Palmer, John McAuley. America in Arms: The Experience 

of the United States With Military Organization. New 

Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1941.

Doubler, Michael D. Civilian in War, Soldier in Peace: 

The Army National Guard, 1636–2000. Lawrence: 

Univ. Press of Kansas, 2003.

Ekirch, Arthur A., Jr. The Civilian and the Military. New 

York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1956.

Feaver, Peter. Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and 

Civil-Military Relations. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard 

Univ. Press, 2003.

Fisher, Louis. Presidential War Powers. 2d ed. Lawrence: 

Univ. Press of Kansas, 2005.

Gabriel, Richard A., and Paul L. Savage. Crisis in 

Command: Mismanagement in the Army. New York: 

Hill and Wang, 1978.

Ganoe, William Addleman. The History of the United 

States Army. New York: Appleton, 1924.

Garraty, John A., and Mark C. Carnes, eds. American 

National Biography. 24 vols. New York: Oxford 

Univ. Press, 1999.

Gavin, James M. War and Peace in the Space Age. New 

York: Harper, 1958.

Goodpaster, Andrew J. For the Common Defense.

Lexington, Mass.: Heath, Lexington Books, 1977.

Griffith, Robert K., Jr. The U.S. Army’s Transition to the 

All-Volunteer Force, 1968–1974. Army Historical 

Series. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 

United States Army, 1997.

Hagan, Kenneth J., and William R. Roberts, eds. Against 

All Enemies: Interpretations of American Military 

History from Colonial Times to the Present. New 

York: Greenwood, 1986.

Hammond, Paul Y. Organizing for Defense: The 

American Military Establishment in the Twentieth 

Century. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1961.

Hattaway, Herman, and Archer Jones. How the North 

Won: A Military History of the Civil War. 1983. 

Reprint, Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press, 1991.

Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register and Dictionary 

of the United States Army, 1789–1903. Washington, 

D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1903.

Herspring, Dale R. The Pentagon and the Presidency: 

Civil-Military Relations From FDR to George W. 

Bush. Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas, 2005.

Hewes, James E., Jr. From Root to McNamara: Army 

Organization and Administration, 1900–1963.

Special Studies. Washington, D.C.: Center of 

Military History, United States Army, 1975.

Hittle, James D. The Military Staff: Its History and 

Development. Harrisburg, Pa.: Military Service, 

1944.

Huntington, Samuel P. The Soldier and the State. The 

Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations. 

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, Belknap, 

1957.

Ingersoll, Lurton D. A History of the War Department of 

the United States With Biographical Sketches of the 

Secretaries. Washington, D.C.: Mohun, 1880.

Jacobs, James Ripley. The Beginnings of the U.S. Army, 

1783–1812. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1947.
190

Reardon, Carol. Soldiers and Scholars: The U.S. Army 

and the Uses of Military History, 1865–1920. 

Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas, 1990.

Reardon, Stephen N. History of the Office of the 

Secretary of Defense, vol. 1, The Formative Years, 

1947–1950. Washington, D.C.: Office of the 

Secretary of Defense, 1984.

Ries, John C. The Management of Defense: 

Organization and Control of the U.S. Armed 

Services. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1964.

Rippy, J. Fred. Joel R. Poinsett: Versatile American.

Durham, N.C.: Duke Univ. Press, 1935.

Roberts, William R. “Loyalty and Expertise: The 

Transformation of the Nineteenth-Century American 

General Staff and the Creation of the Modern 

Military Establishment.” Ph.D. diss., Johns Hopkins 

Univ., 1980.

Rodenbough, Theophilus F., and William L. Haskin, 

eds. The Army of the United States: Historical 

Sketches of Staff and Line With Portraits of 

Generals-in-Chief. New York: Maynard, Merrill, 

1896.

Sanders, Jennings B. Evolution of the Executive 

Departments of the Continental Congress, 

1774–1789. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina 

Press, 1935.

Sherry, Mark D. The Army Command Post and 

Defense Reshaping, 1987–1997. Washington, 

D.C.: Center of Military History, United States 

Army, 2008.

Skelton, William B. An American Profession of Arms: 

The Army Officer Corps, 1784–1861. Lawrence: 

Univ. Press of Kansas, 1992.

Skowronek, Stephen. Building a New American 

State: The Expansion of National Administrative 

Capacities, 1877–1920. New York: Cambridge 

Univ. Press, 1982.

Smith, Louis. American Democracy and Military 

Power: A Study of Civil Control of the Military 

Power in the United States. Studies in Public 

Administration. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 

1951.

