William Wallace Wotherspoon

Major General William Wallace Wotherspoon

William Wallace Wotherspoon (born November 16, 1850 in Washington, DC ; † October 21, 1921 ) was an American major general in the US Army who, among other things, served as president of the US Army between 1907 and 1909 and after a brief hiatus again from 1909 to 1912 US Army War College and Chief of Staff of the Army for several months in 1914 .

Life

Training as an officer and war missions

Wotherspoon completed his education at private schools and then served as a mate on various ships of the US Navy between 1870 and 1873 . In October 1873 he was accepted into the US Army and transferred to the 12th Infantry Regiment as a lieutenant . He participated in the Indian Wars in the west between 1874 and 1881 as a troop officer and quartermaster and then from 1881 to 1887 in the 12th Infantry Regiment north of New York , before he was on leave between 1888 and 1889 for health reasons. He was then superintendent of the Armed Forces Retirement Home from 1889 to 1890, responsible for the expansion of this residential facility for former soldiers in Washington, DC. He was then used between 1890 and 1894 in Fort Sully and Mount Vernom Baracks, where he trained a company of captured Apaches . During this time he was promoted to captain in 1893 and was briefly adjutant to General Oliver Otis Howard in 1894 , then commander of the Department of the East .

Wotherspoon then taught from 1894 to 1898 as a professor of military science and tactics at Rhode Island College and was then responsible for the recruitment and organization of the 3rd Battalion of the 12th Infantry Regiment at Fort McPherson in 1898. With this he was transferred to the Philippines at the beginning of the Spanish-American War in 1898 , where he then worked as a customs inspector in Iloilo during the Philippine-American War between 1899 and 1901 . In 1901 he was promoted to major and initially transferred to the 30th Infantry Regiment and was then commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Infantry Regiment stationed in Fort Leavenworth . He was then a lecturer at the General Staff College there from 1902 to 1904 and was transferred to the 14th Infantry Regiment after his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in 1904. After his subsequent transfer to the 19th Infantry Regiment, he was a graduate of the US Army War College and then stayed there between 1904 and 1906 as director of the Army War College.

Then Wotherspoon acted from 1906 to 1907 as Chief of Staff of the US Intervention Forces in Cuba (Army of Cuban Pacification) and after his return in 1907 as Acting President of the Army War College and as head of the Third Department of the General Staff.

Advance to Major General and Chief of Staff of the Army

Between 1907 and 1912 Brigadier General Wotherspoon was President of the US Army War College in Carlisle, with a short break

On February 21, 1907 Brigadier General Thomas Henry Barry Wotherspoon officially replaced as President of Army War College and held this post until his replacement by Brigadier General Tasker H. Bliss on June 19, 1909. In this capacity, he was also Brigadier General in October 1909 promoted. After a brief assignment as Assistant Chief of Staff of the US Army, he took over from Brigadier General Bliss again on December 1, 1909 as President of the Army War College, which he now holds until his replacement by Brigadier General Albert Leopold Mills on February 1 1912 held. During this time he was primarily responsible for transforming the college from a division of the general staff to an independent educational institution.

After Wotherspoon again as commander of the army division at already on 15 January 1912 by Brigadier General Albert Leopold Mills the post Gulf of Mexico (Department of the Gulf) had taken over, took place in May 1912 was promoted to Major General . On August 17, 1912, Brigadier General Robert K. Evans succeeded him as Commander of the Department of the Gulf. He himself then replaced Major General William Harding Carter on September 1, 1912 as Assistant Chief of Staff of the US Army (Assistant to the Chief of Staff) and at the same time served until his replacement by Brigadier General Hugh L. Scott on April 21, 1914 Chief of Army mobilization (Chief of the Mobile Army Division) .

On 21 April 1914, Major General Wotherspoon eventually became chief of staff of the US Army ( Chief of Staff of the Army ) , succeeding Major General Leonard Wood . In this capacity, he pointed out that the number of officers and sergeant ranks were not sufficient for combat missions and that the coastal defense would have to be reassessed in order to be able to withstand heavy battleships. Furthermore, an air force department was set up in the telecommunications corps and the Panama Canal was completed and opened . On November 15, 1914, he retired from active military service and was replaced as Chief of Staff of the Army by Major General Hugh L. Scott.

Most recently, Wotherspoon served as superintendent for public works for the state of New York between 1915 and 1920 . After his death on October 21, 1921, he was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. His 1887 marriage to Mary Adams Wotherspoon resulted in his son Alexander Somerville Wotherspoon, who served as Rear Admiral in the US Navy.

Awards

• Indian Campaign Medal
• Spanish War Service Medal
• Philippine Campaign Medal

Web links

• Short biography on the Arlington National Cemetery website
• William Wallace Wotherspoon in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• PRINCIPAL OFFICIALS OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT AND DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, 1900-1963