Meriweather Lewis 1774-1809
Born in VA, Meriweather Lewis moved to GA at age five with his mother and step-father. He had no education until the age of 13 spending his time hunting and in the outdoors. His uncle in VA became his guardian and he was sent to him to be educated by private tutors. In 1795, he joined the U.S. Army Infantry. In 1801, he was appointed the Secretary of President Thomas Jefferson. When President Jefferson decided to launch the Corps of Discovery (also known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition), he chose Lewis to lead it. Lewis recruited William Clark who had been one of his Infantry commanders. Their two-year journey through the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains brought information and scientific revelations about our country. In those years, the Corps encountered more than two dozen Native American tribes who often cooperated and instructed those in the Corps of Discovery. Upon the end of the Expedition, Lewis was named Governor of the Louisiana Territory and lived in St. Louis.
Zachary Taylor 1784-1850
Born in 1784 to a prominent planter family, Zachary was the third in a family of six brothers and three sisters. His father, Richard, served as a Lieutenant Colonel during the American Revolutionary War. He was a descendant of Pilgrim leader of the Plymouth Colony, William Brewster, who came to the New World on the Mayflower. Through another Mayflower ancestor, he was a second cousin to James Madison and a member of the Lee family of VA making him a third cousin of Robert E. Lee. He would distinguish himself in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and the Second Seminole War, but he is most known for his leadership in the Mexican War (1846-48) The U.S. victory at Buena Vista, made General Taylor a national hero. He was elected President of the United States in 1848 and was a staunch supporter of the Union. He had one of the shortest presidencies (1849-1850), only sixteen months long. He was the last President born before the Constitution was adopted. (One of his six children, daughter Sarah, married Jefferson Davis, but contracted malaria and died after only three months.)
U.S. Grant 1822-1885 USMA 1843
At West Point, Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant) became known as an excellent horseman. He spent some of his cadet time studying under artist Robert Walter Weir, a teacher of Drawing at West Point. Some of Grant’s cadet artwork still exists; one drawing is in the Museum at West Point. Despite his horsemanship skills, he joined the Infantry with his first assignment at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, at that time the largest military base in the West. His unit would be reassigned to participate in the Mexican War where he first experienced combat in the Battle of Palo Alto. Though he wanted further combat experience, he was assigned to be the regimental quartermaster which would become important to him years later. Under the leadership of General Zachary Taylor and General Winfield Scott in Mexico, he learned valuable lessons he would use as he fought in the Civil War. When gold was found in California in 1849, he was tasked to take soldiers of the 4th Infantry in NY through Panama to the Pacific. While there, an epidemic of cholera broke out, Grant set up a field hospital and moved the sickest patients to a barge one mile offshore for isolation. When orderlies wouldn’t help, Brevet Captain Grant personally did much of the nursing for the sick soldiers. When the epidemic was over, the soldiers and their families could get back on their way across the Isthmus of Panama, part on a train, part riding mules and later by ship to California. His next assignment was at Vancouver Barracks in the Oregon Territory. In 1854, Grant left the Army. At the beginning of the Civil War, he was a civilian, but soon returned to the Army, participated in many battles of the war and was selected Commander of the Union Army by President Abraham Lincoln. In 1868, he was elected President of the United States.
John Porter Hatch 1822-1901 USMA 1845
After his graduation from West Point, John Hatch served in the Mexican War as his first active-duty assignment under the command of General Zachary Taylor and later under Winfield Scott. He was brevetted to Captain for his heroism at Chapultepec. After the War, he spent several years in the Old West and Oregon. He served as the Chief of Commissary Officer for the Army Department of New Mexico. At the beginning of the Civil War, Hatch was assigned to the Cavalry of George McClellan. Only a few months later, he served in the Valley Campaign. He took over command of I Corps only the night before the Battle of Second Bull Run since the commander Rufus King fell ill with epilepsy. He was shot in the leg at the Battle of South Mountain and was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism under enemy fire. Upon his recovery, he participated in the Georgia-Carolinas campaign and served as the military commander of the city of Charleston until August 1865. Hatch served in the Army for the next 26 years on the frontier in Texas, the Indian Territory, Montana Territory and the Washington Territory.
