Henry Ware Lawton - Early life, Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War

US soldier, born near Toledo, Ohio, USA. A Civil War veteran, he commanded cavalry on the Western plains and took part in the campaign (1885–6) that ended in Geronimo's capture. He commanded a division that fought in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, and he was killed leading a division in the Philippine insurrection.

Henry Ware Lawton (1843-1899) was a highly respected U.S. Army officer who served with distinction in the Civil War, Apache War, Spanish-American War and was the only U.S. general officer to be killed during the Philippine-American War. The city of Lawton, Oklahoma takes its name from General Lawton.

Early life

Lawton was born on March 17, 1843 in Maumee, Ohio.

In 1843, Lawton's father moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana to work on a mill.

Civil War

Lawton was among the first to respond to President Lincoln’s call for three-month volunteers.

In his three months of service, Lawton saw action at Philippi, Laurel, and Carricks Ford, W. Like many of the three-month volunteers Lawton was mustered out of service on July 21, 1861 and returned home after his short tour.

His zeal was not dampened by his first experiences in combat and he was quick to place himself back at the disposal of the Army. Hurd commanded a company in the 30th and Henry Lawton re-enlisted with Hurd’s unit. At first, Lawton was his company’s drill sergeant but was quickly promoted to 1st Lieutenant on August 20. Its first major engagement would be at Pittsburg Landing Battle of Shiloh where Lawton’s regiment was one that suffered heavy losses Lawton, one of the fortunate survivors of Shiloh, had experienced with others, one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.

Indian Wars

After the Civil War he studied law at Harvard University for a while before returning to the army. Lawton wished for a Captain’s commission in the Army which was not forthcoming.

Sheridan strongly urged Lawton to accept a 2nd Lieutenant’s commission, which he did and he joined the 41st Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Ranald S. Lawton served for many years under Mackenzie, mainly as quartermaster, and also as close confidant. Lawton served with Mackenzie in most of the major Indian campaigns in the southwest, including Adobe Walls, and Quanah Parker at Palo Duro Canyon.

While earning a reputation as a fierce and tenacious fighter, Lawton was also regarded as having compassion for the Indians. Among those who respected Lawton was Wooden Leg, a Northern Cheyenne who was in a group of Cheyenne escorted by then Lieutenant Lawton to a southern reservation. Lawton also served as an advocate for the Indians on the reservation when he learned that the local Indian agency was short-changing the Indians on their food allotments.

On March 20, 1879, Lawton was promoted to the rank of captain in the regular army.

On September 17, 1888, Lawton was promoted major, inspector general of the Army. His duties provided Lawton with many opportunities to develop improvements in organization and equipment for the Army and he worked in this capacity for most of the time up until the Spanish-American War.

Spanish-American War

In May 1898, he was appointed brigadier general of regulars and assumed command of the 2nd Division, V Corps serving under General William Rufus Shafter which was being sent to Cuba. Lawton's forces spearheaded the invasion of Cuba, at Daiquiri, a shallow beach area eighteen miles east of Santiago.

Lawton's force of 6,000 troops moved inland as Spanish forces retreated and he reached Siboney June 23rd. Wheeler elected to send word back to Lawton for help and Lawton's unit rushed forward to extricate Wheeler from his difficulties.

Lawton's division was sent to take the Spanish fortress at El Caney.

In the following Battle of El Caney, Lawton's division suffered heavy casualties but eventually took the city and linked up with the rest of the U.S. forces on San Juan Hill for the Siege of Santiago. Once Santiago fell, Lawton served as military governor of the city for a short period of time.

Information tightly held by the President and senior military officers suggests that Lawton may have started drinking.

Private letters to close personal friends in the U.S. from Lawton revealed that he was concerned with the number of his troops suffering from disease, the fact that he, Lawton was experiencing a fever and perhaps Malaria, and his own dislike of assignment to a desk job.

Whatever reason for his return to the states, he came back as a major-general, having been promoted within a week or so of his landing in Cuba. When Lawton returned, he was given command of the Army's Iv Corps at Huntsville, Alabama and then began touring the country with President William McKinley, Secretary of War Russell A.

Philippine-American War

With the fighting against the Spanish over, Lawton was transferred to the Philippines to command the 1st Division, VIII Corps during the Philippine-American War. Despite this, Lawton was very popular among his men and the general public and was so well-respected in the Philippines that his image appeared on Filipino currency during the 1920s.

During the Battle of Paye, Lawton, as usual, was in the midst of the fighting and was killed by a Filipino sharpshooter, ironically under the command of a general named Licerio Geronimo.