Spaulding, Oliver Lyman. The United States Army in 

War and Peace. New York: Putnam, 1937.

Spiller, Roger J. “John C. Calhoun as Secretary of War, 

1817–1825,” Ph.D. diss., Louisiana State Univ. 

Press, 1978.

Spiller, Roger J., and Joseph G. Dawson, eds. 

Dictionary of American Military Biography. 

Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1984.

Stanley, Timothy W. American Defense and National 

Security. Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 

1956.

Stewart, Richard W., ed. American Military History, 

vol. 1, The United States Army and the Forging of 

a Nation, 1775–1917. Army Historical Series. 2d 

ed. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 

United States Army, 2009.

———., ed. American Military History, vol. 2, The 

United States Army in a Global Era, 1917–2008. 

Army Historical Series. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: 

Center of Military History, United States Army, 

2010.

Thian, Raphael P., comp. Legislative History of the 

General Staff of the Army of the United States 

. . . , 1775–1901. Washington, D.C.: Government 

Printing Office, 1901.

Thomas, Benjamin P., and Harold M. Hyman. Stanton: 

The Life and Times of Lincoln’s Secretary of War.

New York: Knopf, 1962.

Upton, Emory. The Military Policy of the United States.

Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 

1904.

U.S. Congress, Senate. Extracts From the Journal of 

the United States in All Cases of Impeachment 

Presented by the House of Representatives, 1798–

1904. 62d Cong., 2d sess., S. Doc. 876. Washington, 

D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904.

U.S. War Department. Annual Reports. Report of the 

Secretary of War. Washington, D.C., 1823–1947.

Ward, Harry M. The Department of War, 1781–1795.

Pittsburgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1962.

Watson, Mark Skinner. Chief of Staff: Prewar Plans 

and Preparations. United States Army in World 

War II. Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, 

Department of the Army, 1950.

Weigley, Russell F. The American Way of War: A History 

of United States Military Strategy and Policy. 1973. 

Reprint, Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1977.

̲̲̲̲̲̲̲̲̲. History of the United States Army. 1967. Enl. 

ed. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1984.

———. Towards an American Army: Military Thought 

From Washington to Marshall. 1962. Reprint, 

Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1974.

White, Leonard Dupee. The Federalists: A Study in 

Administrative History. 1948. Reprint, Westport, 

Conn.: Greenwood, 1978.

———. The Jacksonians: A Study in Administrative 

History, 1829–1861. New York: Macmillan, 1954.

———. The Jeffersonians: A Study in Administrative 

History, 1801–1829. New York: Macmillan, 1951.

———. The Republican Era: A Study in Administrative 

History, 1869–1901. New York: Macmillan, 1958.

Williams, T. Harry. Americans at War: The 

Development of the American Military System.

Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1960.

Wilson, James H. The Life of John A. Rawlins: 

Lawyer, Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief of 

Staff, Major General of Volunteers and Secretary 

of War. New York: Neale, 1916.

Wiltse, Charles M. John C. Calhoun. 3 vols. 

Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1944–51.

Zais, Barrie E. “The Struggle for a 20th Century Army: 

Investigation and Reform of the United States Army 

After the Spanish-American War, 1898–1903.” Ph.D. 

diss., Duke Univ., 1981.
191

Bibliography of Senior Officers

Abrams, Creighton W., Jr.

Abrams, Creighton W., Jr. Vietnam Chronicles: 

The Abrams Tapes, 1968–1972. Edited by Lewis 

Sorley. Lubbock: Texas Tech Univ. Press, 2004.

Sorley, Lewis. Thunderbolt: General Creighton 

Abrams and the Army of His Times. New York: 

Simon and Schuster, 1992.

Bell, J. Franklin

Raines, Edgar F., Jr. “Major General J. Franklin 

Bell and Military Reform: The Chief of Staff 

Years, 1906–1910.” 2 vols. Ph.D. diss., Univ. of 

Wisconsin-Madison, 1976.

———. “Major General J. Franklin Bell, U.S.A.: 

The Education of a Soldier, 1856–1899.” 

Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 83 

(Autumn 1985): 315–46.

Ramsey, Robert D., III. A Masterpiece of 

Counterguerrilla Warfare: BG J. Franklin Bell 

in the Philippines, 1901–1902. The Long War 

All of the Army’s senior officers have received 

brief mention in one or another of the standard biographical reference works. Principal 

among the general sources are the twenty-volume 

Dictionary of American Biography, with supplements; the three-volume Dictionary of American 

Military Biography; Webster’s American Military 

Biographies; the various editions of Who’s Who 

in America, Who Was Who in America, and Who 

Was Who in American History—The Military; 

the Encyclopedia Americana and Encyclopaedia 

Britannica; and Current Biography.

