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Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Gen. Arthur MacArthur
Young Arthur MacArthur
1st Lt. Arthur MacArthur Jr., was born in 1845 and as an 18-year-old adjutant of the 24th Wisconsin and future father of Gen. Douglas MacArthur grabbed his regiment's national flag on the ridge's slope when the color bearer fell exhausted. Captain Howard Green of Company B and 1st Lt. Robert J. Chivas of Company I lay dead, with both officers of Company A wounded. Shouting "On, Wisconsin!" to his momentarily stunned comrades, the beardless youth carried the flag to the crest. "[I] had the honor of planting the colors of the 24th Wisconsin immediately in front of Bragg's old headquarters," he wrote the next day. I showed the old flag to General Sheridan immediately upon his arrival on top of the ridge While I was carrying the flag a whole dose of cannister went through it, tearing it in a frightful manner. I only received one scratch and that through the rim of my hat."
He served in the Civil War, where he earned a Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in battle. Less than six weeks later MacArthur was promoted to major. He finished the war in command of the regiment, received lieutenant colonel and colonel brevets, and in 1890 was given the Medal of Honor for bravery at Missionary Ridge.
From 1898-1899, he was a major general of volunteers in the Spanish-American War . On May 2, 1900, MacArthur replaced Otis as Military Governor of the Philippines. His view of the war was far more realistic than Otis, and he realized the time and energy it would take to conquer the islands. He censored the press as much as Otis did, and exported those unwilling to comply. MacArthur started an Amnesty program, offering freedom and pardon to Filipino generals in exchange for their surrender. The highlight of MacArthurs command was the capture of Aguinaldo in 1901. On July 4, 1901, MacArthur transferred his responsibility as governor to Taft and general to Adna Chaffee. He then returned to the United States, and served as lieutenant general and assistant chief of staff in 1906. MacArthur retired in 1909, and died in 1912.
General Emerson Opdycke (seated center) poses with his regimental commanders. Seated at far right is Arthur MacArthur, a 19-year-old Lieutenant Colonel and Medal of Honor Recipient. He would later be the father of General Douglas MacArthur.
CITATION:
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, and Adjutant, 24th Wisconsin Infantry. Place and date: At Missionary Ridge, Tenn., 25 November 1863. Entered service at: Milwaukee, Wis. Birth: Springfield, Mass. Date of issue: 30 June 1890. Citation: Seized the colors of his regiment at a critical moment and planted them on the captured works on the crest of Missionary Ridge.
Arthur MacArthur, Jr
24th Wisconsin
The following is a letter from Arthur MacArthur to Charles T. Clark with comments on the battle of Franklin
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF TEXAS
ASSISTANT ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, May 13, 1895
Dear Captain Clark:
I have just received your note of May 3 through the Adjutant General's office in Washington, in which you wish to incorporate a cut of myself, with other regimental commanders of the First Brigade, in your forthcoming History of the 125th Ohio. I comply with your request with great pleasure, and enclose herewith an engraving taken just after the muster-out in 1865. When the war ended I was Lieutenant Colonel, but held the Governor's commission as Colonel, which the War Department refused to recognize. The Wisconsin historian, however, for whom the engraving was made, insisted on the full rank, hence the shoulder straps in the engraving.
To be thus associated for all time with the 125th I appreciate as a great distinction, and I beg to thank you very much for remembering me in such an agreeable manner.
I understand from your correspondence that you purpose giving special prominence in your narrative to the part taken by the regiment and brigade in the battle of Franklin. This is very proper, as it is rarely the case that the influence of a particular command in controlling a great event can be as clearly traced as in behalf of the First Brigade at Franklin; and the decisive character of the battle itself cannot be overestimated, as it transpired at the most critical period of the war.
Briefly stated, the situation was something as follows:
General Sherman was in Georgia, rapidly approaching Savannah, but still without a base; General Grant had no troops to spare from the front of Petersburg and Richmond; in New Orleans and other places in the far south and west we had only a few thousand men. Hood's success at Franklin, therefore, meant Confederate supremacy over Tennessee and Kentucky, with the numerical strength of his army raised probably to at least 100,000 men. With such a force it was possible for him to sweep up to the Ohio River, and thereby oblige General Grant to detach largely from his army for the protection of the West, thus exposing General Sherman in Georgia to a concentrated attack by Lee before he could reach his new base. In a word, had Hood entered Nashville sword in hand at the head of a victorious army, which would have resulted from defeat of the Union army at Franklin, the civil war in all its subsequent scenes might have been essentially varied.
Battles great for conception or political results, ought to be studied; but those that save should be commemorated and celebrated. We owe admiration to the first; gratitude to the others. Franklin was essentially a battle that saved, and as such must be classified as second only to Gettysburg in importance during the entire war.
In this transcendent conflict the First Brigade played a part particularly its own. Whatever disputes may have arisen from the battle in other respects, it has never been denied that Opdycke's command restored the broken line at Carter's Hill. In this light I have, therefore, made the forgoing connected and somewhat lengthy statement in order to suggest the expediency of an effort to secure a suitable brigade memorial, to be erected on the field. Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin are interested. If each state could be induced to appropriate $1500 for each of its regiments there engaged, the individual efforts of survivors in addition thereto might, perhaps, be sufficient to secure a site and put a monument on a solid foundation. Please reflect upon the matter, and if favorably impressed by the suggestion, consider the possibility of giving practical effect to a movement looking to the end in view.
Very truly yours,
Arthur MacArthur, Jr.
Civil War General Arthur MacArthur, father of General Douglas MacArthur .
Arthur MacArthur Military Attache at the US Embassy in Tokyo
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