 |
|
   |
General William Sidney Graves |
|
by John Culloton (used with permission) Was born at Mount Calm, Texas, on March 27, 1865. He attended Baylor University from 1881 to 1884 and afterward taught school for a year before receiving an appointment to the United States Military Academy. Upon his graduation from that institution in 1889 he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the army and embarked upon a lifelong military career. He spent the next several years in Colorado, where he met and, on February 9, 1891, married Katherine Boyd. The couple raised two children. Between 1897 and 1899 he served as a small-arms instructor in the Department of Columbia. In addition, in 1898-99 he was acting judge advocate, a position that he maintained after returning to the Department of Colorado in 1899. He was promoted to captain and ordered the same year to the Philippines, where he took part in a number of battles against Philippine insurgents during the Spanish-American War. After the war Graves held assignments briefly in Ohio and Illinois before further service in the Philippines from 1904 to 1906. In the latter year he was posted for a short time in San Francisco, California, for duty involved in the cleanup and rebuilding of that city after the great earthquake. Between 1906 and 1909 he served as a recruiting officer. He returned to Washington, D.C., in the latter year to work on the general staff of the War Department. At this post he served as secretary of the general staff and rose to the rank of major. On July 4, 1912, he was assigned to the Twentieth Infantry, stationed in Utah. Graves retained this post until November 27, 1913, when he became commander of the United States Border Patrol in Texas, a position he held until August 12, 1914. After the beginning of World War I in Europe in 1914 he returned to duty with the general staff. He remained in the national capital in this position until 1918; he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in July 1916. While assigned to Washington he conducted a secret observation tour of Europe to compile information for use in the organization of the American Expeditionary Force in 1917. Graves was promoted to the rank of colonel in June 1917, and in December of that year he received a promotion to brigadier general and became assistant chief of the general staff. Despite his covert mission in 1917, Graves failed to receive a command in Europe upon American entry into the war. He was promoted to Major General, National Army (Temp. Reserve Rank) on July 9, 1918, and assumed command of the 8th Division on July 18, 1918. The Division was training for combat in Europe when he was made commander of the AEFS and sent to Siberia in August 1918.He remained in Siberia until the deactivation of the AEFS April 1, 1920. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his work in Siberia. He stayed in the Army until his retirement in 1928. He passed away in New Jersey in February 1940. |
GRAVES, WILLIAM SIDNEY (1865-1940)
Back to the 8th Division in WW1