Detailed military background is assembled in Francis 

B. Heitman’s Historical Register of Officers of the 

Continental Army, 1775–1783, and Historical Register 

and Dictionary of the United States Army, 1789–1903;

Thomas H. S. Hamersly’s Complete Army and Navy 

Register of the United States of America, 1776–1887;

George W. Cullum’s Biographical Register of the Officers 

and Graduates of the United States Military Academy; 

and the official Army Register.

Supplementing these sources are the Army 

General Orders published from earliest times and 

the official biographical sketches prepared for public 

information purposes in more recent times.

Autobiographies and secondary works on the 

Army’s senior officers provide the real substance on 

their lives and service. Understandably, the more prominent have received abundant attention (James Thomas 

Flexner has noted that published biographies of George 

Washington are as innumerable as the leaves in a forest), and in a select bibliography the problem becomes 

one of deciding what to leave out as well as what to put 

in. Unfortunately, other individuals of modest mien or 

quieter times may not have been appraised at all and 

have been disinclined to fill the void on their own. 

These individuals would make useful subjects for biographical attention; until they are treated, the listing that 

follows must remain incomplete. Some senior officers 

have also written books. Although not autobiographical, they may provide some insight into their lives and 

have also been included in this bibliography.

Series Occasional Paper 25. Fort Leavenworth, 

Kans.: U.S. Army Combat Studies Institute 

Press, 2007.

Bliss, Tasker H.

Palmer, Frederick. Bliss, Peacemaker: The Life and 

Letters of General Tasker Howard Bliss. New 

York: Dodd, Mead, 1934.

Trask, David F. General Tasker Howard Bliss and 

the “Sessions of the World,”1919. Philadelphia: 

American Philosophical Society, 1966.

Bradley, Omar N.

Bradley, Omar N. A Soldier’s Story. New York: 

Holt, 1951.

Bradley, Omar N., and Clay Blair. A General’s 

Life: An Autobiography. New York: Simon and 

Schuster, 1983.

Whiting, Charles. Bradley. Illustrated History of the 

Violent Century. New York: Ballantine Books, 

1971.
192

Brown, Jacob J.

Barbuto, Richard V. Niagara, 1814: America 

Invades Canada. Lawrence: Univ. Press of 

Kansas, 2000.

Morris, John D. Sword of the Border: Major 

General Jacob Jennings Brown, 1775–1828. 

Kent, Ohio: Kent State Univ. Press, 2000.

Casey, George W., Jr.

Casey, George W., Jr. Strategic Reflections: 

Operation Iraqi Freedom, July 2004–February 

2007. Fort McNair, D.C.: National Defense Univ. 

Press, 2012.

Jaffe, Greg, and David Cloud. The Fourth Star: Four 

Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of 

the United States Army. New York: Crown, 2009.

Chaffee, Adna R.

Carter, William Harding. The Life of Lieutenant 

General Chaffee. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago 

Press, 1917.

Collins, J. Lawton

Collins, J. Lawton. Lightning Joe: An Autobiography.

Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1979.

———. War in Peacetime: The History and Lessons 

of Korea. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969.

Jeffers, H. Paul. Taking Command: General J.

Lawton Collins from Guadalcanal to Utah Beach 

and Victory in Europe. New York: New American 

Library, 2009.

Dearborn, Henry

Coffin, Charles, comp. The Lives and Services of 

Major General John Thomas, Colonel Thomas 

Knowlton, Colonel Alexander Scammell, Major 

General Henry Dearborn. New York: Egbert, 

Hovery and King, 1845.

Dearborn, Henry. Revolutionary War Journals of 

Henry Dearborn, 1775–1783. Edited by Lloyd 

A. Brown and Howard H. Peckham. New York: 

Caxton, 1939.

Erney, Richard Alton. The Public Life of Henry 

Dearborn. New York: Arno, 1979.

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

Ambrose, Stephen E. Ike, Abilene to Berlin: The Life of 

Dwight D. Eisenhower.... New York: Harper, 1973.

———. Eisenhower: Soldier and President. New 

York: Simon and Schuster, 1983.

Childs, Marquis W. Eisenhower, Captive Hero: A 

Critical Study of the General and the President.

New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1958.

Clarfield, Gerard H. Security With Solvency: Dwight 

D. Eisenhower and the Shaping of the American 

Military Establishment. Westport, Conn.: 

Praeger, 1999.

D’Este, Carlo. Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life. New 

York: Holt, 2002.

