Hunter Liggett

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Hunter Liggett

Hunter Liggett (March 21, 1857– December 30, 1935) was a general of the United States Army. His forty-two years of service spanned the period from the Indian campaigns to trench warfare.

Liggett was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. After his graduation from West Point as an infantry lieutenant in 1879, field service in the American West, the Spanish American War, and the Philippine-American War honed his skills as a troop leader.

In 1907, he assumed command of a battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment at Fort Leavenworth. From 1909 to 1914, he served as student, faculty member, and president at the Army War College. Success in brigade commands in Texas and in the Philippines led to his selection as commander of the 41st Infantry Division in France in 1917. When his division was disestablished, he took command of I Corps.

Under Liggett's leadership, the 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 US First Army, he directed the final phases of the Meuse-Argonne offensive and the pursuit of German forces until the armistice. After commanding the U.S. Third Army also known as the Army of Occupation on the Rhein bridgeheads, Hunter Liggett retired in 1921. Congress promoted him to permanent lieutenant general in 1930.

His medals included these: The Distinguished Service Medal; the decorations of the Legion of Honor, from France; the Order of Leopold, from Belgium; and the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, from Italy.

He died in San Francisco, California in 1935. He is interred at the San Francisco National Cemetery.

Fort Hunter Liggett on California's central coast, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard's U.S.S. Hunter Liggett were named in honor of him.