Hunter Liggett

{{Infobox military person

| honorific_prefix = Lt. Gen.

| name = Hunter Liggett

| image = Hunter Liggett.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Hunter Liggett as a brigadier general.

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1857|3|21}}

| birth_place = Reading, Pennsylvania, United States

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1935|12|30|1857|3|21}}

| death_place = San Francisco, California, United States

| placeofburial = San Francisco National Cemetery, California, United States

| allegiance = United States

| branch = United States Army

| serviceyears = 1879–1921

| servicenumber = 0-3

| rank = Lieutenant General

| unit = Infantry Branch

| commands = Third Army
First Army
I Corps
41st Division
Philippine Department
United States Army War College

| battles = American Indian Wars
Spanish–American War
Philippine–American War
World War I

| awards = Army Distinguished Service Medal
Legion of Honour (France)
Croix de guerre (France)

| relations =

| laterwork =

}}

Hunter Liggett (March 21, 1857 − December 30, 1935) was a senior United States Army officer. His 42 years of military service spanned the period from the Indian campaigns to the trench warfare of World War I. Additionally, he also 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.Davis, pp. 229–230 He attended, and later graduated, from the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, as a second lieutenant in 1879. Among his classmates included several general officers of the future, such as William D. Beach, John S. Mallory, James A. Irons, Lloyd M. Brett, Albert L. Mills, John A. Johnston, Henry A. Greene, Frederick S. Foltz and Samuel W. Miller.

After his graduation, 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.

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 C. Marshall. The staff ride established that the most likely invasion route would be through 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 Lingayen Gulf, as the United States did in turn in 1945.

World War I

File:Lt. General Hunter Liggett in 1919 art - Soldiers all; portraits and sketches of the men of the A. E. F. (IA cu31924027835341) (page 89 crop).jpg

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.

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.{{sfnm|1a1=Zabecki|1a2=Mastriano|1y=2020|p=207}}

Throughout most of this period, Liggett's aide-de-camp was James Garesche Ord, a major general in World War II.

Retirement and death

Liggett wrote about his war time experiences in A.E.F.: Ten Years Ago in France (1928).Liggett, Hunter. A.E.F., Ten Years Ago in France. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co, 1928. {{OCLC|330622}} 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. He died December 30, 1935, in San Francisco, California, and is interred at the San Francisco National Cemetery.

Honors and awards

=Military honors=

File:111-SC-38212 - NARA - 55235578-cropped.jpg, James McAndrew, James Harbord, Charles Summerall, John Hines, Edward Mann 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

{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Distinguished Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=100}}

| Army Distinguished Service Medal

{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Indian Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=100}}

| Indian Campaign Medal

{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Spanish War Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=100}}

| Spanish War Service Medal

{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Philippine Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=100}}

| Philippine Campaign Medal

{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=World War I Victory Medal ribbon.svg|width=100}}

| World War I Victory Medal

{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Army of Occupation of Germany ribbon.svg|width=100}}

| Army of Occupation of Germany Medal

;Foreign awards

100px

| Légion d'honneur (France), class of Commandeur

100px

| Order of Leopold (Belgium), class of Commandeur

100px

| Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy), class of Commendatore

100px

| Croix de Guerre with palm (France)

{{cite news |date=31 Dec 1935 |title=Gen. Liggett, 78, War Hero, Indian Fighter, is Dead |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1935/12/31/page/5/article/gen-liggett-78-war-hero-indian-fighter-is-dead |newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune |page=5 |access-date=14 Feb 2016 }}

{{cite book |last=United States. War Dept. |first=General Staff |date= 31 May 1918|title=Catalogue of Official A.E.F. Photographs|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924027944598 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Government Printing Office |page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924027944598/page/n421 416] }}

==Army Distinguished Service medal citation==

;Citation

{{blockquote|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.{{Hall of Valor|17834|access-date=March 15, 2010}}}}

=Other honors=

In his honor, the United States Army named a base on California's central coast, Fort Hunter Liggett.{{Cite web|url=http://www.liggett.army.mil/sites/about/history.asp |title=History of Fort Hunter Liggett |date=December 29, 2009 |publisher=United States Army Installation Command |access-date=2010-03-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100127114450/http://www.liggett.army.mil/sites/about/history.asp |archive-date=January 27, 2010 }}{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Jerrold E.|title=Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Army|date=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9781429476065|page=187|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ygqNt3ra-vYC&pg=PA187}}

