Arthur MacArthur Jr.

Lieutenant General **Arthur MacArthur Jr.** (June 2, 1845 – September 5, 1912) was a United States Army general. He became the military Governor-General of the American-occupied Philippines in 1900 but his term ended a year later due to clashes with the civilian governor, future-U.S. President William Howard Taft.

His son, Douglas MacArthur, was one of only five men promoted to the five-star rank of General of the Army during World War II. In addition to their both being promoted to the rank of general officer, Arthur MacArthur Jr. and Douglas MacArthur also share the distinction of having been the first father and son to each be awarded a Medal of Honor.

## Biography

### Background

Arthur MacArthur Jr. was born in Chicopee Falls, on June 2, 1845. His father was Arthur MacArthur, Sr., an American lawyer and politician who served as the fourth Governor of Wisconsin. His mother was Aurelia Belcher.

*Heneral Luna*

During an intense battle against American troops led by Gen. Arthur MacArthur Jr. and General Elwell Otis, Luna asks for reinforcements from the Kawit Battalion but its commander Captain Pedro Janolino refuses to comply because the order did not come from President Aguinaldo himself.

In the end of the movie, he stated that "the Filipinos killed the only real General they had.".

### *Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral*

He is usually portrayed with Gen. Elwell Otis in the movie. He met with Gen. Jose Alejandrino in Manila in order to negotiate him returning the captured American prisoners.

## Personality and traits

Arthur MacArthur Jr. Is prone to taunting the FIlipinos for acting like children. He is also quite friendly to some Filipinos who surrendered.

## Career

MacArthur's father secured him an appointment to the United States Military Academy. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, MacArthur was living in Wisconsin.

### **Civil War**

On August 4, 1862, his father secured a commission for him as a first lieutenant and appointed as adjutant of the **24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment**, seeing action at Chickamauga, Stones River, Chattanooga, the Atlanta Campaign and Franklin.

At the **Battle of Missionary Ridge** on November 25, 1863, during the Chattanooga Campaign, the 18-year-old MacArthur inspired his regiment during a largely uncoordinated and spontaneous frontal assault of Union forces against entrenched Confederate forces on a hilltop. During the charge the regimental flags were carried in front, so that every flag-bearer was constantly a target, causing immense casualty among them. MacArthur seized the flag from a fallen comrade and planted the regimental flag on the crest of Missionary Ridge 35°1′7.15″N 85°15′51.02″W at a particularly critical moment, shouting *"On Wisconsin."* For these actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. He was brevetted colonel in the Union Army the following year. Only 19 years old at the time, he became nationally recognized as "The Boy Colonel" (not to be confused with **Henry K. Burgwyn**, known as the *"Boy Colonel of the Confederacy"*).

MacArthur was severely wounded in the Battle of Franklin, receiving bullet wounds to the chest and leg from a rebel officer's pistol, but would ultimately survive.

On January 25, 1864, he was promoted to major and about a year and a half later, on May 18, 1865, to lieutenant colonel – shortly before he was mustered out of service on June 10, 1865. In recognition of his gallantry in action he received brevets (honorary promotions) to lieutenant colonel and colonel dated March 15, 1865.

### **American-Indian Wars**

With the conclusion of the Civil War in June 1865, MacArthur resigned his commission and began the study of law. After just a few months, however, he decided this was not a good fit for him, so he resumed his career with the Army. He was recommissioned on February 23, 1866, as a second lieutenant in the Regular Army's 17th Infantry Regiment, with a promotion the following day to first lieutenant. Because of his outstanding record of performance during the Civil War, he was promoted in September of that year to captain. However, he would remain a captain for the following two decades, as promotion was slow in the small peacetime army.

Between 1866 and 1884, MacArthur completed assignments in **Pennsylvania, New York, Utah Territory, Louisiana, and Arkansas.**

In 1884, MacArthur became the post commander of Fort Selden, in New Mexico. The following year, he took part in the campaign against Geronimo. In 1889, he was promoted to Assistant Adjutant General of the Army with the rank of major, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1897.

Following the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, MacArthur was serving as the adjutant general of the Third Army Corps in Georgia.[*citation needed*] In June 1898 he was brevetted to brigadier general in the volunteer army. He was appointed as commanding general of the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Eighth Army Corps and led it to victory at the Battle of Manila on August 12, 1898. He was promoted to major general on August 13, 1898.

### **Philippine–American War (1899-1902)**

He led the 2nd Division of Eighth Corps during the Philippine–American War at the Battle of Manila (1899), the Malolos campaign and the Northern Offensive. When the American occupation of the Philippines turned from conventional battles to guerrilla warfare, MacArthur commanded the Department of Northern Luzon. In January 1900, he was appointed Brigadier General in the Regular Army and was appointed military governor of the Philippines with command of Eighth Corps, replacing General Elwell S. Otis.

He authorized the expedition, under General Frederick Funston, that resulted in the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo. MacArthur persuaded the captured Aguinaldo to cease fighting and to swear allegiance to the United States. He was promoted to major general in the Regular Army on February 5, 1901.

