Hunter Liggett
Hunter Liggett was a senior United States Army officer. His 42 years of military service spanned the period from the American Indian Wars to World War I. An 1879 graduate of the United States Military, Liggett served in the Infantry, and was initially posted to Montana and North Dakota during campaigns against the Sioux. During the Spanish–American War, he served first in the United States and later commanded a company of the 5th Infantry Regiment in Santiago de Cuba. He later joined the United States Volunteers, and he served as commander of a province in the Philippines during the Philippine–American War.
After his service in the Philippines, Liggett's assignments included command of a battalion in the 13th Infantry Regiment, completion of the United States Army War College course as a student, director and president of the war college, and commander of a brigade in the 2nd Division. Immediately prior to World War I, Liggett commanded a brigade in the Philippines and the Department of the Philippines. During World War I, he was one of two officers promoted to lieutenant general as commander of a field army; Liggett commanded first the First U.S. Army and later the Third U.S. Army.
After the war, Liggett commanded the army's Western Department and Ninth Corps Area, and he retired in 1921. In retirement, Liggett authored a memoir of his wartime service. He died in San Francisco on December 30, 1935 and was buried at San Francisco National Cemetery.
Early life
Hunter Liggett was born in Reading, Pennsylvania on March 21, 1857, the son of James and Margaret Liggett. He was raised and educated in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, and later attended Boys' Grammar School in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia. Having decided on a military career, Liggett received tutoring from Birdsboro's supervising school principal, Henry C. Hunter, in preparation for admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Six applicants including Liggett took the competitive examination offered by Congressman Hiester Clymer; Liggett finished first and received the appointment.Liggett attended West Point beginning in 1875, graduated in 1879 ranked 41st of 67, and received his commission as a second lieutenant of Infantry. Among his classmates who later attained general officer rank were William Dorrance Beach, John Skinner Mallory, James Anderson Irons, Lloyd Milton Brett, Albert Leopold Mills, John Alexander Johnston, Henry Alexander Greene, Frederick Steinman Foltz and Samuel W. Miller.
Start of career
Liggett was initially assigned to the 5th Infantry Regiment at Fort Keogh, Montana, where he remained until December 1879. He served temporarily at Fort Abraham Lincoln, North Dakota until February 1880; during early 1880 he took part in American Indian Wars expeditions and scouting parties against bands of Sioux that had conducted raids on farms and towns near their reservations. He returned to Fort Keogh in February 1880, and remained there until August 1886. Liggett received promotion to first lieutenant in June 1884. He was posted to Fort Totten, North Dakota until May 1888, after which he was assigned to Fort McIntosh, Texas, where he served until July 1890. Liggett served at Fort Davis, Texas until July 1891, which was followed by assignment to Fort Sam Houston, Texas where he remained until May, 1892. He was appointed regimental adjutant in May 1892 and stationed at St. Francis Barracks, Florida, where he served until October 1894. Liggett was next assigned to Fort McPherson, Georgia where he served until April 1898. He was relieved of his adjutant's duties in May 1896 and promoted to captain in June 1897.At the start of the Spanish–American War in April 1898, Liggett was assigned to the Tampa, Florida port of embarkation, where he served until May. From May to July, he was in command of the post at Fort St. Philip, Louisiana, where he served until July. In June 1898, Liggett was promoted to temporary major of United States Volunteers. He served as adjutant of 3rd Division, Fourth Army Corps from July to October 1898, including duty at Tampa in July, Fernandina Beach, Florida from July to August, and Huntsville, Alabama in September and October. Liggett served as adjutant of 3rd Division, Second Army Corps, in Athens, Georgia from October 1898 to January 1899, and in Greenville, South Carolina until April 1899. He was discharged from the volunteers in April 1899.