Daniel Butterfield 1831-1901
Born in Utica, NY, Daniel was a stagecoach driver as a young man and later transported goods to Panama. In 1858, as the President of the Overland Stage Company, he won a contract to carry mail from St. Louis to San Francisco in three weeks which was a great feat before the time of the transcontinental railroads. His family business, Butterfield, Wasson and Company would become American Express Company. At the attack on Ft. Sumter, S.C., Daniel joined the 12th New York Volunteer Infantry. He fought at the First Battle of Bull Run, the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles at Gaines Mill where he was wounded and in 1892 would be awarded the Medal of Honor. He recovered enough to participate in the Second Battle of Bull Run, Antietam and Gettysburg. He accompanied Sherman at the Battle of Atlanta, but illness kept him from continuing with Sherman and he was given lighter duties in Vicksburg. Early in 1962, Daniel prepared and printed a manual on camp and outpost duty for infantrymen. It was a substantial book that included information about standing orders, rules for health, words of wisdom for soldiers and the duties of officers. Click here to read his manual: https://www.tapsbugler.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/1862-Camp-and-Outpost-Duty-Daniel-Butterfield.pdf
Daniel Butterfield is credited with composing the bugle call, TAPS, while at Harrison’s Landing in 1962 to replace the three-rifle volley salute at the end of battlefield burials. It was often called Butterfields’ Lullaby. TAPS was officially recognized for use by the U.S. Army in 1874. General Butterfield is buried at West Point though he did not attend the U.S. Military Academy. TAPS was played at his internment in 1901.
Omar Bradley 1893-1981 USMA 1915
Born in Missouri, Omar arrived at West Point after working for the Wabash railroad as a boilermaker. He was encouraged by his Sunday School teacher to take the West Point entrance exam. He was an outstanding member of the West Point baseball team; all cadets on that 1914 team became generals later in their Army careers. During WWI, copper was a strategic mineral and 31% of the US production was in Butte, Montana; as a young Army officer, Bradley was sent to guard the copper mines there. Between the wars, Bradley spent four years teaching Math at West Point before being sent to the War Department. He was later the Commander of the Infantry School at Ft. Benning. His first front-line assignment during World War II was under George Patton in Operation Torch in North Africa. He commanded II Corps in the Tunisia Campaign and the Allied Invasion of Italy as well as the First US Army at Normandy. After WWII, he was head of the Veterans Administration and then, the first Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. In his civilian life, he was the Chairman of the Board of Bulova Watch Company.
Dwight David Eisenhower 1890-1969 USMA 1915
Dwight David Eisenhower was born in TX, but moved to Abilene, KS at the age of two. He was the third of seven sons, all of whom had the nickname “Ike” (Big Ike, Little Ike, etc.), a shortening of his long German name. He loved to explore the outdoors, fish, hunt, play cards and cook. It was his mother’s collection of history books that interested him in military history. He and his brother, Edgar, both wanted to go to college, but they didn’t have the necessary funds. They decided that Edgar could go, and Dwight would work; they would then alternate at work and college. Edgar asked for a second year and Dwight agreed. He learned of the U.S. Military Academy and secured an appointment putting him in the Class of 1915 – the Class the Stars Fell On (59 of the 164 became general officers). Aat West Point, he was a halfback on the football team until he injured his knee; he took up fencing and gymnastics. He requested an assignment in Europe during WWI but was instead assigned to train tank crews. Between the wars, Ike served under and learned from many talented officers. He believed the most influential was Fox Conner. Among other assignments, he was a part of the American Battle Monuments Commission and produced a book on American battlefields in Europe. In an assignment in the Philippines, he learned to fly with the Philippine Army Air Corps and later obtained his private pilot’s license in 1939 at Ft. Lewis, WA. After the attack at Pearl Harbor, he was assigned to D.C. In 1942, he was sent to England as Commanding General of the European Theater of Operations. Later, he planned Operation Torch (North Africa) from within the underground headquarters within the Rock of Gibraltar, the first non-British officer to command Gibraltar in 200 years. Ike became the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) in December 1943. He planned and carried out Operation Overlord in June 1944. In 1948, he became the President of Columbia University in NY. Ike was elected President of the United States in 1952 and served in that position until 1960.
