For years a name synonymous with The United States Cavalry was that of Julian Robert Lindsey, Major General, U.S. Army, Retired, who died at the Walter Reed General Hospital, Washington, D. C., on Sunday, June 27, 1948.
Known to his host of friends as “The Squire”, he led an extremely full active life and enjoyed excellent health from his retirement on September 30, 1934, after more than forty-two years active, commissioned service, until the day of his death. From his graduation at The United States Military Academy on June 11, 1892, as a Second Lieutenant of Cavalry, until his dying day he loved, lived, and portrayed the Cavalry. He was stricken with a heart attack while braving one of those unearthly hot Washington summer days to take his usual, daily, early morning horse-back ride in Rock Creek Park. It may be truly said that, “He died with his boots on”.
Born in Irwinton, Wilkinson County, Georgia on March 16, 1871, the first of five children of John William, Georgia State Senator for two terms and Commissioner of Pensions for the State until his death in 1922, and Julia Floreid Tucker Lindsey, daughter of Judge John R. Tucker of Washington County, Georgia, he spent his childhood days and received his early schooling there. In the spring of 1888 he journeyed to Highland Falls, N. Y. to attend Braden’s School prior to entering the Military Academy on June 16, 1888.
He acquired the nickname of “Square” as a cadet because in the Corps at the same time was another Lindsey, James Robert Lindsay of the Class of 1890. Carried on the official roster were two Lindseys—Lindsay one and Lindsey two, the latter figure two being written after the latter’s name as a mathematical square. Hence the nickname after his graduation and a few years in the Cavalry and he had acquired his well known sideburns and the appearance of a country squire when the original name of “Square” easily blended into “Squire”
Early assignments in his Cavalry career included immediate service in the Indian skirmishes with the 9th U.S. Cavalry, Colonel James Biddle, Commanding, at Fort Robinson, Nebraska from 1892 until 1896; with the 10th U.S. Cavalry at West Point, N. Y. as an instructor in Cavalry tactics and horsemanship from 1896 to July 17, 1900. He was promoted, after six years service to First Lieutenant of Cavalry on February 14, 1899 and transferred to the 15th U.S. Cavalry with Spanish-American War service in the Philippines.
Late in 1899 and prior to his sailing for the Philippines, he met, courted and proposed to Hannah P. Broster of Montreal, who at that time was visiting relatives in New York City. Their courtship was romantic but so whirlwind that it did not, at that time, climax in marriage since Julian Lindsey was sailing for the Philippines. During his absence of over three years from the United States, he never forgot Hannah Broster and wrote her a continuous flow of letters. Upon his return he found that Hannah had not married, but it remained for time to decide whether or not she had waited for him.
Having been promoted to Captain of Cavalry on February 2, 1901, he was selected on June 5, 1901 to become an Aide-de-Camp to Major General Adna Romanza Chaffee, then Commanding General of the China Relief Expedition with headquarters eventually established at Peking, China. General Chaffee was Commanding General of the Department of the East in 1903 with headquarters at Governors Island, N. Y. and less than three years later, with the rank of Lieutenant General, Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
Captain Lindsey, returning with General Chaffee to New York City in 1903, was soon able to rejoin his regiment again, the 15th Cavalry, the 3rd squadron of which was stationed at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont. While temporarily stationed at Governors Island, he met again Captain John J. Pershing, with whom at this time he cemented a life-long friendship.
It was while he was stationed at Fort Ethan Allen that he renewed his courtship of Hannah Broster and they were married on June 11, 1904. From this union a son, Julian Broster, was born at the Fanny Allen Hospital in Burlington, Vermont on March 29, 1905. Hannah died on April 2, 1905. Julian Lindsey never remarried, an obvious, life-long tribute to his son’s mother. An aunt, Mrs. Anna E. Reilly, (Ne-Ne) raised the son until she died at the age of 92 on January 8, 1925 in Atlantic City, N. J.
In all the years after his graduation from West Point, Julian Lindsey had been building up an enviable reputation as a rifle marksman until by the early 1900’s he was constantly being requested for membership on the Cavalry Rifle Team, and for participation in various Army and National rifle competitions at Camp Perry, Ohio and Sea Girt, N. J. He was a Distinguished Marksman.
