Lt. General Adna Chaffee, Sr.

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Adna Romanza Chaffee (1842-1914), American officer in the United States Army, who distinguished himself in the Cuban campaign of the Spanish-American War (1898). Born in Orwell, Ohio, Chaffee enlisted in the 6th United States Cavalry at the age of 19. Receiving his first commission in 1863, he was made a first lieutenant by the close of the American Civil War (1861-1865), and two years later he became a captain. Chaffee was promoted to major in 1888 and was assigned to the 9th Cavalry. In 1897 he became lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Cavalry.

In 1898, at the beginning of the Spanish-American War, Chaffee was made a brigadier general of volunteers. In a major encounter prior to the Battle of Santiago, Chaffee’s brigade captured the village of El Caney. At the close of hostilities, he became chief of staff of the military government in Cuba. At the time of the Boxer Uprising (1900) in China, Chaffee headed a relief expedition to the war-torn country, where Chinese nationalists were attempting to have all foreigners expelled. Chaffee became a major general in the army on February 4, 1901. After serving in the Philippines, Chaffee headed the Department of the East from 1902 to 1903, and he was assistant chief of staff for the department from 1903 to 1904. Also in 1904, he became lieutenant general and chief of staff of the United States Army. Chaffee retired in 1906.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adna_Chaffee

Adna Romanza Chaffee (April 14, 1842 – November 1, 1914) was a General in the United States Army. Chaffee took part in the American Civil War and Indian Wars, played a key role in the Spanish-American War, and was instrumental in crushing the Boxer Rebellion in China. He was the Army Chief of Staff from 1904 to 1906, overseeing far-reaching transformation of organization and doctrine in the Army.

Civil War

Chaffee was born in Orwell, Ohio. When the American Civil War broke out in July 1861, Chaffee enlisted in the Union Army as a Private in the U.S. 6th Cavalry Regiment. In 1862, Chaffee was promoted to sergeant and took part in the Peninsular Campaign and the Battle of Antietam. In September of that year he was made the First Sergeant of Company K. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in May 1863. His 6th Cavalry on detached service from General John Buford's 1st Union Cavalry Division, though outnumbered attacked a Confederate Cavalry regiment at Fairfield, Maryland, just outside of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. (source, Wittenberg, Eric: Gettysburg: Forgotten Cavalry Actions)In the ensuing action he was wounded and briefly held a prisoner of the Condederates. He served with the 6th Cavalry for the remainder of the war, being twice wounded. In February 1865, he was promoted to First Lieutenant. For his "gallant and meritorious" actions in the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House he was brevetted Captain.

Indian Wars

Chaffee decided to remain with the Army after the war. He was posted to the western frontier, and was promoted to Captain of Regulars in October 1867. For the next thirty years he served in the Indian Wars, fighting the Central Plains and Southwestern tribes. In 1868, he was brevetted major for his actions at Paint Creek, Texas. In the following years he engaged the Indians many times, most notably at Red River, Texas in 1874, and Big Dry Wash, Arizona in 1882, for which he was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel. In July 1888 he was promoted to Major and transferred to the 9th Cavalry. From 1894 to 1896, he was an instructor of tactics at the Army’s Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth. In June 1897 he was promoted to Colonel and transferred to the 3rd Cavalry, where he served as commandant of the Cavalry School at Fort Riley until 1898.

Spanish-American War

With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, he was assigned a brigade and was promoted to Brigadier General of volunteers in May of that year, and in July after the victory at El Caney, to Major General of volunteers. From late 1898 to May 1900, he served as the chief of staff to the military governor of Cuba, General Leonard Wood, being promoted to Colonel of regulars in May 1899.

Boxer Rebellion

In June 1900, the Boxer Rebellion broke out in China. Chaffee was sent to China in July as the commander of the U.S. Army’s China Relief Expedition. The Expedition was a part of the international force sent to rescue Western citizens and put down the rebellion. Chaffee played a key role in the rapid advance to the imperial capital of Beijing and its subsequent capture on August 14, 1900, which relieved the beleaguered embassy staffs and other Western nationals.

Later Military Service

In February 1901, he became a Major General in the regular army. From July of that year until October 1902, he served as the military governor of the Philippines. This included the beginning of the second phase of the Philippine Insurrection. In October 1902, he became commander of the Department of the East, a position he held until October 1903.

In January 1904, he was promoted to Lieutenant General and, from January 9, 1904 until January 14, 1906, served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army. At his own request, he was retired on February 1, 1906.

In his retirement, he moved to Los Angeles, where he was appointed President of the Board of Public Works for the city of Los Angeles.

Family

Chaffee was married twice: in 1868, he married Kate Haynie Reynolds, who died the following year; in 1875, he married his second wife, Annie Frances Rockwell. His son Adna Chaffee, Jr. also became a general and was one of the fathers of U.S. Army’s armored forces.