Alexander Ramsey Nininger 1918–1942 USMA 1941
Alexander Nininger was born in GA and came to West Point where he was called Sandy by his classmates. He ran track, was a part of the debating society and the leader of the lecture committee. Upon graduation in May 1941, he became an Infantryman and was sent to the Philippines as a part of the 57th Infantry Regiment as a part of the Philippine Scouts. During the first month of the Japanese invasion in WWII, the Scouts helped prepare the American defenses in Bataan. Soon after, when the Japanese launched an assault, Nininger volunteered for another company that was ready to join the combat. He was killed in action on January 12, 1942 and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his leadership against the invading Japanese. His was the first Medal of Honor awarded in WWII. First Lieutenant Nininger was just 25 years old. He is remembered today in the First Division of the Cadet Barracks at West Point – Nininger Barracks; a rifle range at Ft. Moore is named in his honor; Alexander Nininger State Veterans Nursing home in FL is named for him. In 2006 the West Point Association of Graduates created the Alexander Nininger Award for Valor at Arms award that is given to a West Point graduate who has displayed courage in combat and upheld the values of West Point.
Harold Moore 1922-2017 USMA 1946
Born in Bardstown, KY, Moore so badly wanted to attend West Point that he decided to leave home before graduating from high school to move to Washington, DC where he believed he might have a better chance to gain an appointment to West Point. He took a job in the U.S. Senate book warehouse while he finished his high school education at night. He attended George Washington University for two years before receiving an appointment to West Point in 1942. His time at West Point was shortened to three years because of WWII. He graduated with his class in May 1945 and was commissioned into the infantry. He did his jump school in occupied Japan where he was assigned from 1945-1948. Moore became a jumpmaster making over 300 jumps throughout his 32-year career. During the Korean War, he commanded a heavy mortar company in combat and later Assistant Division Chief of Staff. After attendance at several Army schools, Moore was assigned to West Point to teach tactics. In August 1965, while stationed at Ft. Benning, GA, he and his battalion, a part of the “Garry Owen” Brigade, shipped out to Vietnam by way of the Panama Canal; they arrived in Vietnam a month later. Only a few months, later, Moore led his battalion in the first major battle of the Vietnam War at the IA Drang Valley. They were vastly outnumbered, yet after a three-day battle, the enemy left the fight leaving hundreds of their own dead. The battle is portrayed in the 1992 We Were Soldiers Once…and Young, which he co-authored. In later assignments, he was instrumental in downsizing the Army after the end of the Vietnam War and transforming the Army into the All-Volunteer Army. He was named a Distinguished Graduate of West Point.
Julia Compton Moore 1929-2004
The wife of Hal Moore for 55 years, Julia was born into a field artillery family and as an “Army brat” moved around with her parents. She went to the Philippines when her father went to command a battalion there for over three years. Later at Ft. Bragg, Hal Moore was a parachute tester under her father, Colonel Compton. As an Army wife and mother, she was active in wives’ events and leading Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts along with volunteering at Army hospitals with the Red Cross. She helped set up Army Community Service organizations that are now permanent fixtures on Army posts. After the Battle of Ia Trang, she was instrumental in reforming the procedures for notifying waiting family members about the injuries or deaths of their soldiers. These reforms have now been in place since then. Along with her husband, Hal, she is remembered by the renaming of Ft. Benning to Ft. Moore in 2023. They are the only Army couple to be so honored.
