John Schofield
John McAllister Schofield (September 29, 1831 – March 4, 1906) was an American soldier who held major commands during the
Early life
John McAllister Schofield was born September 29, 1831, in Gerry, Chautauqua County, New York, the son of the Reverend James Schofield (1801–1888) and his first wife, the former Caroline (McAllister) Schofield (1810–1857). His father, a Baptist minister in Sinclairville became a domestic missionary and moved his family (which then included six children and would include 10 who survived infancy) to Bristol, Illinois. When John was 12, they finally settled in Freeport, Illinois, where Rev. Schofield became the town's first Baptist minister in 1845, and where he was ultimately buried in 1888.[3]
During the American Revolutionary War, his family consisted of both Patriots and Loyalists.[4] His grandfather at the time was considered below the age to fight during the Revolution. Though, after settling in New York, he fought in the New York Militia during the War of 1812. His earliest ancestor who arrived in America was Richard Schofield, who came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from England in 1635.[5]
As a young man John Schofield was educated in the public schools, helped his family farm and build their home, and then surveyed land in northern Wisconsin before spending a year teaching school in
Schofield served for two years in the artillery. His first post was at
Upon regaining his health, First Lieutenant Schofield returned to West Point as assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy from 1855 to 1860. His career seemed stalled, so he took leave (1860–1861), to work as professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis.[6] Several of his brothers had settled in St. Louis, following the lead of his eldest brother Rev. James Van Pelt Schofield (1825–1898).
Civil War
When the
Schofield was promoted to
On 30 September 1862, a Federal brigade suffered a defeat at the First Battle of Newtonia in southwest Missouri. Both James G. Blunt and Schofield rushed to Newtonia, Missouri with reinforcements and sent the Confederate force fleeing south into Arkansas. The department commander Samuel Ryan Curtis created the Army of the Frontier with Schofield in command. Blunt led the 1st Division, James Totten the 2nd Division, and Francis J. Herron the 3rd Division. The army numbered 20,000 men, but probably 14,000 were fit for duty. Schofield's army crossed into northwest Arkansas on 17 October.[11] Blunt's division soon moved west into Indian Territory where it won the Battle of Old Fort Wayne on 22 October.[12] Meanwhile, Schofield with the 2nd and 3rd Divisions occupied Huntsville, Arkansas.[13] Schofield's troops clashed with forces led by Thomas C. Hindman, and the Confederates retreated south on 29 October.[14] On 4 November, with the approval of Curtis, Schofield's two divisions withdrew northeast to Springfield, Missouri while Blunt's division remained in northwest Arkansas.[15]
He was eventually relieved of duty in the West, at his own request, due to altercations with his superior
From 17 April to 10 May 1863, Schofield led the 3rd
In 1864, as commander of the
Sherman, after the fall of Atlanta, took the majority of his forces on a
Ordered to operate with Sherman in North Carolina, Schofield moved his corps by rail and sea to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in 17 days, occupied Wilmington on February 22, 1865, fought the action at Kinston on March 10, and on March 23, joined Sherman at Goldsboro.
Reconstruction
After the war, President Andrew Johnson sent Schofield on a special diplomatic mission to France, urging withdrawal of French troops in Mexico. General Schofield also joined the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, a military society composed of officers of the Union armed forces and their descendants. After retiring from active duty, Schofield served as the Order's commander-in-chief (from 1899 to 1903).
During
Postwar career
Schofield was promoted to major general in the Regular Army on March 4, 1869, the same day General
Following General George Thomas' death, Schofield succeeded him in commanding the Military Division of the Pacific, the country's largest.
In 1873, Schofield was given a secret task by Secretary of War William Belknap to investigate the strategic potential of a United States presence in the Hawaiian Islands. Schofield's report recommended that the United States establish a naval port at Pearl Harbor.
Starting in 1876 until 1881, Schofield became
On April 5, 1880, an African American cadet at West Point, Johnson Chesnut Whittaker, was found bruised and beaten in his cot. He claimed that he had been attacked by fellow cadets, but the administration claimed he had fabricated his story to win sympathy. Whittaker was court-martialed and expelled for allegedly faking an assault on himself staged by his fellow cadets. A Congressional investigation into the incident resulted in Schofield's removal from his post as superintendent in 1881.
Schofield then served in the Department of the Gulf (1881–82), the Military Division of the Pacific (1882–83), the Military Division of the Missouri (1883–86), and the Military Division of the Atlantic (1886–88). He also went to France to witness military maneuvers there. Gen. Schofield was also the first President of the Army and Navy Club (founded 1885, incorporated 1891).[18]
Upon the death of General Philip Sheridan in 1888, General Schofield, by virtue of his seniority in rank, became the commanding general of the United States Army. He supported military professionalism, including subordination to the civilian Secretary of War. Schofield also supported adoption of lineal promotions and initiated performance reviews which limited political patronage considerations from the promotion process.[20] Writing from South Dakota, General Schofield seconded a report of General Thomas H. Ruger which urged the federal government to honor treaty obligations with Native Americans.[21]
General Schofield received the Medal of Honor on July 2, 1892, for his actions at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in 1861. During the unrest of the Pullman Strike, Schofield worked with President Cleveland in a discreet advisory role.[22][23][24][25] On February 5, 1895, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. Lieutenant General Schofield retired on September 29, 1895, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 64.
