Hunter Liggett

Template:Short description Template:Lead too short Template:Infobox military person

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 lifeEdit

Liggett was born on March 21, 1857, in Reading, Pennsylvania.<ref name=Davis229>Davis, pp. 229–230</ref> 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.<ref name=Davis229 />

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 IEdit

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

Lt. General Hunter Liggett, 1919

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.<ref name=Davis229 />

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.Template:Sfnm

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

Retirement and deathEdit

Liggett wrote about his war time experiences in A.E.F.: Ten Years Ago in France (1928).<ref>Liggett, Hunter. A.E.F., Ten Years Ago in France. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co, 1928. Template:OCLC</ref> 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.<ref name=Davis229 /> He died December 30, 1935, in San Francisco, California, and is interred at the San Francisco National Cemetery.

Honors and awardsEdit

Military honorsEdit

File:111-SC-38212 - NARA - 55235578-cropped.jpg

Hunter Liggett (1st on the left) with fellow US generals (left to right) Robert Bullard, 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

Template:Ribbon devices	Army Distinguished Service Medal
Template:Ribbon devices	Indian Campaign Medal
Template:Ribbon devices	Spanish War Service Medal
Template:Ribbon devices	Philippine Campaign Medal
Template:Ribbon devices	World War I Victory Medal
Template:Ribbon devices	Army of Occupation of Germany Medal

Foreign awards

File:Legion Honneur Commandeur ribbon.svg	Légion d'honneur (France), class of Commandeur
File:BEL - Order of Leopold - Commander bar.svg	Order of Leopold (Belgium), class of Commandeur
File:Commendatore SSML Regno BAR.svg	Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy), class of Commendatore
File:CroixdeGuerreFR-BronzePalm.png	Croix de Guerre with palm (France)

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Army Distinguished Service medal citationEdit

Citation

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Other honorsEdit

In his honor, the United States Army named a base on California's central coast, Fort Hunter Liggett.<ref name="liggett">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Brown">Template:Cite book</ref>

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 Template:USS 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.<ref name=USSHL>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Dates of rankEdit


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