Hunter Liggett

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Hunter Liggett
Liggett as a brigadier general
Born	(1857-03-21)March 21, 1857 Reading, Pennsylvania
Died	December 30, 1935(1935-12-30) (aged 78) San Francisco, California
Buried	San Francisco National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1879–1921
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Third United States Army First United States Army I Corps 41st Infantry Division Philippine Department
Battles/wars	Indian Wars Spanish–American War Philippine–American War World War I
Awards	Army Distinguished Service Medal Legion of Honour (France) Croix de Guerre (France)

Hunter Liggett (March 21, 1857 – December 30, 1935) was a senior United States Army officer. His 42 years of service spanned the period from the Indian campaigns to trench warfare of World War I. Additionally, he identified possible invasion sites in Luzon, particularly Lingayen Gulf, which were used during World War II in 1941 by the Japanese and in 1945 by the United States.

Early life[]

Liggett was born on March 21, 1857 in Reading, Pennsylvania.^[1] After his graduation from United States Military Academy at West Point, New York as a second lieutenant in 1879, he was assigned to the 5th Infantry, where he served in both the Montana and Dakota territories, as well as Texas and Florida, during which time he reached the rank of captain.^[1]

Liggett's field service in the American west, the Spanish–American War, and the Philippine–American War honed his skills as a military leader. In 1907, he assumed command of a battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. From 1909 to 1914, he served as student, faculty member, and president at the Army War College, receiving a promotion to brigadier general in February 1913.

Liggett's services in the Philippines included setting up a staff ride in 1914 to study possible invasion sites on Luzon. He was assisted in this by his aide de camp, Captain George Marshall. The staff ride established that the most likely invasion route would be through the Lingayen Gulf and that this would be all but unstoppable unless the US dramatically increased its army and navy forces in the Philippines. In 1941, the Japanese invaded through the Lingayen Gulf, as the United States did in turn in 1945.

World War I[]

Success in brigade commands in Texas and in the Philippines led to his promotion to major general, and selection as commander of the 41st Division in April 1917. The division served in France as part of the American Expeditionary Force. When his division was disestablished, he took command of I Corps.^[1]

Under Liggett's leadership, the I Corps participated in the Second Battle of the Marne and in the reduction of the Saint-Mihiel salient. In October 1918, as commander of the First United States Army with the rank of lieutenant general in the national army, he directed the final phases of the Meuse-Argonne offensive and the pursuit of German forces until the armistice. After commanding the post-war Army of Occupation, Liggett returned to his permanent rank of major general, and retired in 1921.

Retirement and death[]

Liggett wrote about his war time experiences in A.E.F.: Ten Years Ago in France (1928).^[2] In 1930, Congress passed a law permitting World War I general officers to retire at the highest rank they had held, and Liggett was promoted to lieutenant general on the retired list.^[1] He died December 30, 1935 in San Francisco, California and is interred at the San Francisco National Cemetery.^[3] His grave can be found in the officers section 3, plot 1.^[3]

Honors and awards[]

Military honors[]

Hunter Liggett (1st on the left) with fellow US generals (left to right) Robert Bullard, James McAndrew, James Harbord, Charles Summerall, John Hines, Edward Lewis, Michael Lenihan, William Mitchell and Frank Parker, after having been decorated with the "Commandeur" of the Légion d'honneur by Marshal Philippe Pétain in 1919.

American awards

	Army Distinguished Service Medal
	Indian Campaign Medal
	Spanish War Service Medal
	Philippine Campaign Medal
	World War I Victory Medal
	Army of Occupation of Germany Medal

Foreign awards

	Légion d'honneur (France), class of Commandeur
	Order of Leopold (Belgium), class of Commandeur
	Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy), class of Commendatore
	Croix de Guerre with palm (France)

^{[4] [5]}

Army Distinguished Service medal citation[]

Citation

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. As Commander of the 1st Army of the American Expeditionary Forces, General Liggett commanded the 1st Army Corps and perfected its organization under difficult conditions of early service in France, engaged in active operations in reduction of the Marne salient and of the St. Mihiel salient, and participated in the actions in the Forest of Argonne; in command of the 1st Army when German resistance was shattered west of the Meuse.^[6]

Other honors[]

In his honor, the United States Army named a base on California's central coast, Fort Hunter Liggett.^[7][8]

Liggett Hall is a regimental-sized barracks building constructed at Fort Jay on Governors Island in New York Harbor. Completed in 1930, it was thought to be the largest building constructed by the U.S. Army and was the largest structure built under the supervision of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps. It was superseded by the Pentagon, constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1943.

The USS Hunter Liggett was a passenger ship that was transferred to the Army and renamed Hunter Liggett in February 1939. The ship transported personnel and supplies until May 27, 1941, when she was turned over to the Navy. Converted to Navy use at Brooklyn Navy Yard, she re-commissioned as AP-27 June 9, 1941, and then again reclassified APA-14 February 1, 1943 for the United States Coast Guard.^[9]

Dates of rank[]

Insignia	Rank	Component	Date
None	Cadet	United States Military Academy	1 July 1875
None in 1879	Second Lieutenant	Regular Army	13 June 1879
	First Lieutenant	Regular Army	27 June 1884
	Captain	Regular Army	1 June 1897
	Major	Volunteers	13 June 1898 (Honorably discharged from Volunteers on 12 April 1899.)
	Major	Volunteers	13 July 1899 (Honorably discharged from Volunteers on 18 June 1901.)
	Major	Regular Army	5 May 1902
	Lieutenant Colonel	Regular Army	5 June 1909
	Colonel	Regular Army	12 March 1912
	Brigadier General	Regular Army	5 March 1913
	Major General	Regular Army	6 March 1917 (Date of rank 22 March 1917.)
	Lieutenant General	Emergency	1 November 1918 (Date of rank 16 October 1918. Discharged and reverted to permanent rank 30 June 1920.)
	Major General	Retired List	21 March 1921 (Remained on active duty until 26 August 1921.)
	Lieutenant General	Retired List	21 June 1930

Source: Army Register, 1931^[10]

See also[]

• List of United States Military Academy alumni
• List of major generals in the United States Regular Army before July 1, 1920
• List of lieutenant generals in the United States Army before 1960

References[]

Notes

Bibliography

• Davis, Jr., Henry Blaine (1998). Generals in Khaki. Raleigh, NC: Pentland Press. ISBN 1571970886. OCLC 40298151.

Further reading[]

• Stackpole, Pierpont L. (2009). Ferrell, Robert H. (ed.). In the Company of Generals: The World War I Diary of Pierpont L. Stackpole. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-1870-4. LCCN 2009028219. OCLC 318878435.

External links[]

• "Hunter Liggett". United States Army. Archived from the original on May 20, 2007. Retrieved March 15, 2010.
• "Gen. Liggett biography". Retrieved March 15, 2010.
• "Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett: Commanding General, Third Army, April 20, 1919 to July 2, 1919". United States Army. Retrieved March 15, 2010.^{[permanent dead link]}
• Hunter Liggett at Find a Grave