Eisenhower, David. Eisenhower at War: 1943–1945.

New York: Random House, 1986.

Eisenhower, Dwight D. Crusade in Europe. Garden 

City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1948.

———. The Eisenhower Diaries. Edited by Robert 

H. Ferrell. New York: Norton, 1981.

———. The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower.

Edited by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., et al. 9 vols. 

Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1970–78. 

The Chief of Staff, vols. 7–9, edited by Louis 

Galambos, 1978. 

Eisenhower, John S. D. General Ike: A Personal 

Reminiscence. New York: Free Press, 2003.

Lyon, Peter. Eisenhower: Portrait of a Hero.

Boston: Little, Brown, 1974.

Smith, Jean Edward. Eisenhower in War and Peace. 

New York: Random House, 2012.

Grant, Ulysses S.

Badeau, Adam. Grant in Peace: From Appomattox 

to Mount McGregor. Hartford: Scranton, 1887.

Catton, Bruce. Grant Moves South. Boston: Little, 

Brown, 1960.

———. Grant Takes Command. Boston: Little, 

Brown, 1969.

———. U. S. Grant and the American Military 

Tradition. The Library of American Biography. 

Boston: Little, Brown, 1954.

Fuller, John Frederick Charles. The Generalship of 

Ulysses S. Grant. Civil War Centennial Series. 

New York: Dodd, Mead, 1929.

Grant, Ulysses S. The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Edited 

by John Y. Simon. 32 vols. to date. Carbondale: 

Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1982–2012.

———. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. 2 vols. 

New York: Webster, 1885–86.

Hyman, Harold M. “Johnson, Stanton, and Grant: A 

Reconsideration of the Army’s Role in the Events 

Leading to Impeachment.” American Historical 

Review 66 (October 1960): 85–100.

Lewis, Lloyd. Captain Sam Grant. Boston: Little, 

Brown, 1950.

Perret, Geoffrey. Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier & 

President. New York: Random House, 1997.

Smith, Jean Edward. Grant. New York: Simon and 

Schuster, 2001.

Waugh, Joan. U. S. Grant: American Hero, 

American Myth. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North 

Carolina Press, 2009.

Halleck, Henry

Ambrose, Stephen E. Halleck: Lincoln’s Chief of Staff.

Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1962.

Halleck, Henry W. Elements of Military Art and 

Science.... New York: Appleton, 1846.

———. International Law, or Rules Regulating the 

Intercourse of States in Peace and War. New 

York: Van Nostrand, 1861.

Marszalek, John F. Commander of All Lincoln’s 

Armies: A Life of General Henry W. Halleck. 

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 2004.

Hamilton, Alexander

Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: 

Penguin, 2004.
193

Cooke, Jacob E. Alexander Hamilton. New York: 

Scribner, 1982.

Hacker, Louis M. Alexander Hamilton in the American 

Tradition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1957.

Hamilton, Alexander. Alexander Hamilton and the 

Founding of the Nation. Edited by Richard B. 

Morris. New York: Dial, 1957.

———. The Works of Alexander Hamilton. Edited 

by Henry Cabot Lodge. 9 vols. New York: 

Putnam, 1885–86.

McDonald, Forrest. Alexander Hamilton: A 

Biography. New York: Norton, 1979.

Miller, John C. Alexander Hamilton: Portrait in 

Paradox. New York: Harper, 1959.

Walling, Karl-Friedrich. Alexander Hamilton on 

War and Free Government. Lawrence: Univ. 

Press of Kansas, 1999.

Harmar, Josiah

Harmar, Josiah. Outpost on the Wabash, 1787–1791: 

Letters of Brigadier General Josiah Harmar....

Edited by Gayle Thornbrough. Indianapolis: Indiana 

Historical Society, 1957.

Peckham, Howard H. “Josiah Harmar and His Indian 

Expedition.” Ohio State Archeological and 

Historical Quarterly 55 (1946): 227–41.

Johnson, Harold K.

McMaster, H. R. Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon 

Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs 

of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam. New 

York: HarperCollins, 1997.

Sorley, Lewis. Honorable Warrior: General 

Harold K. Johnson and the Ethics of Command. 

Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas, 1998.

Knox, Henry

Brooks, Noah. Henry Knox: A Soldier of the 

Revolution.... New York: Putnam, 1900.

Callahan, North. Henry Knox: General Washington’s 

General. New York: Rinehart, 1958.

Carter, Michael D. “Nationbuilding and the Military: The 

Life and Career of Secretary of War Henry Knox, 

1750–1806.” Ph.D. diss., West Virginia Univ., 1997.