Continued career
From May to August 1899, Liggett commanded Company D, 5th Infantry during post-war occupation duty in Santiago de Cuba. In July, he was again promoted to temporary major of U.S. Volunteers and in August he joined 2nd Battalion, 31st U.S. Volunteer Infantry at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. In news stories that were widely reported after Liggett attained prominence during World War I, 31st Infantry troops including Liggett were aboard the transport ship Immanuense when she began to founder in a storm while in the Philippines in late 1899. After she failed to arrive in port, another transport carrying 31st Infantry soldiers, City of Peking, put back out to sea to search. Soldiers aboard City of Peking found Immanuense half full of water, with Liggett, who had gone sleepless for days, leading soldiers in the hold who were bailing and pumping non-stop to keep the ship afloat. When the event was covered in 1918 newspaper stories, one 5th Infantry veteran who had known Liggett since the start of his career scouting the Sioux on horseback said Liggett could be counted on to perform well in France, given that he had shown "He can lick anything from an army mule to the Pacific Ocean." Liggett performed Philippine–American War duty on the island of Mindanao as commander of the sub-district of Davao from December 1899 to October 1901. He was discharged from the volunteers in June 1901. He rejoined the 5th Infantry in October 1901 and commanded troops in Abra Province until December. He was then assigned as adjutant of the 1st Separate Brigade at Dagupan, where he served until July 1902. Liggett was promoted to major in the regular army's 21st Infantry Regiment in May 1902.After returning to the United States, Liggett served with the 5th Infantry at Fort Snelling, Minnesota from September 1902 to September 1903. From September 1903 to September 1907, he was assigned as adjutant of the Department of the Lakes in Chicago. In October 1907, Liggett joined the 13th U.S. Infantry Regiment at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and was assigned to command the organization's 2nd Battalion. Liggett remained in command until July 1910 and was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 15th Infantry. During his battalion command, Liggett audited courses at the United States Army Command and General Staff College, with instructor George C. Marshall sharing the course's lessons, exercises, and schoolhouse solutions with Liggett, and Liggett accepting Marshall's tutoring even though Marshall was junior to him.
Liggett attended the United States Army War College from July 1909 to July 1910. After graduating, he was assigned as the school's director. In March 1912, he was promoted to colonel and appointed as president of the Army War College. In February 1913, Liggett was promoted to brigadier general and he remained in the president's post until April 1914. He commanded the Department of the Lakes in April and May 1914, then was posted to Texas City, Texas during the Mexican Border War as commander of 4th Brigade, 2nd Division, where he served until November 1914. He then returned to the Philippines, where he commanded a provisional infantry brigade at Fort William McKinley until April 1916. While in the Philippines during this tour of duty, Liggett led a staff ride that identified possible invasion sites in Luzon, particularly Lingayen Gulf; these locations were the sites of Japanese attacks when Japan entered World War II in 1941 and in 1945 when the United States counterattacked. He commanded the Department of the Philippines from April 1916 to April 1917, when he returned to the United States. Liggett was promoted to major general in March 1917.
Later career
happened in April 1917, and Liggett was assigned to San Francisco, where he commanded the Western Department from May September 1917. During his service at Fort William McKinley and in California, Liggett successfully requested Marshall's assignment as his aide-de-camp. He was then assigned to command the 41st Division, which he organized, trained, and led to France. In November 1917 he performed temporary duty as an observer of the front lines in France. In his post-war memoir, Liggett referred to a rumor that he was going to be denied a wartime field command for being overweight and too old with the aphorism that age and physical condition might be legitimate concerns, particularly if "the fat is above the collar." In January 1918, Liggett was assigned to command I Corps; he led this organization through October 1918 and took part in all major US operations, including the Saint-Mihiel offensive and Meuse–Argonne offensive. In October 1918, he was assigned to command First U.S. Army and promoted to lieutenant general. At the same time, Robert Lee Bullard was appointed to command Second Army as a lieutenant general; Liggett and Bullard were the army's only two lieutenant generals of the First World War. Throughout most of Liggett's service in France, his aide-de-camp was James Garesche Ord, who served as a major general in World War II.In April 1919, Liggett was assigned to command Third Army during the Occupation of the Rhineland. He returned to the United States in July 1919, and assigned to command the Western Department and Ninth Corps Area with headquarters in San Francisco. Liggett returned to the grade of major general in June 1920. In 1920, he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He left the army in March 1921, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 64. In 1930, Congress passed a law permitting the general officers of World War I to retire at their highest grade, and Liggett was promoted to lieutenant general on the retired list.
Liggett recounted his wartime experiences in 1928's A.E.F.: Ten Years Ago in France. He died in San Francisco on December 30, 1935. He was buried at San Francisco National Cemetery.