John Wilson Ruckman
John Wilson Ruckman | |
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Major General | |
Commands held | Southeastern Department Southern Department Northeastern Department |
Awards | Distinguished Service Medal |
John Wilson Ruckman (October 10, 1858 – June 6, 1921) was a major general in the United States Army.
Early life
Ruckman was born at Deers, Illinois, a flag-station just southeast of the
After three semesters at the
Career
Ruckman graduated from
Ruckman was assigned to
After serving a brief stint at
In 1906, Ruckman was assigned to the Presidio of San Francisco, and given command of Fort Baker. In 1911, his command was transferred to Fort Mills, Corregidor, where he distinguished himself by successfully withstanding a siege. In 1916, he was assigned to organize and command the 5th Provisional Coast Artillery Regiment at Del Rio, Texas and given command of El Paso Rio Grande and the district of Laredo.[3]
Ruckman served as Commander of the Southeastern Department (Aug 1917) Southern Department (Sept 1917) and the Northeastern Department (May 1918).
Ruckman's life was not without controversy. Although he ranked high in his graduating class, he was held back one year at West Point for laughing during artillery drills and "in other inappropriate places." In 1896, he suggested that a regiment of soldiers in Cleveland, Ohio, be abolished because of its relationship to prostitutes. In his 1915 Naval War College thesis, Ruckman called for universal military service and the education of "all boys and young men" in the use of firearms. He also recommended strict guidelines for the content of history texts in schools and colleges.
In 1920, Ruckman engaged in a very public dispute with
Ruckman was the only individual to command three of the six designated interior military Departments in the United States (Northeast, Southeast and Southern).
Awards
Ruckman received the Army Distinguished Service Medal posthumously.[6]
His citation reads:
Brigadier General John W. Ruckman, United States Army deceased. For exceptionally meritorious and conspicuous services as Department Commander, Southern Department, between August 30, 1917, and May 9, 1918, and Department Commander, Northeastern Department, between May 23, 1918, and July 20, 1918. He handled many difficult problems arising in these departments with rare judgment, tact and great skill.
Personal life and family
He married May Hamilton, the daughter of American Civil War Colonel John Hamilton.[3]
Ruckman's only son, John Hamilton Ruckman,[7] was a graduate of M.I.T. and the University of California, a veteran of World Wars I and II and a chief engineer on the Manhattan Project. John Wilson Ruckman is also the grandfather of Peter Sturges Ruckman an independent Baptist minister and founder of the Pensacola Bible Institute, and the great-grandfather of P.S. Ruckman Jr., a professor of political science.
Death
General Ruckman died in 1921 and was buried at West Point. Pallbearers included two major generals, a retired brigadier general and five colonels. The U.S. Military Academy Band and a Detachment of Field Music furnished music and a detachment of field artillery fired eleven-minute guns as the cortege left the chapel. A salute of eleven guns also followed three volleys of musketry over the grave.
The military reservation at Nahant, Massachusetts, was renamed "
Dates of rank
Second Lieutenant, Regular Army : June 13, 1883
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First Lieutenant, Regular Army : Feb. 20, 1891
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Captain, Regular Army : March 31, 1899
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Major, Regular Army: June 30, 1906 | |
Lieutenant Colonel, Regular Army: Feb. 2, 1911 | |
Colonel, Regular Army: March 7, 1912 | |
Brigadier General, Regular Army: July 20, 1916 | |
National Army : Aug 5, 1917
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Returned to grade of Brigadier General, Regular Army: May 1, 1918 | |
Major General, Regular Army: June 7, 1921 (Awarded Posthumously) |
Selected writings
- "Ballistics: The Wind Problem in Gunnery." 1890. School of Mines Quarterly Text.
- "Artillery Difficulties in the Next War." 1892. Journal of the United States Artillery
- "The Effect of Wind Upon the Motion of a Projectile." 1892. Journal of the United States Artillery
- "Coast Artillery Fire Instruction." 1894. Journal of the United States Artillery
- "Investigation of the Comparative Values of Concentrated and Parallel Methods of Mortar Fire." 1896. Journal of the United States Artillery
- "Are Disappearing Gun Carriages Essential to Our Coast Defense?" 1902. Journal of the Military Service Institution
- "Coast Artillery Practice." 1908. Journal of the United States Artillery
- "The Journal of the U.S. Artillery." 1912. Journal of the United States Artillery
- "Siege of Port Arthur" 1915. Journal of the United States Artillery
- "The Policy of the United States." 1915. Thesis. U.S. Naval War College.
- "Military and Naval Cooperation." 1917. Journal of the United States Artillery Text.
References
- ^ https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/seadams/www/35thcoa.html[permanent dead link]
- ^ "eHISTORY".
- ^ OCLC 40298151.
- ^ "Sources/References". Archived from the original on 2006-02-09. Retrieved 2006-03-25.
- ^ Haymond, "A Tempest in Texas," pp. 54-55, 57
- ^ "Valor awards for John Wilson Ruckman".
- ^ "John Hamilton Ruckman".
- Sources
- Annual Report of the Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy (1922), pages 132–4.
- Behrens, Robert H. (1988). From Salt Fork to Chickamauga: Champaign County Soldiers in the Civil War. The Urbana Free Library: Urbana, IL.
- Linn, Brian McAllister. 1997. Guardians of Empire. University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
- Raymond, John. "TEMPEST IN TEXAS: A few months after the United States entered World War 1, another war broke out in Houston." MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, vol. 33, no. 3, spring 2021, pp. 50+.
- Reardon, Carol. 1990. Soldiers and Scholars. University of Kansas Press: Lawrence.
- Rinaldi, Richard A. 2005. Orders of Battle: The United States Army in World War I. Tiger Lily Publications.
- Ruckman, P.S. 2007. "John Wilson Ruckman: Soldier, Scholar, Public Figure." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on Illinois History. Text[permanent dead link].
- The War of the Nations. 1977. Arno Press: New York.
External links
- John W. Ruckman Extensive biography with numerous illustrations.
- West Point Tribute to General Ruckman
- Gold Star Alumni Archived 2004-12-26 at the Wayback Machine University of Illinois' tribute page.
- Presidio Ruckman neighborhood at the Presidio of California.