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Peyton C. March

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General Peyton Conway March (December 27, 1864 – April 13, 1955) was a senior officer of the United States Army. He served in the Philippines, on the Mexican border, and World War I. March was the ninth Chief of Staff from 1918 to 1921, accomplishing centralized control over supply, the creation of the Air Service, Tank Corps, and Chemical Warfare Service.

Peyton Conway March
March in 1919
Born(1864-12-27)December 27, 1864
Easton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedApril 13, 1955(1955-04-13) (aged 90)
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., U.S.
Buried
Arlington National Cemetery
38°52′59.6″N 77°04′11.3″W / 38.883222°N 77.069806°W / 38.883222; -77.069806
BranchUnited States Army
Years of service1888–1921
RankGeneral
Service number0-6[1]
UnitField Artillery Branch
Commands
Wars
Awards
ChildrenPeyton C. March Jr. (son)
RelationsDr. Francis March (father)

Early life and education

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March was born on December 27, 1864, in Easton, Pennsylvania, to Francis Andrew and Mildred (née Conway) March. His father was a college professor, and is regarded as the principal founder of modern comparative linguistics in Old English. His mother descended from Thomas Stone, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and was Moncure D. Conway's sister.[2]

March attended Lafayette College in Easton, where his father occupied the first chair of English language and comparative philology in the United States.[3] While at Lafayette College, March was a member of the Rho chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon. After graduating with honors in 1884,[4] he was appointed to West Point and graduated on June 11, 1888, ranked 10th in a class of 44.[3] Among his classmates there were several men who would, like March himself, eventually attain the rank of general officer, such as James W. McAndrew, William M. Morrow, William Robert Dashiell, Robert Lee Howze, Peter Charles Harris, Eli Alva Helmick, Charles Hedges McKinstry, Henry Jervey, William Voorhees Judson, John Louis Hayden, Edward Anderson, Charles Aloysius Hedekin, John S. Winn (who had been March's roommate),[5] and William S. Peirce.[6]

Career

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March as a first lieutenant in 1898.

After his initial assignment to the 3rd Artillery, March was assigned to the 5th Artillery as a 1st lieutenant in 1894. He was sent to the Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Virginia in September 1896 and graduated in April 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish–American War. As he was not immediately assigned, he watched as his classmates went off to various commands, and began fearing he would not see combat. In early May, that changed when he was offered to lead what later became known as the Astor Battery, named so because it was personally financed by John Jacob Astor IV. He organized, equipped and subsequently commanded the battery when it was sent to the Philippines during the Spanish–American War.[7] Historian Bruce Campbell Adamson has written about Henry Bidwell Ely (Adamson's great grandfather) who was placed in charge of The Astor Battery by John Jacob Astor IV, to give Peyton March whatever he needed. March credited Ely as having "an open check book" to purchase uniforms, mules and the cannons.[8]

After the battery returned from the Philippines in 1899, March was assigned as the aide to Major General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. during the Philippine–American War. Later that year he was promoted to major. He continued to serve in the Philippines, participated as part of General Loyd Wheaton's expedition in battles at San Fabian, Buntayan Bridge and San Jacinto. He commanded the U.S. forces in the Battle of Tirad Pass, 2 December 1899, where General Gregorio del Pilar was killed, and received the surrender of General Venacio Concepción, chief of staff to Philippine President Aguinaldo at Cayan, 5 December 1899. He served as provincial governor of districts including Lepanto-Bontoc and Ilocos Sur from February to June 1900, and then the Abra Province from June 1900 to February 1901. He then served as Commissary General of Prisoners for the Philippine Islands through 30 June 1901, when he mustered out of the U.S. Volunteers.[9]

In 1903, he was sent to Fort Riley and commanded the 19th Battery of the Field Artillery. Later that year, he was sent to Washington, D.C., and served on the newly created General Staff.

From March 21 to November 30, 1904, March was one of several American military attachés serving with the Imperial Japanese Army in the Russo-Japanese War.[3] Of the seventeen military attachés observing both sides of the Russo-Japanese War for the United States, eight were later promoted to be generals.[10]

In 1907, March commanded the 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery. March then served as adjutant of Fort Riley, Kansas and then served as adjutant at several other commands, including at the War Department.

In 1916, he was promoted to colonel and commanded the 8th Field Artillery Regiment on the Mexican border during the Pancho Villa Expedition.

Later career

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March as a general and chief of staff of the United States Army, c. 1918
 
General March depicted in a portrait by Nicodemus David Hufford III
 
The Army Distinguished Service Medal presented by Secretary of War Newton D. Baker to several World War I generals, including March (far left, wearing his Army DSM), in January 1919

In June 1917, shortly after the American entry into World War I, March was promoted to brigadier general and commanded the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) and, accompanied by First Lieutenant Stanley E. Reinhart (later a major general in World War II) as his aide-de-camp, went to France with the 1st Division. Later that year, March was promoted to major general and commanded the artillery units of the First Army and all non-divisional artillery units.[3]

In March 1918, he was recalled to Washington, took over as acting Army Chief of Staff on March 4 and was Army Chief of Staff on May 20, 1918. He was promoted to temporary general. Joseph M. Swing (a lieutenant general in World War II) was his new aide-de-camp.