Drake, Francis S. Life and Correspondence of Henry 

Knox, Major General in the Revolutionary Army.

Boston: Drake, 1873.

Lonergan, Thomas J. Henry Knox: George 

Washington’s Confidant, General of Artillery, 

and America’s First Secretary of War. Rockport, 

Me.: Picton, 2003.

Puls, Mark. Henry Knox: Visionary General of 

the American Revolution. New York: Palgrave 

Macmillan, 2008.

Thompson, John Mark. “Citizens and Soldiers: 

Henry Knox and the Development of American 

Military Thought and Practice.” Ph.D. diss., Univ. 

of North Carolina, 2000.

Lemnitzer, Lyman L. 

Binder, L. James. Lemnitzer: A Soldier for His Time.

Washington, D.C.: Brassey, 1997.

MacArthur, Douglas

James, Dorris Clayton. The Years of MacArthur. 3 

vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970, 1975, 1985.

Lisio, Donald J. The President and Protest: Hoover, 

MacArthur, and the Bonus Riot. 2d ed. New 

York: Fordham Univ. Press, 1994.

Lowitt, Richard, comp. The Truman-MacArthur 

Controversy. Berkeley Series in American 

History. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1967.

MacArthur, Douglas. Reminiscences. New York: 

McGraw-Hill, 1964.

Perret, Geoffrey. Old Soldiers Never Die: The Life of 

Douglas MacArthur. New York: Random House, 

1996.

Petillo, Carol Morris. Douglas MacArthur: The 

Philippine Years. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. 

Press, 1981.

Macomb, Alexander

Macomb, Alexander. The Practice of Courts 

Martial. New York: Coleman, 1840.

Richards, George H. Memoir of Alexander Macomb, 

the Major General Commanding the Army of the 

United States. New York: McElrath, Bangs, 1833.

March, Peyton C.

Coffman, Edward M. The Hilt of the Sword: The 

Career of Peyton C. March. Madison: Univ. of 

Wisconsin Press, 1966.

March, Peyton C. The Nation at War. Garden City, 

N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran, 1932.

Marshall, George C.

Cray, Ed. General of the Army: George C.

Marshall, Soldier and Statesman. New York: 

Norton, 1990.

Frye, William. Marshall: Citizen Soldier.

Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1947.

Larrabee, Eric. Commander in Chief: Franklin 

Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their 

War. 1987. Reprint, Annapolis, Md.: Naval 

Institute Press, 2004.

Marshall, George C. Memoirs of My Services in 

the World War, 1917–1918. Boston: Houghton 

Mifflin, 1976.

———. The Papers of George Catlett Martshall. 

Edited by Larry I. Bland and Sharon R. Stevens. 

Vols. 2–5. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 

1981–2003.

Parrish, Thomas. Roosevelt and Marshall: Partners 

in Politics and War. New York: Prentice-Hall, 

1951.

Payne, Robert. The Marshall Story: A Biography 

of General George C. Marshall. New York: 

Prentice-Hall, 1951.

Pogue, Forrest C. George C. Marshall. 4 vols. New 

York: Viking, 1963–87.

———. George C. Marshall Interviews and 

Reminiscences for Forrest C. Pogue. Lexington, 

Va.: George C. Marshall Research Foundation, 

1991.
194

Stoler, Mark A. George C. Marshall: SoldierStatesman of the American Century. Boston: 

Twayne, 1989.

U.S. War Department. General Staff. Biennial 

Report of the Chief of Staff of the United States 

Army, July 1, 1943 to June 30, 1945, to the 

Secretary of War. Washington, D.C., 1945.

McClellan, George B.

Beatie, Russel H. Army of the Potomac, vol. 2, 

McClellan Takes Command, September 1861–

February 1862. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo, 

2005.

Hassler, Warren W., Jr. General George B.

McClellan: Shield of the Union. Baton Rouge: 

Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1957.

McClellan, George B. The Armies of Europe.

Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1861.

———. The Civil War Papers of George B.

McClellan: Selected Correspondence, 

1860–1865. Edited by Stephen W. Sears. New 

York: Ticknor and Fields, 1989.

———. McClellan’s Own Story: The War for the 

Union.... New York: Webster, 1887.

Rafuse, Ethan S. McClellan’s War: The Failure 

of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union. 

Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 2005.

Sears, Stephen W. George B. McClellan: The Young 

Napoleon. New York: Ticknor and Fields, 1988.

Meyer, Edward C.

Meyer, Edward C. E. C. Meyer, General, United 

States Army Chief of Staff, June 1979–June 1983. 