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|APA-14|6}} 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.{{Cite web|access-date=March 15, 2010 |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/h9/hunter_liggett.htm |title=Hunter Liggett |publisher=Naval Historical Center | url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101207210905/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/h9/hunter_liggett.htm |archive-date=December 7, 2010 }}

Dates of rank

class="wikitable" \|+ ! Insignia !! Rank !! Component !! Date
None	Cadet	United States Military Academy	1 July 1875
None in 1879	Second Lieutenant	Regular Army	13 June 1879
File:US-O2 insignia.svg	First Lieutenant	Regular Army	27 June 1884
File:US-O3 insignia.svg	Captain	Regular Army	1 June 1897
File:US-O4 insignia.svg	Major	Volunteers	13 June 1898 (Honorably discharged from Volunteers on 12 April 1899.)
File:US-O4 insignia.svg	Major	Volunteers	13 July 1899 (Honorably discharged from Volunteers on 18 June 1901.)
File:US-O4 insignia.svg	Major	Regular Army	5 May 1902
File:US-O5 insignia.svg	Lieutenant Colonel	Regular Army	5 June 1909
File:US-O6 insignia.svg	Colonel	Regular Army	12 March 1912
File:US-O7 insignia.svg	Brigadier General	Regular Army	5 March 1913
File:US-O8 insignia.svg	Major General	Regular Army	6 March 1917 (Date of rank 22 March 1917.)
File:US-O9 insignia.svg	Lieutenant General	Emergency	1 November 1918 (Date of rank 16 October 1918. Discharged and reverted to permanent rank 30 June 1920.)
File:US-O8 insignia.svg	Major General	Retired List	21 March 1921 (Remained on active duty until 26 August 1921.)
File:US-O9 insignia.svg	Lieutenant General	Retired List	21 June 1930

Source: Army Register, 1931{{Cite book |last=The Adjutant General's Office, War Department |url=https://www.archive.org/18/items/officialarmyregi1931unit/officialarmyregi1931unit_bw.pdf |title=Official Army Register for 1931 |date=1931 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |page=859 |access-date=September 21, 2020}}

References

Bibliography

{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Henry Blaine Jr. |title=Generals in Khaki |publisher=Pentland Press |location=Raleigh, NC |year=1998 |isbn=1571970886 |oclc=40298151}}
{{cite book |last=Stackpole |first=Pierpont L. |date=2009 |title=In the Company of Generals: The World War I Diary of Pierpont L. Stackpole |url=https://archive.org/details/incompanyofgener00stac |url-access=registration |editor-last=Ferrell |editor-first=Robert H. |editor-link=Robert Hugh Ferrell |location=Columbia |publisher=University of Missouri Press | isbn=978-0-8262-1870-4 |lccn=2009028219 |oclc=318878435}}
{{cite book|last=Venzon|first=Anne Cipriano|title=The United States in the First World War: an Encyclopedia|location=Hoboken, NJ|publisher=Taylor and Francis|date=2013|isbn=978-1-135-68453-2|oclc=865332376}}
{{cite book|title=Pershing's Lieutenants: American Military Leadership in World War I|date=2020|editor1-last=Zabecki|editor1-first=David T.|editor-link1=David T. Zabecki|editor2-last=Mastriano|editor2-first=Douglas V.|editor2-link=Doug Mastriano|location=New York, NY|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-3863-6}}

External links

{{cite web |access-date=March 15, 2010 |url=http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/resources/ftlvn/ww2.asp#liggett |title=Hunter Liggett |publisher=United States Army |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070520225856/http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/resources/ftlvn/ww2.asp#liggett |archive-date=May 20, 2007 }}
{{cite web |access-date=March 15, 2010 |url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/Liggett.html |title=Gen. Liggett biography}}
{{cite web|access-date=March 15, 2010 |url=http://www-ku.arcent.army.mil/hidden/usarcent-history/third-army-command-biographies/cg/ltg-hunter-liggett-cg-(1919).aspx |title=Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett: Commanding General, Third Army, April 20, 1919 to July 2, 1919 |publisher=United States Army }}{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

{{s-ttl|title=President of the United States Army War College|years=1913–1914}}

{{s-ttl|title=Commanding General Philippine Department|years=1916−1917}}

{{s-ttl|title=Commanding General I Corps|years=January−October 1918}}