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First Name: Ulysses

Last Name: McAlexander

Birthplace: Dundas, MN, USA

Gender: Male

Branch: Army (1784 - present)



Middle Name: Grant



Date of Birth: 30 August 1864

Date of Death: 18 September 1936

Rank: Major General

Years Served:
Ulysses Grant McAlexander

   
Graduate, U.S. Military Academy, Class of 1887

Engagements:
•  Spanish-American War (1898)
•  Moro Rebellion (1899 - 1913)
•  World War I (1914 - 1918)

Biography:

Ulysses Grant McAlexander
Major General, U.S. Army

Ulysses Grant McAlexander was born on 30 August 1864 at Dundas, MN. He grew up there and in Kansas.

McAlexander graduated from West Point in 1887 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry. He embarked upon a career entirely unremarkable until it was almost at an end. He served several periods as an instructor in Military Science & Tactics at Iowa Wesleyan College from 1891-95 and at Oregon State College in 1907-11 and 1915-16.

During the Spanish-American War, as a Captain of Volunteers, he took part in the Santiago Campaign and in 1900-02, 1905-06 and 1912-15, was on duty in the Philippines.

In 1906-07, he was assigned to duty with the General Staff in Washington. He was promoted to Captain in March 1899; Major in January 1911; Lieutenant Colonel in July 1916; and to Colonel in May 1917. In June 1917, after a year as an Instructor and Inspector with the Oregon National Guard, he was ordered to France. From July to December he commanded the 18th Infantry and was then on the Inspector General's staff until May 1918.

Given command of the 38th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division, he was assigned to a portion of the Marne River front near Moulins, France, where the great German offensive of July 1918, the second Battle of the Marne, occurred. German forces crossed the river early on 15 July. All along a 50-mile front they advanced up to four miles beyond the Marne, except at Moulins, where the 38th, bearing the brunt of the initial attack and subsequently coming under fire from both flanks as other regiments fell back, held a wooded rise for 21 hours. That brilliant and courageous action blunted the offensive, which bogged down on 16 July and entirely ended on 18 July. He and the 38th were both dubbed "The Rock of the Marne."

In August 1918, he was promoted to temporary Brigadier General and given command of a Brigade in the 90th Infantry Division, which he led in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne operations and which he also commanded in occupation duty in Germany, until June 1919. He was made permanent Brigadier General in March 1921 and retired in July 1924 as a Major General.

Medals and Awards

Distinguished Service Cross
Silver Star Medal
Distinguished Service Medal
Purple Heart
Croix de Guerre (France)
Croce de Guerra
La Legion D'Honneur

Death and Burial

Major General Ulysses Grant McAlexander died on 18 September 1936 in Portland, OR. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.

His wife, May Skinner McAlexander (1865-1920), is buried with him.



Honoree ID: 2821   Created by: MHOH

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