Hunter Liggett

Infobox Military Person
name=Hunter Liggett
born= birth date|1857|3|21
died= death date and age|1935|12|30|1857|3|21
placeofburial=San Francisco National Cemetery


caption=Hunter Liggett
placeofbirth=Reading, Pennsylvania
placeofdeath=San Francisco, California
allegiance=flagicon|United States United States of America
branch= United States Army
serviceyears=1879–1921
rank= Lieutenant General
commands= 41st Division I Corps First Army Third Army
battles=Indian Wars Spanish-American War Philippine-American War World War I
awards=Distinguished Service Medal Legion of Honor (France)

Hunter Liggett (March 21, 1857– December 30, 1935) was a lieutenant 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 a second lieutenant in 1879, he was assigned to the Fifth 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 first lieutenant in June 1884.

His 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 as a temporary lieutenant (three star) general.

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 United States Coast Guard's USS "Hunter Liggett" were named in honor of him.

References

* [http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/resources/ftlvn/ww2.asp#liggett army.mil: Hunter Liggett]
* [http://www.militarymuseum.org/Liggett.html Gen. Liggett biography]