Washington, D.C.: Headquarters, Department of 

the Army, 1984.

Miles, Nelson A.

DeMontravel, Peter R. A Hero to His Fighting Men: 

Nelson A. Miles, 1839–1925. Kent, Ohio: Kent 

State Univ. Press, 1998.

Johnson, Virginia Weisal. The Unregimented 

General: A Biography of Nelson A. Miles.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962.

Miles, Nelson A. Personal Recollections and 

Observations.... Chicago: Werner, 1896.

———. Serving the Republic: Memoirs of the Civil 

and Military Life of Nelson A. Miles. New York: 

Harper, 1911.

Wooster, Robert. Nelson A. Miles and the Twilight 

of the Frontier Army. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska 

Press, 1993.

Palmer, Bruce, Jr.

Palmer, Bruce, Jr. The 25-Year War: America’s 

Military Role in Vietnam. Lexington: Univ. Press 

of Kentucky, 1984.

Pershing, John J.

Lacey, Jim. Pershing. New York: Palgrave 

Macmillan, 2008.

Palmer, Frederick. John J. Pershing, General of the 

Armies: A Biography. Harrisburg, Pa.: Military 

Service, 1948.

Pershing, John J. My Experiences in the World War.

2 vols. New York: Stokes, 1931.

Smith, Gene. Until the Last Trumpet Sounds: The 

Life of General of the Armies John J. Pershing. 

New York: John Wiley, 1998.

Smythe, Donald. Guerrilla Warrior: The Early Life 

of John J. Pershing. New York: Scribner, 1973.

———. Pershing, General of the Armies. 

Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1986.

Vandiver, Frank E. Black Jack: The Life and Times 

of John J. Pershing. 2 vols. College Station: 

Texas A&M Univ. Press, 1977.

Reimer, Dennis J.

Reimer, Dennis J. Soldiers Are Our Credentials: The 

Collected Works and Selected Papers of the Thirtythird Chief of Staff, United States Army. Edited by 

James Jay Carafano. Washington, D.C.: Center of 

Military History, United States Army, 2000.

Ridgway, Matthew B.

Bacevich, A. J. “The Paradox of Professionalism: 

Eisenhower, Ridgway, and the Challenge to 

Civilian Control, 1953–1955.” Journal of 

Military History 61 (April 1997): 303–34.

Mitchell, George C. Matthew B. Ridgway: Soldier, 

Statesman, Scholar, Citizen. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: 

Stackpole Books, 2002.

Ridgway, Matthew B. The Korean War: How We 

Met the Challenges.... Garden City, N.Y.: 

Doubleday, 1967.

———. Soldier: The Memoirs of Matthew B.

Ridgway. New York: Harper, 1956.

Soffer, Jonathan M. General Matthew B. Ridgway: 

From Progressivism to Reaganism, 1895–1993. 

Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1998.

Rogers, Bernard W.

Rogers, Bernard William. Cedar Falls–Junction 

City: A Turning Point. Vietnam Studies. 

Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1974.

Schofield, John M.

Connelly, Donald B. John M. Schofield and the 

Politics of Generalship. Chapel Hill: Univ. of 

North Carolina Press, 2006.

Schofield, John M. Forty-six Years in the Army.

New York: Century, 1897.

Scott, Hugh L.

Harper, James W. “Hugh Lenox Scott: SoldierDiplomat.” Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Virginia, 1968.

Scott, Hugh L. Some Memories of a Soldier. New 

York: Century, 1928.

Scott, Winfield

Eisenhower, John S. D. Agent of Destiny: The Life 

and Times of General Winfield Scott. New York: 

Free Press, 1997.

Elliott, Charles Winslow. Winfield Scott: The Soldier 

and the Man. New York: Macmillan, 1937.

Johnson, Timothy D. A Gallant Little Army: The 

Mexico City Campaign. Lawrence: Univ. Press of 

Kansas, 2007.
195

———. Winfield Scott: The Quest for Military 

Glory. Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas, 1998. 

Long, Laura. Fuss ’n’ Feathers: A Life of Winfield 

Scott. New York: Longmans, Green, 1944.

Mansfield, Edward D. The Life of General Winfield 

Scott. New York: Barnes, 1846.

Peskin, Allan. Winfield Scott and the Profession of 

Arms. Kent, Ohio: Kent State Univ. Press, 2003.

Scott, Winfield. Memoirs of Lieut.-General Scott, 

LL.D. New York: Sheldon, 1864.

Schoomaker, Peter J.

Donnelly, William M. Transforming an Army at 

War: Designing the Modular Force, 1991–2005.

Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 

United States Army, 2007.

Sheridan, Philip H.

Hutton, Paul Andrew. Phil Sheridan and His Army. 

Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1999. 

Morris, Roy, Jr. Sheridan: The Life and Wars of 

General Phil Sheridan. New York: Crown, 1992.

Sheridan, Philip H. Personal Memoirs of P. H.

Sheridan, General, United States Army. 2 vols. 

New York: Webster, 1888.

Sherman, William T.

Andrews, Richard Allen. “Years of Frustration: 

William T. Sherman, the Army, and Reform, 1869–

1883.” Ph.D. diss., Northwestern Univ., 1968.

Athearn, Robert G. William Tecumseh Sherman and 

the Settlement of the West. Norman: Univ. of 

Oklahoma Press, 1956.

Fellman, Michael. Citizen Sherman: A Life of 

William Tecumseh Sherman. New York: Random 

House, 1995.

Kennett, Lee. Sherman: A Soldier’s Life. New York: 

HarperCollins, 2001.

Lewis, Lloyd. Sherman: Fighting Prophet. New 

York: Harcourt, Brace, 1932.

Liddell Hart, Basil Henry. Sherman: Soldier, Realist, 

American. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1929.

Marszalek, John F. Sherman: A Soldier’s Passion 

for Order. New York: Free Press, 1993.

Merrill, James M. William Tecumseh Sherman.

Chicago: Rand McNally, 1971.

Miers, Earl Schenck. The General Who Marched to 

Hell: William Tecumseh Sherman and His March 

to Fame and Infamy. New York: Knopf, 1951.

Sherman, William T. Memoirs of General William T.

Sherman. 2 vols. New York: Appleton, 1875.

Shinseki, Eric K.

Halloran, Richard. My Name Is ... Shinseki ... and 

I Am a Soldier. Honolulu: Hawaii Army Museum 

Society, 2004.

Shinseki, Eric K. The Army Family: A White Paper. 

Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Chief of Staff, 

2003.

St. Clair, Arthur

St. Clair, Arthur. A Narrative of the Manner in 

Which the Campaign Against the Indians, in the 

Year 1791, Was Conducted, Under the Command 

of Major General St. Clair. The First American 

Frontier. 1812. Reprint, New York: Arno, 1971.

———. The St. Clair Papers: The Life and Public 

Service of Arthur St. Clair.... Edited by 

William Henry Smith. The Era of the American 

Revolution. 2 vols. 1882. Reprint, New York: Da 

Capo, 1971.

Wilson, Frazer Ells. Arthur St. Clair, Rugged Ruler 

of the Old Northwest: An Epic of the American 

Frontier. Richmond, Va.: Garrett and Massie, 

1944.

Sullivan, Gordon R.

Sullivan, Gordon R. The Collected Works of the 

Thirty-second Chief of Staff, United States Army. 

Washington, D.C.: Headquarters, Department of 

the Army, 1996.

Sullivan, Gordon R., and Marylou Gjernes, eds. 

Portrait of an Army. Washington, D.C.: Center of 

Military History, United States Army, 1991. 

———., eds. Soldiers Serving the Nation. 

Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 

United States Army, 1995.

Sullivan, Gordon R., and Michael V. Harper. 

Hope Is Not a Method: What Business Leaders 

Can Learn From America’s Army. New York: 

Random House, 1996.

Summerall, Charles P.

Nichols, W. Gary. American Leader in War and 

Peace: The Life and Times of WWI Soldier, Army 

Chief of Staff, and Citadel President General 

Charles P. Summerall. Shippensburg, Pa.: White 

Mane, 2011.

Summerall, Charles Pelot. The Way of Duty, Honor, 

Country: The Memoir of General Charles Pelot 

Summerall. Edited by Timothy K. Nenninger. 

Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 2010.

Taylor, Maxwell D.

Kinnard, Douglas. The Certain Trumpet: Maxwell 

Taylor and the American Experience in Vietnam. 

Brassey, 1991.

Taylor, John M. General Maxwell Taylor: The 

Sword and the Pen. Garden City, N.Y.: 

Doubleday, 1989.

Taylor, Maxwell D. Precarious Security. New York: 

Norton, 1976.

———. Responsibility and Response. New York: 

Harper, 1967.

———. Swords and Plowshares: A Memoir. New 

York: Norton, 1972.

———. The Uncertain Trumpet. New York: Harper, 

1959.

Vuono, Carl E.

Vuono, Carl E. A Trained and Ready Army: The 

Collected Works of the Thirty-first Chief of Staff, 

United States Army, June 1987–June 1991. 

