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Isaac Littell

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Coordinates: 38°52′25″N 77°04′19″W / 38.873651°N 77.071840°W / 38.873651; -77.071840
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Isaac William Littell
Born(1857-12-05)5 December 1857
Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.
Died1 May 1924(1924-05-01) (aged 66)
Walter Reed General Hospital, Washington, D.C., U.S.[1]
Buried
Arlington National Cemetery Section 3, Grave 3948[2]
38°52′25″N 77°04′19″W / 38.873651°N 77.071840°W / 38.873651; -77.071840
Allegiance United States of America
Service / branch United States Army
Years of service1883–1919
Rank Brigadier General
Service number0-13124
Awards
Army Distinguished Service Medal

Isaac William Littell (5 December 1857 – 1 May 1924) was a United States Army brigadier general. He was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal for meritorious and distinguished service during World War I. Specifically, Littell was honored for building the camps and cantonments of the Army raised in the summer of 1917 as chief of the Cantonment Division of the Quartermaster General's Office.[3]

Military career

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Isaac William Littell was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on (1857-12-05)5 December 1857.[1] He was appointed from that state to the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, where he graduated in June 1883, ranked 28th in his class of 52.[4] Several of his classmates would, like Littell himself, rise to the rank of brigadier general or higher in their military careers, such as William C. Langfitt, Stephen M. Foote, John W. Ruckman, Ira A. Haynes, Chase W. Kennedy, Charles G. Morton, George H. Cameron, Tyree R. Rivers, John W. Heard, Harry C. Hale, Robert D. Walsh, George W. Read, Samson L. Faison, Frederick Perkins, Omar Bundy, Lawrence D. Tyson, Clarence R. Edwards

Following graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and was assigned to the 10th Infantry, where he saw duty in Colorado, Indian Territory, New Mexico and Oklahoma Territory.[1][5] After five years in the infantry, he transferred to the Quartermaster Corps.[6] He was promoted to captain on 25 April 1895[7] while serving as 10th Infantry Regimental Adjutant and subsequently assigned to Fort Sam Houston, Texas[1] where he served as quartermaster from May 1895 to October 1897.[5]

In 1897, he was ordered to the Quartermaster Depot in New York City where he served as assistant to the Depot Quartermaster until September 1899.[1][8] In 1898, in the early stages of the U.S. Army's preparation for the Spanish–American War, he was responsible for acquiring all the clothing for the newly organized army units.[9] He then served in the Philippines from 1899 to 1902, first as the quartermaster for the 1st Brigade, 2d Division, 8th Army Corps, and then Assistant to the Chief Quartermaster of the Division of the Pacific. Promoted to major during this time, he was assigned as Chief Quartermaster for various units until transferred back to New York in April 1902.[8]

From July 1903 through November 1908, he served in the Quartermaster General's office in Washington, D.C. Promoted to lieutenant colonel on 18 March 1908 and assigned duties as the deputy quartermaster general, he was responsible for "matter pertaining to clothing, repairs to barracks, quarters, roads, walks and wharves, and matters pertaining to rail and water transportation and army transport service."[8] In December, he was moved to Governors Island, in New York Harbor, to serve as chief quartermaster of the Eastern Division until promoted to colonel in March 1911. He then began another foreign service tour in the Philippines, where he served as chief quartermaster of the Philippine Department until June 1914.[1][4]

Returning to Washington, D.C., he was once again assigned to the office of the quartermaster general. On 16 May 1917,[4] a few weeks after the American entry into World War I, Littell established and became the first head of the Cantonment Division (later renamed the Construction Division). The division was charged with building for the draft army and United States National Guard camps, embarkation camps, terminals, arsenals, chemical plants, plants for the manufacture of explosives and their ingredients, hospitals and warehouses. Its first chore was to create, within 70 days, 16 Army camps with essential utilities and transportation routes, capable of sustaining 45,000 people each, while within the same time frame constructing the same number of smaller camps for the National Guard.[10]

After the assignment of Major General George W. Goethals to acting quartermaster general, Littell and Goethals often clashed. In February 1918, after Goethals refused Littell's recommendation to commission and promote several reserve officers, Littell submitted his request for relief and retirement. Goethals readily accepted the request. After Littell had served in the rank of brigadier general for one year, he was allowed to retire.[11]

War Department, General Orders No. 105 (1919)[12]

Personal life and retirement

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Littell was married to the former Julia May Barrett (1866 - 1933)[13] and had three daughters; Julia Adrianne (1893 - 1988) who married Alexander Patch, Mary Frances (1897 - 1986) who married Admiral George Sloan Bryan, and Ruth Lincoln Littell Owen (1897 - 1987), and two sons; Gregory Barrett Littell (married Dorothy Wreaks) and Isaac William Littell Jr.[1]

Upon his retirement, Littell had been serving as Secretary-Treasurer at the United States Soldiers' Home, now part of the Armed Forces Retirement Home, in Washington, D.C. He died in at Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, DC, on 1 May 1924.[4] He and his wife are buried together in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.[2]

Awards

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Army Distinguished Service Medal Citation

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For exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. As Chief of the Cantonment Division of the Quartermaster General's Office, General Littell was charged with the task of building the camps and cantonments of the Army raised in the summer of 1917 under conditions imposing almost insuperable obstacles. His completion of this task is a conspicuous example of the exercise of qualities of mind and character making up the highest type of officer.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Annual Report of the Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy (56th ed.). Saginaw, Michigan: Seemann & Peters. 11 June 1925. pp. 138–140. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Isaac W. Littell". Arlington National Cemetery. United States Army. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  3. ^ "Isaac Littell". Military Times Hall of Valor. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  4. ^ a b c d Cullum, George Washington; Holden, Edward Singleton (1920). Robinson, Colonel Wirt (ed.). Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, at West Point, N.Y., since its Establishment in 1802: With the Early History of the United States Military Academy: Supplement, Volume VI, Part 1, 1910-1920. Saginaw, Michigan: Houghton, Mifflin. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  5. ^ a b Cullum, George Washington (1901). Holden, Edward S. (ed.). Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, at West Point, N.Y., since its Establishment in 1802: Supplement, Volume IV, 1890-1900. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Riverside Press. p. 375. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  6. ^ "Gen. Littell goes to the Retired List". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. 19 February 1918. p. 14. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  7. ^ United States Congress (1909). "Wednesday, December 11, 1895". Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America. XXX. Government Printing Office: 14. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  8. ^ a b c Cullum, George Washington (1920). Braden, Lieutenant Charles (ed.). Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, at West Point, N.Y., since its Establishment in 1802: Supplement V, 1900-1910. Saginaw, Michigan: Houghton, Mifflin. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  9. ^ Morrow, James B. (August 1917). "Board and Keep for a Million Soldiers". The Nation's Business. 5 (8): 12. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  10. ^ Buzzell, J.W. (28 October 2023). "Washington Before, During and After the War". Stone & Webster journal. Vol. 24. p. 178.
  11. ^ "Goethals clashes with Littell over Army Promotions". The New-York Tribune. New York, NY. 16 February 1918. p. 8. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  12. ^ "Valor Awards for Isaac William Littell". Military Times Hall of Valor. Military Times. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  13. ^ Davis, Henry Blaine Jr. (1998). Generals in Khaki. Pentland Press, Inc. p. 232. ISBN 1571970886. OCLC 40298151.
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