After duty of less than a year in 1907 with The Army of the Cuban Pacification, he was transferred in 1909 from the 3rd Squadron, 15th Cavalry at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont, to the 1st Squadron, 15th Cavalry at Fort Myer, Va., (Colonel Gerard, Commanding), and given command of the famous black horse Troop “A”. Second Lieutenant George Smith Patton, Jr. reported for duty with Troop "A” in 1911. While at Fort Myer, his Troop “A” was noted for its precise execution of a “Musical Drill” performed to the tune of “The Glow Worm” at the weekly mounted drills held in the riding hall during the fall and winter months. While adding to his rifle competition fame, he also gained laurels as an exhibitor at the many horse shows in the National Capital and surrounding Marylaftd and Virginia counties.
In December 1912 he was transferred from Fort Myer to the Military Academy at West Point, N. Y. where he became the Senior Instructor of Cavalry Tactics under Brigadier General Clarence P. Townsley. Superintendent, and Lieutenant Colonel Fred W. Sladen, Commandant of Cadets (later Superintendent). It was during this four-year tour of duty, until June 19, 1916, that he was the instructor in equitation for the U.S.M.A. Classes of 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, and 1917, the members of which are today the senior officers on active duty in the United States Army. It was also during this period that he either endeared himself, or forever gained the reputation as the strictest of disciplinarians, in the eyes of the members of these classes. Most members of these classes all look back now on those days with at least some semblance of a chuckle. Particularly when they recall how Captain Lindsey, mounted on his huge charger, “Experiment”, standing a full eighteen hands, waited impatiently or rode around the hall while each class finally got into some kind of order prior to being reported to him for instruction. Whether the class was to have “monkey drill”, jumping, equitation or hippology, all felt they would be lucky to get through the class alive or without Incurring the Captain's wrath and disgust and the always attendant “skin”. Many remember his shrill cry for “HAZEL"!, the colored Corporal in Charge of horses, when he became so exasperated with the progress of the class or when an individual or many individuals had either lost their mounts completely or lost control of same. They remember, too. one of his methods to appraise the ability of the cadet to take a series of jumps. He would have each cadet go over the jumps, usually lined up on the east or river wall of the riding hall, and, as each completed the jumps, he would indicate a rank to which he would ride to and wait. The first rank was “good”, the second rank was “passing”, and the third was usually “poor” to “rotten”, and those cadets generally had to go through the jumps a second or third time. One cadet had apparently done so very poorly over the jumps that the Captain did not feel that any of the three usual ranks were worthy of his presence. So he Instructed him in a-high pitched voice and with some touch of sufferance, not to dare go near any of the three ranks, but instead, to go completely outside of the riding ball, clear around in back and stand there alone until he was sent for—but usually forgotten.
Still others will remember the shout of "Oh, Mr. Herrick! MR. HERRICK! You look like a sack of door knobs!”, or, “Hazel HAZEL! every time that man falls off his horse—come out here and put him back on!" And it will probably always rankle in the minds of many of the members of these classes just why Captain Lindeey’s assistant, First Lieutenant "Jingles" Wilson, (Medal of Honor winner in the Philippines), was so very easy on cadets and awful tough with horse, while the Captain was so very considerate of the horse and so extremely rough on cadets. It may be that somewhere— somehow—some members of these five classes are better officers and citizens today because of the relative tough
treatment by “The Squire". And It may be that even more today, thirty-two years later, still remember such names as Koehler, Sladen and Lindsey —maybe—"Squire" Lindsey introduced and promoted the game of polo at The Military Academy. Cadet varsity polo teams began to appear for the first time on the fields of other Institutions while officer teams opposed teams in the New York City and Long Island area. Some will be amazed to know that the game of polo was actually played on The Plain at West Point. Later, in 1921, as Chairman of the Central Polo Committee In Washington, D. C., he had the opportunity of furthering polo in the entire Army which resulted in sending a U.S. Army team overseas to England with such polo stars as Brown, Beard, Irwin, Gerhardt and Rodes.
It was during his tour at West Point that he was selected as an observer for the 1913 Cavalry Brigade and Division maneuvers held that summer in the vicinity of Winchester, Virginia, the people with whom he became much more intimately known some seventeen years later (1930).
He was the first officer at West Point to be the proud possessor of a Model-T Ford car with all the brass trimmings. This particular Model-T became so well known between 1914 and 1916 that it was reported on occasions, cadets were observed saluting the car when the Captain was neither in the car nor anywhere near-by.
