General Hunter Liggett

Lt. Gen. Hunter Liggett’s forty-year career spanned the period from the Indian Wars in the territories of Montana and Dakota to the trenches of World War I. For someone who experienced many individual triumphs and battlefield victories—including the final push of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive—he often is overshadowed by figures such as John J. Pershing or George C. Marshall. His quiet demeanor sometimes did not serve him well, but it also masked steely determination. Liggett’s tenacity won Pershing’s attention and admiration, and he went on to direct and win what was at the time the largest single battle in American history. In Hunter Liggett, author Michael E. Shay shows that while Pershing may have assembled the pieces of the American Expeditionary Forces, it was Liggett who made it work. This first biography of Liggett follows the full life of a doggedly hard-working soldier whose leadership style contrasted and sometimes conflicted with the military culture of his time. Where Pershing employed a “fear and censure” approach to command, Liggett allowed his subordinates to grow into their jobs, all the while coaching them on the best course of action. Where Pershing was feared, Liggett enjoyed the respect—if not affection—of his men. Liggett was a modest man and a devoted student of military history at a time when many officers of his generation relied upon a combination of connections, political influence, and seniority to advance their careers. Hunter Liggett not only offers readers a much-needed biography of an almost forgotten general but also adds a new and nuanced perspective on the importance of military leadership in the era of the First World War.

Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett was the number two man in "Black Jack" Pershing's American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) during World War I (1917-18). During the war, Liggett commanded the Department of the West, the 41st Division, the I Corps, and the First and Third Armies during America's bloodiest campaigns with a steady and just hand. This book, The Memoirs of Hunter Liggett, USA, is a combination of his books Commanding an American Army: Recollections of the World War and A.E.F.: Ten Years Ago in France. They are mostly interesting summaries of the operations of the A.E.F. from Liggett's point of view.

A scrapbook of press clippings consisting of obituary articles from various newspapers.

Excerpt from Report of the First Army, American Expeditionary Forces: Organization and Operations; General John J. Pershing, August 10, 1918, to October 15, 1918; Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett, October 16, 1918, to April 20, 1919 By August 1, 1918, sixteen (16) American divisions and several non-divisional organizations had already been engaged with the enemy. Our I Army Corps (major Gen eral Hunter Liggett) had entered the battle and exercised command over three of our divisions successively and over one French division. Four other corps' headquarters and an army artillery headquarters had partially completed their organization, but had not operated in combat. A supply section with the I Army Corps on the Vesle was the only part of an army staff actually in Operation at this time. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Army officer. Letter to unnamed general thanking him for a book on Custer's last stand and discussing the final battle.