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Adna Romanza Chaffee, army officer, son of Truman Bibbins and Grace (Hyde) Chaffee, was born on April 14, 1842, in Orwell, Ohio, and educated at a nearby country school. He joined the regular Sixth Cavalry on July 22, 1861, and saw action in the Peninsular campaign, the battle of Antietam, the battle of Fredericksburg, the Stoneman Raid, and the battle of Gettysburg, where he was wounded and narrowly escaped capture. Throughout 1864 he took part in Gen. Philip Sheridan's Virginia campaigns and was promoted to first lieutenant in February 1865.

After the Sixth Cavalry's reorganization in the summer of 1865, Chaffee was transferred to Austin, Texas, where he was appointed depot quartermaster on December 12, 1866. In March 1867 he resigned his commission with thoughts of going into business, but was persuaded to seek restoration to rank. After promotion to captain in October, he was assigned in February 1868 to Fort Griffin. On March 5 he successfully pursued a band of Quahadi Comanche warriors who had attacked a wagon train hauling lumber from the Mill Creek sawmill. Chaffee and his men found the Quahadis taking refuge near Paint Creek, encircled the camp, charged, and defeated them. Chaffee was brevetted a major for his actions. With his reputation as an Indian fighter established, he spent the next three years at various army camps in Texas chasing down outlaws and hostile Indians. The dogged persistence of Chaffee and his men on the Texas frontier soon gained them the name Chaffee's Guerillas.

Chaffee was transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas, in March 1871 and spent most of 1872 on detached duty at Oxford, Mississippi. After returning to Kansas, he was stationed briefly at Fort Harker and in April 1873 moved to Camp Supply, Indian Territory, in response to increased tension caused by hide hunters entering the southern plains. When the Red River War broke out in 1874, Chaffee was attached to Col. Nelson A. Miles's column, and on August 30 in Palo Duro Canyon his command was among the Sixth Cavalry forces in the front lines. With his famous exhortation, "Forward; if any man is killed I will make him a corporal!" Chaffee led his troops in a charge against a superior number of Cheyenne warriors, whom the cavalry then chased as far west as what is now Randall County. Chaffee was subsequently brevetted a lieutenant colonel. On October 14 he led a force against a hostile Indian camp located between Gageby and Sweetwater creeks. On March 31, 1875, he married Annie Frances Rockwell; they had three daughters and a son.

For a decade beginning in 1875 Chaffee and his command responded to troubles with the Apaches at Fort Verde, Arizona. He commanded the garrison in 1878, served as agent at the San Carlos Reservation in 1879–80, and participated in Gen. George Crook's expedition in 1883. He was transferred in 1884 to New Mexico and was at Fort Wingate when Geronimo and his Chiricahua Apache followers broke out of their reservation in 1885. Chaffee remained in southern Arizona and New Mexico until the chief surrendered in September 1886.

On July 7, 1888, with the Indian depredations at an end, he was promoted to major in the regular army and transferred to the Ninth Cavalry. For the next two years he supervised the construction of Fort Duchesne in southern Utah. He served as acting inspector general for the Department of Arizona from 1890 to 1893 and for the Department of Colorado until the fall of 1894. Chaffee then moved to Fort Robinson, Nebraska, and in 1895 conducted the restoration of the Bannock Indians to the Fort Hall reservation in Idaho. He served as an instructor at the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, from November 1896 to June 1897, when he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Third Cavalry.

With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Chaffee was made brigadier general (in May 1898) and commanded the Third Brigade of Gen. Henry W. Lawton's Second Division volunteers in Cuba. As a result of his performance in the capture of El Caney on July 1, he was promoted to major general. After a brief respite he returned to Cuba in December 1898, as chief of staff of the military government under Gen. Leonard Wood, a post he held until May 1900. Having lost his volunteer rank in reduction of the army, Chaffee was again appointed brigadier general of volunteers in April 1889 and then promoted to colonel in the regular United States Army in May 1899.

In July 1900 he was reappointed major general of volunteers and given command of the 2,500-man United States contingent in the joint relief expedition sent to put down the Boxer Rebellion in China. His troops took the gates of Peking on August 14, 1900, and relieved the city's besieged embassies. The success of that mission made Chaffee a celebrity among the troops and commanders as well as the Chinese. After his advancement to major general in February 1901, Chaffee was appointed military governor and commander of the United States forces in the Philippines, where he remained until October 1902. He commanded the Department of the East until October 1903; he helped organize the General Staff Corps and in January 1904 was named United States Army Chief of Staff, with the rank of lieutenant general. He served as grand marshal for President Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural parade on March 4, 1905, in which former Indian adversaries like Geronimo and Quanah Parker also participated. Afterward, he went on a good-will tour of Europe on behalf of the president. Chaffee stepped down from his position on January 15, 1906, and retired from the army two weeks later. He was subsequently named a member of the Board of Visitors of West Point. Later he and his wife moved to Los Angeles, California, where he served as chairman of that city's Board of Public Works and as first president of the Southwest Museum. Chaffee died of typhoid pneumonia on November 1, 1914, and was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.