Interested in music, both piano and voice, he took lessons from the distinguished organist of the Military Academy, Mr. Frederick Mayer, and assisted in the presentations in Cullum Hall of several musical recitals for officers and their ladles.
In June 1916 he was ordered from West Point to join the 11th U.S. Cavalry at Colonla Dublan, for duty with the Punitive Expedition. On July 1 of that same year, after fifteen years as a Captain, he was promoted to Field Grade Major of Cavalry, and given command of a Squadron. Newspaper headline: WORLD WAR NUMBER ONE DECLARED, APRIL 6, 1917. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of Cavalry ten months after his promotion to Major on May 15, 1917, he assumed temporary command of the 11th Cavalry Regiment and returned the regiment from Mexican Border service lo Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia In June 1917. From Texas he brought a new Cavalry charger, "Coronet", and a pony "Buckshot" for his son.
On August 5, 1917 he was promoted to Colonel, National Army and ordered to Camp Gordon, Georgia to assume command of the 328th Infantry Regiment of the newly organized 82d (All American) Infantry Division. Arriving for duty at Camp Gordon early in August 1917, he found that he was not only the first officer of the Division to report for duty but that the camp was still being constructed. He took up temporary quarters in a partially completed mess hall in the northern part of the camp. A day or two later, his Regimental Executive Officer, then Major G. Edward Buxton, (later, in World War Number Two of O.S.S. Fame) came into this mess hall early one morning and reported for duty. The 328th Infantry Regiment had begun! (The 328th Infantry became part of the 26th Infantry—Yankee Division in World War Number Two.)
In less than seven months the 82d Division was sailing for Europe In April 1918. This is all the more amazing when it is realized that after starting training in the fall of 1917 with original draftees from Georgia, Alabama. and Florida, these draftees had to be replaced by other draftees from all over the entire country: hence, the original name of “All American" Division. The officer corps of the regiment remained unchanged.
Colonel Lindsey sailed with his regiment and upon arrival in France found that he had been promoted to Brigadier General, National Army on April 12, 1918, (a period of less than two years from Captain to General Officer), and ordered to command the 164th Infantry Brigade within which one of the two regiments was his own 328th Infantry Regiment.
This Brigade, always as part of the 82d Infantry Division, participated in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives in the fall of 1918. General Lindsey's part in the latter may be best summed up by quoting the citation which awarded him The Distinguished Service Medal: and which was personally presented by Major General George B. Duncan, Commanding General, 82d Infantry Division:
“Brigadier General Julian R. Lindsey.
“For exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services, the brilliant and successful attack of the 164th Infantry Brigade, commanded by him. in the Argonne Forest showed a spirit of aggressiveness and leadership of a high order. The tactical advantage attained in this action, whereby St. Juvin and Grand Pre were laid open to attack, was largely due to his ability and energy."
Sergeant Alvin York of Tennessee was a member of the 328th Infantry Regiment. The motion picture starring Gary Cooper In “Sergeant York" is still being shown.
He returned to the States In June 1919, and, after a leave with his son, left for Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where he attended the Command and General Staff School for one year. On July 1, 1920 he was promoted to Colonel, Regular Army and after a year at The Army War College was detailed in the G-4 Section of The War Department General Staff, (Chief of Staff, General John J. Pershing), where he served a four-year tour of duty. In September 1925 he was ordered to Fort Des Moines, Iowa, (7th Corps Area, Major General B. Poore, Commanding), to assume the duties of Post and Regimental Commander of the 14th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, where he remained on duty until the fall of 1928.
From 1928 until 1932 he served again in the New York City area, this time as Chief of Staff, 61st Cavalry Division, Organized Reserve Corps, with station at No. 39 Whitehall Street. It was during this tour that he witnessed the graduation of his son at West Point in the Class of 1929, and one year later on September 16, 1930, as Best Man, attended his son’s wedding at Winchester, Virginia to Judith Braxton McGuire, daughter and second child of three of Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire, distinguished and internationally known ophthalmologist. It was from this time until his last days that he endeared himself to all of the great number who knew him intimately in and about the Winchester, Virginia area.