March was highly critical of President Wilson's decision to send an American Expedition to North Russia and Siberia in 1918 during the Russian Civil War (the so-called Siberian Intervention) ostensibly to prop-up the White movement war effort, secure the railroads, support the Czech Legion trapped there, and stop the Japanese from exploiting the chaos in order to colonize Siberia. March wrote after the pull-out of American forces in 1920:

The sending of this expedition was the last occasion in which the president reversed the recommendation of the War Department during my service as Chief of Staff of the Army. ... almost immediately after the Siberian and North Russian forces had reached their theaters of operations, events moved rapidly and uniformly in the direction of complete failure of these expeditions to accomplish anything that their sponsors had claimed for them.[11]

He served as chief of staff until June 30, 1921. As chief of staff he reorganized the Army structure, and abolished the distinctions between the Regular Army, the Army Reserves, and the National Guard during wartime. He created new technical branches in the service including the Air Service, Tank Corps, and Chemical Warfare Service. He also centralized control over supply. After the war ended, he supervised the demobilization of the Army. As chief of staff he often came into disagreement with General John J. Pershing, who wanted to conduct the AEF as an independent command. March was a highly efficient and capable administrator who did much to modernize the American Army and prepare it for combat in the First World War.[12]

March retired as a major general in 1921 at the age of 56.[13] He was furious that Pershing was made a permanent four-star general with the rank of General of the Armies of the United States, therefore outranking March, nominally Pershing's superior.[14] In June 1930, March was advanced to general on the retired list as the result of a law which enabled World War I generals to retire at the highest rank they had held.

After retirement, he travelled Europe, Africa, and Turkey.[15] In 1932, he published his war memoirs, The Nation at War.[16] During World War II, reporters for Time and Life magazines regularly sought his opinions of events.[15] He was a fan of the Washington Senators and regularly attended their home games.[17]

Personal life

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March married Josephine Cunningham (née Smith, December 18, 1862 – November 18, 1904), the widowed daughter of his battery commander, Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Smith,[15][18] on July 4, 1891. She died in November 1904, while March was still observing the Imperial Japanese Army.[3] Between November 28, 1917, and June 8, 1918, their daughters Mildred (1893–1967), Josephine (1895–1972) and Vivian (1899–1932) had all married army officers, Josephine marrying March's aide-de-camp in World War I, Joseph M. Swing.[19] Josephine had a twin brother, named Peyton Jr. who died ten days after their birth. March's second son, also named Peyton Jr., was killed in a plane crash in Texas during World War I. March AFB in Riverside, California, was named in his honor.[20] A third son, Lewis Alden March, was born in 1904 and died in 1928.[15][21]

While traveling in Italy, he met Cora Virginia McEntee (1897–1964), and married her in August 1923.[15][21][22]

Death

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March died at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., on April 13, 1955.[3] He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

His funeral march included "the escort commander and his staff, the United States Army Band, one battalion of cadets from the U.S. Military Academy, one company of infantry, one battery of field artillery, one company of armor, the U.S. Marine Band, one company of Marines. one company of bluejackets, one squadron of airmen, and one composite company of servicewomen." The estimated total strength of the military escort was 1,200 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines.

At his gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery "was a large group of military, civilian, and foreign dignitaries headed by Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Also in attendance were representatives of the Society of the Cincinnati, the descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, to all of which General March had belonged."[23]

Awards and decorations

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Distinguished Service Cross[24] Army Distinguished Service Medal[24] Silver Star with four oak leaf clusters[24]
Spanish Campaign Medal Philippine Campaign Medal Mexican Border Service Medal World War I Victory Medal
Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (United Kingdom) Grand Officier Légion d'honneur (France) Grand Cross Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy) Grand Cordon Order of the Rising Sun (Japan)
Grand Cross Order of George I (Greece) Grand Cross Order of the Crown (Belgium) Grand Cross Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland) WWI War Cross (Czechoslovakia)

Dates of rank

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Insignia Rank Component Date
None Cadet United States Military Academy June 15, 1884
None in 1888 Second Lieutenant Regular Army June 11, 1888
 
 First Lieutenant Regular Army March 25, 1894
 
 Major Volunteers July 5, 1899
 
 Lieutenant Colonel Volunteers June 9, 1900
 
 Captain Regular Army February 2, 1901
(Discharged from Volunteers on June 30, 1901.)
 