However, he remained active in government affairs, supporting
Personal life
John Schofield married Harriet Whitehorn Bartlett, daughter of W.F.C. Bartlett (Chairman of West Point's Department of Philosophy) and they had two daughters and four sons. Two sons, John (1858–1868) and Henry (1862–1863), died before reaching adulthood. William Bartlett Schofield (1860–1906) survived to adulthood and began a U.S. Army career, rising to Major, as did Richmond McAlister Schofield (1867–1941). After Harriet died in 1888, she was buried with her father and son John in the United States Military Academy Post cemetery.
At age 60, in Keokuk, Iowa in June 1891, Schofield remarried, to 27-year-old Georgia Wells Kilbourne, with whom he had a daughter, Georgiana.[26] Georgia Wells Kilbourne was a native of Keokuk, Iowa. She was the daughter of George Kilbourne, and was named Georgia for her father. She attended school in New York, and afterwards studied abroad. General Schofield and Kilbourne were married in 1891. Her mother, Mrs. Kilbourne, and her younger sister, Miss Emma Kilbourne, spent a part of the year at her Washington home. Emma Kilbourne had a literary predilection, devoting much of her time to reading and study.[27]
During his military career, perhaps because of his reformer image, Schofield was dogged by accusations of favoritism toward family members. His brother George Wheeler Schofield (1833–1882) also became a brevet Brigadier General of U.S. Volunteers during the American Civil War, originally volunteering with the 1st Missouri Volunteer Infantry in November 1861 and promoted to Captain in the 1st Missouri Light Artillery after the Siege of Vicksburg, and rising to command the 2nd Regiment Missouri Volunteer Light artillery and ultimately being commissioned as a Major in the Regular Army after the Civil War and serving in the 10th Cavalry and later the 6th Cavalry on the Western Frontier, and for whom the .45 caliber Smith and Wesson Schofield revolver was named. Another brother Charles Brewster Schofield (1849–1901) graduated from West Point in 1870. C.B. Schofield later served as his Gen. J.M. Schofield's aide during the Indian Wars from 1878 to 1885. After rising to the rank of Captain during the Spanish–American War, he died of a heart attack in Matanzas, Cuba in 1901 and was also buried at Arlington National Cemetery. While Gen. John Schofield was in charge of Military District No. 1 in Virginia, his brother Elisha McAllister Schofield (1835–1870) was the assessor for the City of Richmond, Virginia and was among many killed on April 26, 1870, as a result of the infamous collapse of the balcony at the State Capitol during a session of the Virginia Court of Appeals. His son in law, Brig. Gen. Avery Delano Andrews and his wife Mary Campbell Schofield Andrews are also buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Death and legacy
Before his death, Schofield became the last surviving member of Andrew Johnson's cabinet. His memoirs, Forty-six Years in the Army, were published in 1897.[28] General Schofield became an honorary companion of the Military Order of Foreign Wars.
General Schofield died at St. Augustine, Florida on March 4, 1906. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[29][8] Schofield Barracks, Hawaii are named in his honor.
Today, Schofield is also remembered for a lengthy quotation that all cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, The Citadel, Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, and the United States Air Force Academy are required to memorize. It is an excerpt from his graduation address to the class of 1879 at West Point:
The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling, but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them respect for himself. While he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect towards others, especially his subordinates, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.
— John M. Schofield
Medal of Honor citation
Rank and organization:
- Major, 1st Missouri Infantry. Place and date: At Wilsons Creek, Mo., August 10, 1861. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Born: September 29, 1831, Gerry, N.Y. Date of issue: July 2, 1892.
Citation:
The medal was recommended by Schofield himself when he was interim U.S. Secretary of War (1868–69). Historian Benson Bobrick is critical of this and notes the vagueness of the details in the citation.[9]
General Schofield was posthumously entitled to the Civil War Campaign Medal and the Indian Campaign Medal. Both medals were created in 1907, a year after Schofield died.