During the war, President William McKinley relieved Major General Elwell S. Otis of command and replaced him with MacArthur giving him the title of Military Governor of the Philippines on May 6, 1900. However, William Howard Taft was appointed to head the Philippine Commission by President William McKinley and arrived to Manila in June 1900 to effect the transition from military to civil government. MacArthur firmly opposed the timing of direct involvement by the Philippine Commission as he did not believe the Philippines was ready for civil rule yet. Both Taft and MacArthur, in separate correspondences, informed Secretary of War, Elihu Root, of the contention between each other and their differing views on the future of the Philippines. On February 27, 1901, shortly after promoting MacArthur to the rank of major general, Secretary Root informed Major General Adna R. Chaffee that he would succeed MacArthur as military governor in the Philippines. However, Chaffee would be subordinate to William Howard Taft, who would be appointed as Civilian Governor.

On June 21, 1901, Root's War Department informed MacArthur that Chaffee was to replace him as military head in the Philippines with the change to take place on July 4, 1901. Taft decided, "four, possibly five and two small parts of others", of the 27 organized provinces across the Philippines (16 additional provinces remained unorganized at the end of 1900), "in which armed insurrection continues, will remain under the executive jurisdiction of the military governor and commanding general". The contentiousness between Taft and MacArthur seemed all too apparent as Taft stated publicly that neither his approach of municipal code nor the provincial government act under both Otis and MacArthur would form a perfect government, "though it was possible to make the former much more complete than the latter". Taft further distanced himself and work by characterizing prior military efforts as "two experiments in municipal government under the administrations of General Otis and General MacArthur before the [Philippine] Commission began its legislative work".

After the combined ceremony installing Taft and change of command from MacArthur to Chaffee on July 4, 1901, MacArthur packed his bags that same day and boarded a ship for the United States.

## Relationships

Family

* Arthur MacArthur Sr. (Father)
* Aurelia Belcher (Mother)
* Mary Pinkney Hardy (Spouse)
* Arthur MacArthur III (Son)
* Malcolm MacArthur (Son)
* Douglas MacArthur (Son)
* Douglas MacArthur II (Grandson)
* Arthur MacArthur IV (Grandson)

Comrades

* Elwell Stephen Otis (Co-general)

## Personal Life

On May 19, 1875, MacArthur married Mary Pinkney "Pinky" Hardy MacArthur (1852–1935), daughter of Thomas A. Hardy of Norfolk, Virginia. Together, they had three children:

* Arthur MacArthur III (1876–1923), a captain in the Navy who was awarded the Navy Cross in World War I.
* Malcolm MacArthur (1878–1883), who died young of measles.
* Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964), who was born at the Arsenal Barracks in Little Rock, Arkansas

On September 5, 1912, while addressing a reunion of the 24th Wisconsin veterans in Milwaukee, MacArthur was suddenly and fatally stricken by an apoplectic attack (now known as a stroke). As MacArthur recounted "one of the most remarkable scouting expeditions of the war", he told his men, "Your indomitable courage...", then halted his speech with the words, "Comrades, I am too weak to go on". He sat back down and collapsed, dying moments later. A young medical intern, serving as a waiter at the banquet, pronounced him dead on the platform.

Both Mrs. MacArthur and Mr. Charles King, a retired officer and close friend of MacArthur, carried out MacArthur's final wishes to not be dressed [buried] in his uniform and for the funeral service to be 'utterly devoid' of military display. Except for MacArthur's two sons, the only active military officer present at the funeral was a solitary colonel from a nearby fort. Finally, per MacArthur's final wishes, he was interred in a cemetery in Milwaukee rather than in Arlington National Cemetery. He was originally buried in Milwaukee on Monday, September 7, 1912, but was moved to Section 2 Gravesite 856-A of Arlington National Cemetery in 1926. He is buried among other members of the family there, while his son Douglas chose to be buried in Norfolk, Virginia, the hometown of his mother, Mary Pinkney Hardy, and the site of the Hardy family home Riveredge.

The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States prepared and printed a eulogy praising MacArthur's military record and extolling "his fervent patriotism, his unshaken loyalty, his silent and soldierly acceptance of conditions little looked for in view of his great services and exalted rank".

For some reason, Mrs. MacArthur was only granted a pension of merely $1,200.00/per year after MacArthur died September 5, 1912, whereas the widows of all other lieutenant generals were receiving $2,500.00/per year. Mr. James Flanders, a Milwaukee attorney and lifetime friend of MacArthur, led a long but successful fight to get Mrs. MacArthur's pension raised to the amount equal to the widows of other lieutenant generals. William Howard Taft was President of the United States at that time (March 1909 - March 1913), Elihu Root was a Senator for New York at that time (March 1909 - March 1915), and the Bureau of Pensions administered pensions for military personnel from 1832 to 1930. The Bureau of Pensions had two duties: (1) assess and either approve or deny claims, and (2) pay approved benefits. During that same time period, the Bureau's workload was significantly being reduced due to the death of many Civil War pensioners in the early 1900s.

## Trivia

* He was succeeded by William Howard Taft as civilian Governor-General of the Philippines.

## See also

* Kawit, Cavite
* Emilio Aguinaldo
* José Alejandrino

## References

1. Arthur MacArthur Jr. WIkipedia
2. Heneral Luna. Wikipedia