 Major Regular Army January 25, 1907
 
 Lieutenant Colonel Regular Army February 8, 1912
 
 Colonel Regular Army July 1, 1916
 
 Brigadier General Regular Army June 22, 1917
(Date of rank was June 17, 1917.)
 
 Major General National Army September 3, 1917
(Date of rank was August 5, 1917.)
 
 Major General Regular Army February 12, 1918
(Date of rank was September 23, 1917.)
 
 General Emergency May 25, 1918
(Date of rank was May 20, 1918.)
 
 Major General Regular Army July 1, 1920
(Reverted to permanent rank.)
 
 Major General Retired List November 1, 1921
 
 General Retired List June 21, 1930

Source: Army Register, 1946[25]

Honors

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In 1919, March was admitted as an honorary member of the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati. In December 1922, he was elected honorary president of Delta Kappa Epsilon during the fraternity's 78th Annual Convention.[26]

References

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  1. ^ Coffman 1966, p. 308.
  2. ^ Coffman, Edward M. (February 2000). March, Peyton Conway (1864–1955), Army Officers (1866–1995). American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0700181. Retrieved May 15, 2015. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Davis, Henry Blaine Jr. (1998). Generals in Khaki. Raleigh, NC: Pentland Press, Inc. pp. 242–243. ISBN 1571970886.
  4. ^ Delta Kappa Epsilon Council (1910). Warren, Aldice G. (ed.). Catalogue of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company. p. 742. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  5. ^ Coffman 1966, p. 8.
  6. ^ Coffman 1966, pp. 8–9.
  7. ^ Feuer, A.B., ed. (2002). "11". America at War: The Philippines, 1898–1913 ([Online-Ausg.] ed.). Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers. pp. 65–72. ISBN 9780275968212. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  8. ^ Adamson, Bruce Campbell (1996). Potter, Agnes H.; Ely, George W.; Hawkins, William D. (eds.). The Life and Times of Captain George W. Ely, 1840–1922: Secretary of the New York Stock Exchange, 1874–1919. Aptos, California: Bruce Campbell Adamson. ISBN 9781892501011.
  9. ^ Cullum, George Washington (1920). Braden, Lieutenant Charles (ed.). Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, at West Point, N.Y., since its Establishment in 1802: Supplement V, 1900–1910. Saginaw, Michigan: Houghton, Mifflin. p. 418. ISBN 978-0-608-42913-7. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  10. ^ Sisemore, James D. (2003). The Russo-Japanese War, lessons not learned. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. pp. 2, 109. ISBN 9781497522282. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  11. ^ Willett, Robert L. (2003). Russian sideshow : America's undeclared war 1918–1920 (1st ed.). Washington, DC: Brassey's. p. 264. ISBN 9781574884296.
  12. ^ Anne Cipriano Venzon, ed (2013). The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis Inc. p.369. ISBN 0-815-33353-6
  13. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "March, Francis Andrew" . Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
  14. ^ "MARSHALL & MACARTHUR: THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE". History Net. October 1, 2018.
  15. ^ a b c d e Glenn, Justin (2014). The Washingtons: A Family History: Volume 5 (Part One): Generation Nine of the Presidential Branch. California: Savas Publishing. p. 535. ISBN 9781940669304. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  16. ^ March, Peyton C. (1932). The Nation at War. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. ISBN 9781430476542.
  17. ^ "General is Fanatic: Peyton C. March Never Fails to see Nats at Home". St. Joseph News-Press. St. Joseph, MO. Associated Press. May 14, 1940. p. 18 – via newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Tribute Paid at Bier of a Gallant Soldier". The San Francisco Call. San Francisco, California. April 25, 1907. p. 2. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  19. ^ "Maj. Gen. March's Three Daughters All War Brides". The Evening World. New York, N.Y. May 16, 1918. p. 18. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  20. ^ Armed Services Press, Welcome to March Air Force Base – 1971 Unofficial Guide and Directory, Riverside, California, 1971, page 3.
  21. ^ a b papers, compiled from family; Anderson, from reliable sources by Sarah Travers Lewis Scott (1984). Lewises, Meriwethers and their Kin: Lewises and Meriwethers with Their Tracings through the Families Whose Records Are Herein Contained. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co. p. 488. ISBN 9780806310725. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  22. ^ "General March has taken young bride". Berkeley Daily Gazette. Berkeley, California. August 25, 1923. p. 9. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  23. ^ Mossman, Billy C.; Stark, M. Warner (1972). The Last Salute: Civil and Military Funerals, 1921–1969. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. pp. 81–86. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  24. ^ a b c "Peyton March - Recipient -". valor.militarytimes.com. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
  25. ^ The Adjutant General's Office, War Department (1946). Official Army Register for 1946 (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. p. 963. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  26. ^ "Delta Kappa Epsilon Honors Unknown Here". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. December 29, 1922. p. 9.

Bibliography

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