Richard M. Blatchford

Richard Milford Blatchford was born at Fort Hamilton, New York on August 17, 1859,[1][2] He was the son of Samuel T. Blatchford (1822–1886) and Agnes Leadbeater Blatchford (1824–1911),[2] and his ancestors had come from Devonshire, England in the eighteenth century.[1] His great-grandfather was Reverend Samuel Blatchford, his great-uncle was the New York attorney Richard Milford Blatchford, and the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Blatchford was a cousin.[2]

He was educated at Williston Seminary in Massachusetts and Claverack College in New York, and graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with the class of 1882.[1] He was also a graduate of the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, and of the U.S. Army War College, then in Washington, D.C.[3]

Blatchford was commissioned in the United States Army directly from civil life and appointed as a second lieutenant in October 1883.[4] He served with the 11th Infantry Regiment on the American frontier in Dakota Territory, Kansas, and Arizona.

Colonel Blatchford, c. 1915

He became a captain on April 26, 1898, during the first days of the Spanish–American War.[1] Following two tours of duty in Puerto Rico, he served in the Philippines from 1901 to 1904, both in the field and in garrison,[5] with the 28th, 11th, and 6th Regiments.[1]

After a brief tour as a recruiter in New York, Blatchford was an instructor and inspector for the Missouri National Guard.[1] However, he had served with the 11th Infantry Regiment almost continuously while rising through the ranks, and in April 1913, he became a colonel and was given command of the regiment in Texas City, Texas.[3][1]

In 1914, Blatchford was assigned to command the 12th Infantry Regiment, then stationed in the San Francisco Presidio.[3] Blatchford's regiment, a part of the Eighth Brigade under Brigadier General John J. Pershing, included 700 enlisted men and 30 commissioned officers.[6] In April 1914, while on training maneuvers near Stanford University,[6] Blatchford received orders for his regiment to travel with Pershing by rail to El Paso, Texas, where Pershing assembled the Eighth Brigade to guard the Mexican border.[7] The regiment was later stationed at Nogales, Arizona, where Blatchford made arrangements for Pershing's peace conference on August 29, 1914 with Mexican generals Pancho Villa and Álvaro Obregón.[8][9][10]

While commanding the 12th, Blatchford organized a regimental school of musketry at the Presidio.[3] By late 1915, Colonel Blatchford had been detailed as commandant of the Army's School of Musketry (today's Infantry School) at Fort Sill, Oklahoma,[3] and held that position in April 1917 at the time of America's entry into World War I.

On May 15, 1917, Blatchford was promoted to brigadier general in the National Army.[1] He sailed for France in July 1917 to observe trench warfare and Allied training methods, and on July 25 he was appointed commanding general of the Line of Communications, part of the American Expeditionary Forces.[5] On August 5, 1917, he received a promotion to major general in the National Army.[1] Blatchford failed to organize a functioning line of communication in France, resulting in inadequate transport of supplies to U.S. troops.[11][12] Unhappy with his performance, Pershing decided to replace Blatchford with Francis Kernan.[11][12] After being relieved of his command in Paris, Blatchford took charge of billeting at Neufchâteau.[12] According to General Johnson Hagood, this job "certainly did not warrant a special headquarters with a major general in command," but Blatchford maintained a large staff for allocating billets and office space, including a colonel in charge of constructing new buildings.[11][12]

In November 1917, Pershing sent Blatchford back to America,[1][13] due to lack of competence.[14] To spare his feelings and reputation, Pershing told him that he was needed to train a combat unit and then lead it to France to take part in the fighting.[14] Blatchford later viewed the removal as a stain on his career, and he pursued the matter with Pershing after the war.[14] In response, Pershing wrote that Blatchford's performance had in fact been unsatisfactory, and that their "lifelong friendship" had caused Pershing to refrain from telling him so at the time.[14]

Despite being replaced as head of the Line of Communications, Blatchford's career flourished after his return from France.[1] He briefly commanded the 158th Depot Brigade at Camp Sherman, Ohio (1917–1918), before taking command of the Panama Canal Department.[1] He remained in command at the Panama Canal Zone through 1919, continuing after the end of the war.[1] He later commanded the Presidio of San Francisco (1920–1921), 8th Infantry Brigade and Camp Lewis (1921), and 5th Infantry Brigade and Vancouver Barracks (1921–1922).[1]

He retired on December 1, 1922 with his permanent rank of brigadier general.[8] In 1930, Congress passed legislation allowing the temporary generals of World War I to retire at the highest rank they had held, and Blatchford was promoted to major general on the retired list.[8]

Blatchford died on August 31, 1934 in San Francisco.[5] He had no children by either of his two marriages.[1]

USS General R. M. Blatchford (AP-153), launched in 1944 and named in his honor, was a General G. O. Squier-class transport ship for the U.S. Navy in World War II.[5]