Maj. Gen. William H. Carter commanded the US Army, Pacific (Hawaiian Division) from January 1914 until his mandatory retirement on 19 November 1915. Born in 1851, he served as a mounted messenger during the Civil War and went on to attend the US Military Academy, graduating in 1873 with a commission in the Infantry. Carter received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions against the Apache Indians in Arizona in 1881, and he earned the Distinguished Service Medal during World War I.