Dates of rank
Insignia | Rank | Date | Component |
---|---|---|---|
Brevet Second Lieutenant | July 1, 1853 | 2nd Artillery | |
Second Lieutenant | August 31, 1853 | 1st Artillery | |
First Lieutenant | March 3, 1855 | 1st Artillery | |
Major | April 26, 1861 | 1st Missouri Infantry | |
Captain | May 14, 1861 | 1st Artillery | |
Major | June 26, 1861 | 1st Missouri Artillery | |
Brigadier General | November 21, 1861 | Volunteers | |
Major General | November 29, 1862 | Volunteers | |
Brigadier General | March 4, 1863 | Volunteers | |
Major General | May 12, 1863 | Volunteers | |
Brigadier General | November 30, 1864 | Regular Army | |
Brevet Major General | March 13, 1865 | Regular Army | |
Major General | March 4, 1869 | Regular Army | |
Lieutenant General | February 5, 1895 | Regular Army |
See also
- List of Medal of Honor recipients
- List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: Q–S
- List of American Civil War generals (Union)
Notes
- ^ "John Mcallister Schofield | U.S. Civil War | U.S. Army | Medal of Honor Recipient". Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ Schofield was Secretary of War 6/1/1868 to 3/13/1869. Grant took office on 3/4/1869; While it is technically correct that Schofield held the office under Grant for 10 days, it is misleading and confusing to suggest he served as Secretary of War for both presidents. Schofield had the position as a lame duck during the transition period between presidential administrations.
- ^ Military order of the Loyal Legion, In Memoriaam, Companion Lieutenant General John McAllister Schofield, P. 8 available at google books ID Yi5caaaaiaaj
- ^ https://www.google.com/books/edition/John_M_Schofield_and_the_Politics_of_Gen/8L1lm7Fa49kC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Grandfather%20James%20S.%20Schofield,%20too%20young%20to%20serve%20in%20the%20Revolution,%20settled%20in%20New%20York%20and%20served%20in%20the%20militia%20during%20the%20War%20of%201812.
- ^ https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Washington_Ancestry_and_Records_of_t/LiQTAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Schofield%20england
- ^ a b In Memoriam pp. 8–9
- ^ Einolf, p. 64; Schofield, pp. 13–14.
- ^ a b c Eicher, pp. 472–73.
- ^ a b Bobrick, p. 288, states "Much later, as secretary of war (1868–69), he would award himself the Congressional Medal of Honor (actual award was in 1892) for undocumented valor at Wilson's Creek."
- ^ a b Boatner 1959, p. 726.
- ^ Shea 2009, pp. 27–29.
- ^ Shea 2009, pp. 37–41.
- ^ Shea 2009, p. 47.
- ^ Shea 2009, p. 59.
- ^ Shea 2009, p. 63.
- ^ "The Missouri Troubles; President Lincoln's Reply to the Missouri Delegation Gen. Schofield Sustained". The New York Times. October 24, 1863.
- ^ Bobrick, pp. 287–88, 329–31, 336–37.
- ^ imdb
- ^ Bell, William Gardner (2005). Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff 1775–2005. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army. p. 90.
- ^ Review of Connelly, John M. Schofield and the Politics of Command at Humanities and Social Sciences Online January 13, 2007
- ^ "Native History: 1638 Treaty of Hartford Meant to Quell Fear of Devil". indiancountrymedianetwork.com – Indian Country Media Network.
- ^ Soldiers and Civilians: The U.S. Army and the American People
- ^ Failures of the Presidents: From the Whiskey Rebellion and War of 1812 to the Bay of Pigs and War in Iraq
- ^ Theodore Rex, p. 165
- ^ Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief: The Great Chicago Fire, the Haymarket Bomb, and the Model Town of Pullman, Second Edition
- ^ Iowa marriage records
- ^ Hinman, Ida (1895). The Washington Sketch Book.
- ^ John M. Schofield, Forty Six Years in the Army (1897) available at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21417
- ^ Burial Detail: Scholfiedl, John M (Section 2, Grave 1108) – ANC Explorer
- ^ ""Civil War Medal of Honor citations" (S–Z): Schofield, John M." AmericanCivilWar.com. Retrieved November 9, 2007.
- ^ "Medal of Honor website (M–Z): Schofield, John M." United States Army Center of Military History. Archived from the original on February 23, 2009. Retrieved November 9, 2007.
- ^ Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, 1789–1903. Francis B. Heitman. 1903. Volume 1. p. 865.
References
- ISBN 0-679-50013-8.
- Bobrick, Benson. Master of War: The Life of General George H. Thomas. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7432-9025-8.
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- Einolf, Christopher J. George Thomas: Virginian for the Union. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8061-3867-1.
- McDonough, James L. "John Schofield as Military Director of Reconstruction in Virginia." Civil War History, September 1969, pp. 237–256.
- Schofield, John M. Forty-Six Years in the Army. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. ISBN 978-0-8061-3080-4. First published 1897 by The Century Co.
- Shea, William L. (2009). Field of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-3315-5.
- Sword, Wiley (1992). The Confederacy's Last Hurrah: Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville. New York: University Press of Kansas for HarperCollins. ISBN 0-7006-0650-5.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Schofield, John McAllister". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
- Works by John McAllister Schofield at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about John Schofield at Internet Archive
- Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. .
- "John Schofield". Claim to Fame: Medal of Honor recipients. Find a Grave. Retrieved November 8, 2007.