Attaining the rank of Brigadier General, U.S. Army on January 1, 1932, (General Douglas MacArthur, Chief of Staff) nearly fourteen years after he had held similar rank in World War Number One, he left New York City for his new assignment at Fort Knox, Kentucky where he assumed the duties of Post and Commanding General, 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanized), the initial forerunner unit of World War Number Two’s powerful Armored Force. Fort Knox at this time, spring of 1932, was centered on the little Kentucky village of Stithton surrounded by only the dilapidated remains of World War Number One cantonments. The only troops stationed there were care-taking detachments from Company “B”, 11th U.S. Infantry and Company “K”, 10th U.S. Infantry. The summer months only were busy and full with the training of many of the National Guard, Reserve and C.M.T.C. units from the former Fifth Corps Area (Major General Hugh Drum and Major General George Van Horn Moseley, commanding in turn).
The capacity of Fort Knox was taxed to the maximum in the spring and summer of 1933 when the Civilian Conservation Corps program was initiated and a large C.C.C. installation was organized, Colonel James P. Barney, Field Artillery, Commanding, which processed, organized, and trained over 100,000 for distribution to C.C.C. camps throughout the entire country. Lieutenant Colonel Adna Romanza Chaffee, son of the Chief of Staff of the Army in 1906, and the Armored Force’s first Commanding General in 1940, was his Post and Brigade Executive Officer. The first Cavalry regiment selected for the 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanized), was the 1st U.S. Cavalry Regiment stationed at Marfa, Texas. The bulk of this regiment, after ceremoniously giving up their horses, arrived at Fort Knox, Kentucky in January 1933 and came under the command of Colonel Daniel Van Voorhls, later a Lieutenant General and Commander of the Panama Department. A year or so later the 13th U.S. Cavalry from Fort Riley, Kansas joined the Brigade to complete the 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanized) complement of officers and men in early 1934.
His senior Aide-de-Camp at this time was First Lieutenant Isaac D. White, Cavalry, who, in World War Number Two became a Major General commanding the 2nd Armored Division in Europe. His son, a Second Lieutenant of Infantry, who became a Colonel and Regimental Commander in World War II, was Junior Aide until ordered to duty with the 15th Infantry at Tientsin, China. His first grandchild, Robert Hunter Lindsey, named after him and the grandson’s maternal grandfather, was born on December 20, 1933 in Louisville, Kentucky at the Norton Memorial Infirmary.
In September 1934, General Lindsey, upon his own request at the age of 63, asked for retirement from active service and soon after established himself at the Army and Navy Club in Washington, D.C., where he lived until his last day.
A happy period of his retired life was experienced when his son and family returned from China service and were stationed for three years with the 34th Infantry Regiment at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. It was during this period that his second grandchild, Anne Tucker Lindsey was presented on July 19, 1938.
On July 9, 1942 by special act of Congress, General Lindsey and five other Brigadier Generals, U.S. Army, Retired, were promoted to Major General, U.S. Army, Retired because of their outstanding World War I service.
Upon the outbreak of World War II General Lindsey immediately applied to The Adjutant General of the Army for active duty in any capacity, field or staff, wherever he could be of service. This last official request by him had to be refused.
In the spring of 1948 another unusually happy period in his life was when his son, after a three-year absence in Europe, was stationed in Washington as Colonel, General Staff Corps, on duty in The Pentagon and had established a home with his family in Alexandria, Virginia.
The day that General Lindsey was stricken, June 26, 1948, he was almost immediately surrounded by his loved ones who were at his side until the end. Services were held at The Memorial Chapel, Walter Reed General Hospital with Brigadier General John McA. Palmer, Colonel Julius T. Conrad, Colonel N. M. Green, Major General John E. Hughes, Colonel Frederick E. Johnston and Mr. Abney Payne of Winchester, Virginia as honorary pall bearers. Two days later, July 1, 1948, with full military honors, including the traditional caparisoned horse, Julian Lindsey was laid to rest at The United States Military Academy.
General Lindsey in his latter years gave so much happiness and pleasure to all of his friends many times by reason of his reputation as a celebrated wit. He would wish to leave with all who have read this biography the memory of one of his stories—one, in particular which most have heard and which has been published in newspapers throughout the country under the title of
“A CAVALRYMAN’S CREED”
When Pearl Harbor struck on December 7, 1941, General Lindsey walked into the main lounge of The Army and Navy Club in Washington and announced: “I told you so!—I told you so!—There should have been horse Cavalry out there on that island! If the Cavalry had been there this would not have happened a-tall.” Asked why, the General replied, “Because the Cavalry would have been up early that morning feeding the horses!”
—Old Top