Washington, D.C.: Headquarters, Department of 

the Army, 1994.
196

Washington, George

Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency: George Washington. 

New York: Knopf, 2004.

Fischer, David Hackett. Washington’s Crossing. New 

York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2004.

Flexner, James Thomas. George Washington. 4 vols. 

Boston: Little, Brown, 1965–72.

———. Washington: The Indispensable Man.

Boston: Little, Brown, 1974.

Freeman, Douglas Southall. George Washington: A 

Biography. 7 vols. New York: Scribner, 1948–57.

Kwasney, Mark V. Washington’s Partisan War, 

1775–1783. Kent, Ohio: Kent State Univ. Press, 

1996.

Lengel, Edward G. General George Washington: A 

Military Life. New York: Random House, 2005.

Marshall, John. The Life of George Washington, 

Commander in Chief of the American Forces 

... and First President of the United States. 5 

vols. Philadelphia: Wayne, 1804–07.

Washington, George. The Diaries of George 

Washington, 1748–1799. Edited by John C. 

Fitzpatrick. 4 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1925.

———. The Writings of George Washington ... , 

1745–1799. Edited by John C. Fitzpatrick. 39 vols. 

Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 

1931–44.

Wayne, Anthony

Boyd, Thomas Alexander. Mad Anthony Wayne.

New York: Scribner, 1929.

Gaff, Alan D. Bayonets in the Wilderness: Anthony 

Wayne’s Legion in the Old Northwest. Norman: 

Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 2004.

Knopf, Richard C., ed. Anthony Wayne, A Name in 

Arms: Soldier, Diplomat, Defender of Expansion 

Westward of a Nation. Pittsburgh: Univ. of 

Pittsburgh Press, 1959.

Nelson, Paul David. Anthony Wayne: Soldier of 

the Early Republic. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. 

Press, 1985.

Preston, John Hyde. A Gentleman Rebel: The 

Exploits of Anthony Wayne. New York: Farrar 

and Rinehart, 1930.

Tucker, Glen. Mad Anthony Wayne and the New 

Nation: The Story of Washington’s Front-line 

General. Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1973.

Wildes, Harry Emerson. Anthony Wayne: Trouble 

Shooter of the American Revolution. New York: 

Harcourt, Brace, 1941.

Westmoreland, William C.

Furguson, Ernest B. Westmoreland: The Inevitable 

General. Boston: Little, Brown, 1968.

U.S. Department of the Army. General Staff. Report of 

the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, 1 July 

1968 to 30 June 1972. Washington, D.C., 1977.

Westmoreland, William C. A Soldier Reports.

Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976.

Zaffiri, Samuel. Westmoreland: A Biography of 

General William C. Westmoreland. New York: 

Morrow, 1994.

Wickham, John Adams, Jr.

Wickham, John Adams, Jr. Collected Works of the 

Thirtieth Chief of Staff, United States Army. 

Washington, D.C.: Headquarters, Department of 

the Army, [1987].

———. Korea on the Brink: A Memoir of Intrigue 

and Military Crisis. 1999. Reprint, Washington, 

D.C.: Brassey, 2000.

Wilkinson, James

Hay, Thomas Robson, and Morris Robert Werner. 

The Admirable Trumpeter: A Biography of 

General James Wilkinson. Garden City, N.Y.: 

Doubleday, Doran, 1941.

Jacobs, James Ripley. Tarnished Warrior: Major 

General James Wilkinson. New York: Macmillan, 

1938.

Shreve, Royal Ornan. The Finished Scoundrel: 

General James Wilkinson.... Indianapolis: 

Bobbs-Merrill, 1933.

Wilkinson, James. Wilkinson: Soldier and Pioneer.

New Orleans: Rogers, 1935.

———. Memoirs of My Own Times. Philadelphia: 

Small, 1816.

Wood, Leonard

Hagedorn, Hermann. Leonard Wood: A Biography.

2 vols. New York: Harper, 1931.

Lane, Jack C. Armed Progressive: General Leonard 

Wood. San Rafael, Calif.: Presidio, 1978.

Wood, Leonard. Our Military History: Its Facts and 

Fallacies. Chicago: Reilly and Britton, 1916.

Wotherspoon, William W.

Birtle, Andrew J. “The U.S. Army’s Pacification of 

Marindugue, Philippine Islands, April 1900–April 

1901.” Journal of Military History 61 (April 

1997): 255–82.

Wotherspoon, William Wallace. The Training of 

the Efficient Soldier. Philadelphia: American 

Academy of Political and Social Science, 1905.

PIN: 100424–000