Charles A . Coolidge Charles Austin Coolidge , Jr . ( July 19 , 1844 - June 1 , 1926 ) was a United States Army soldier who served in the American Civil War , the American West , Spanish - American War , and in Asia before retiring in 1903 as a brigadier general . Early life , education & marriage . Charles Austin Coolidge , Jr . was born on July 19 , 1844 in Boston , Massachusetts to Charles Austin Coolidge , Sr . and Anna Maria ( Rice ) Coolidge . He attended Norwich University in Northfield , Vermont where he received the degree of B . S . Later he received a medical ( MD ) degree from the Wooster Medical College in Wooster , Ohio . He married Sophie Wager Lowry , daughter of Philip Lowry and Caroline Tilghman of Philadelphia , on 19 November 1867 at Tallahassee , Florida . Military career . On 23 Oct 1862 , Coolidge enlisted in the United States Army as a private in the 16th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment . In May 1864 he was appointed Second Lieutenant of the Seventh Infantry Regiment . The Seventh at that time was on duty in New York , having just come from Gettysburg for the draft riots . Following a month of service at City Point , Virginia , the regiment remained at New York harbor until the end of the war . The regiment was then sent to Florida for the next five years . After his unit was transferred to the American West in 1870 , Lieutenant Coolidge was a member of Captain Brown ’ s command which opposed Chief Joseph ’ s Nez Percé Indians at Lolo Pass . He was wounded in this campaign at the Battle of the Big Hole on August 9 , 1877 . Later when appointed a Captain , he served in Montana , Dakota Territory , Fort Snelling , Fort D . A . Russell ( Wyoming ) , Rock Springs , Wyoming , and Fort Logan near Denver , Colorado . At the outbreak of the Spanish - American War in April 1898 , Coolidge attained the rank of Major in the Seventh Infantry Regiment . He participated in the capture of El Caney on July 1 , 1898 and the bombardment of Santiago de Cuba . Coolidge was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Ninth Infantry Regiment on May 16 , 1899 , and he took part in the engagements at Zapote Bridge and Tarlac , Philippine Islands . In June 1900 the regiment was ordered to China as part of the China Relief Expedition . He assumed command following the death of Colonel Emerson C . Liscum during the Boxer Rebellion as part of the Allies relief of the Legation at Tianjin from June to July 1900 . After the departure of Colonel Robert L . Meade of the Marines from China on July 26 , 1900 , Lieutenant Colonel Coolidge was placed in command of the American forces in China until the arrival of General Adna Chaffee in early August 1900 . Also during the Boxer Rebellion on August 14 , 1900 he led the first American force to enter the Forbidden City in Beijing . In 1901 Coolidge was named Colonel of the Seventh Infantry Regiment , transferred to the Presidio of San Francisco , where he retired August 8 , 1903 as a Brigadier General . Retirement and death . Coolidge moved to Detroit shortly after the San Francisco earthquake in August 1906 . He had been exceptionally active in work of military veterans ' organizations and he was a member of the Loyal Legion , the GAR , Sons of the American Revolution and the Spanish War Society . He was a Councilor of the Boy Scouts of America and a President of the American Philatelic Society . He was admitted to the Detroit Post of the GAR in 1906 , elected Junior Commander two years later and named Commander in 1912 . Brigadier General Charles Austin Coolidge died June 2 , 1926 at Grace Hospital in Detroit , Michigan in his eighty - first year . He had been ill since May 19 , 1926 when he suffered a stroke while attending the Lloyd Tilghman monument unveiling at Vicksburg , Mississippi . He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery . Military awards . General Coolidge earned the following military awards : Family relations & genealogy . Charles A . Coolidge and his wife Sophie in 1870 adopted a son , Sherman Coolidge ( 1862 – 1932 ) of Arapahoe ancestry , who became a prominent leader in the Native American community . General Coolidge was the son of Charles and Anna Maria Rice Coolidge . He was a direct descendant of John Coolidge ( 1604 - 1691 ) who emigrated from England about 1630 to Watertown , Massachusetts , and he was a cousin of President Coolidge . His grandfather Henry Rice was a member of the Boston City Council and was a Massachusetts state legislator . He was also a descendant of Edmund Rice another early immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony as follows :