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Arthur MacArthur Jr. was born on June 2, 1845, in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. His father was Arthur MacArthur Sr., who was a Scottish born American layer and judge and politician who served as the fourth Governor of Wisconsin, a Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge and an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. His mother was Aurelia Belcher, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist Benjamin Belcher. His father’s influence helped Arthur MacArthur Jr. secure an appointment at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
When the Civil War broke out, Arthur MacArthur was living in Wisconsin. On August 4, 1862, his father managed to secure Arthur MacArthur Jr a commission as a first lieutenant of the 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Arthur was also the regiment’s adjutant. The 24th Wisconsin was organized at Camp Sigel in Milwaukee and mustered into service on August 15, 1862. Colonel Charles Larrabee was the commander. On September 5, 1862, the regiment left the state for Louisville, Kentucky. When the 24th Wisconsin arrived at Louisville, they arrived at Camp Joe Holt in Jeffersonville, Indiana. While the Union Army of the Ohio was being reorganized, the 24th Wisconsin was assigned to 37th Brigade, under the command of Colonel Nicholas Greusel, of the 11th Division, under the command of General Phil Sheridan.
On October 1, 1862, the 24th Wisconsin marched out with the rest of Union General Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio in pursuit of Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Mississippi. On October 8, 1862, at Perryville, Kentucky, the 37th Brigade was ordered to the front, with the 24th Wisconsin being held in reserve as support to Captain Henry Hescock’s battery. According to Sergeant Thomas Ford, of Company H, 24th Wisconsin, while they were in reserve and awaiting orders, the Confederate bullets were “dropping thick and fast around us, for they were preparing to charge on one of our batteries.”
The battery was Hescock’s Battery G, 1st Missouri Light Artillery. A brigade orderly rode up to Colonel Larrabee and said: “Colonel, the General wants you to march your regiment to the left of that battery and hold it at all hazards; the Rebels are about to charge on it.” The Colonel was somewhat hard of hearing and placed his hand to his ear and said: “What’s that, sir?” The order was repeated. The Colonel answered: “I will, by God, sir;” and called the regiment to form into line. Confederate Colonel Samuel Powell’s four regiment brigade, consisting of the 45th Alabama, 24th Mississippi, and 29th Tennessee Infantry, numbering around 1,200 men were ordered to charge on the Union battery. i.
The 1st Arkansas Infantry remained with Captain Overton Barrett’s Missouri Battery, which opened fire on Hescock’s battery. The Confederates came up through the cornfield in two solid lines. Hescock’s, Captain William Hotchkiss’s 2nd Minnesota Battery, and Captain Charles Barnett’s 2nd Illinois batteries opened with grape and canister, which mowed through the Rebel lines, but the Confederates closed up their gaps in the lines and steadily advanced. The 24th Wisconsin was in the rear of the battery and marched to the left of Hescock’s battery in double-quick time and took a position on the road. The hill top was in front of the 24th Wisconsin and shielded them from the bullets that went over their heads.
The 52nd Ohio Infantry, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Daniel D. T. Cowen, was over the brow of the hill and was driven back slowly until they stopped in front of the 24th Wisconsin. Colonel Larrabee gave the order to advance to the top of the hill and fire. The 24th Wisconsin’s left was screened by a section of woods and was only one hundred feet from the Rebel lines, which halted at the fence that enclosed the field. The Confederates were in a crossfire from the 24th Wisconsin, the 36th Illinois, the 85th Illinois, and the 52nd Ohio Infantry and direct fire from the Union artillery.ii. At that moment, Union Colonel George Wagner’s brigade formed into line of battle and the 40th Indiana Infantry advanced on Powell’s brigade. Captain Jerome Cox’s 10th Battery, Indiana Light Artillery unlimbered their two Parrot guns. The 24th Wisconsin, known as the Badger Boys, which was made up of 1,024 men, fired a few volleys from their muskets and the Confederate advance came to a stop and the Confederate lines broke and fell back. The 24th Wisconsin chased the Rebels, until the Confederates were no longer in range.
Sergeant Ford was in the front rank with his company with no coat on and the only red shirt visible in the regiment. The order was given to fall back about twenty paces to the rear. The regiment was near the crest of a hill looking down on the cornfield where the Confederates were in position, but Ford did not fall back. Ford was preoccupied loading and firing at the Rebels down in the cornfield and did not hear the command to cease fire or to fall back. The regiment was ready to fire in their new position to the rear, but the command was not given until Ford fell back. Colonel Larrabee called for Ford to fall back. Larrabee sent Adjutant Arthur MacArthur out in front after Ford, at the same time yelling “You man, with the red shirt, fall back.” Ford knew the Colonel was pointing at him, so he looked around and saw McArthur galloping to the front and the regiment fell back to the rear.iii. After the battle, the 24th Wisconsin camped on top of the hill. James Hazel of Company D was the only casualty during the battle when he was killed and three were wounded.
After the battle of Perryville, the regiment would fight at the Battle of Stone’s River, Tennessee. During the Battle of Stone’s River, the colonel and lieutenant colonel were both ill and the command fell to eighteen year old Major Arthur MacArthur. During the Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign, on November 25, 1863, at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, the 24th Wisconsin was one of several regiments ordered to charge uphill into a fortified Rebel position. When the regiment’s color bearer fell, Arthur picked up the regiments flag and charged ahead with the flag in front of his men. They rallied behind him, stormed the Confederate entrenchments, and seized the strategic ridge for the Union. For his actions at the battle of Missionary Ridge, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. On January 2, 1864, Arthur was promoted to major, and on May 15, he commanded the regiment at the Battle of Resaca, Georgia. On June 8, 1864, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and led his regiment at Kennesaw Mountain and Jonesboro, during the Atlanta campaign and the siege of Atlanta. On November 30, 1864, he was wounded at the battle of Franklin. On June 10, 1865, Arthur was mustered out of the Union army.
After the Civil War, he reenlisted in the Union army and was stationed at several posts around the South and West. In 1896, he was commissioned a brigadier general and fought in the Spanish-American War and from 1900-1901 he was appointed military governor of the Philippines during the American occupation. He also served as special observer to the Japanese army during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. On June 2, 1909, Arthur MacArthur retired from the military. In 1907, he returned to Milwaukee and on September 5, 1912, he died from a heart attack. He is buried in the Arlington National Cemetery.
His son General Douglas MacArthur also received the Medal of Honor on July 12, 1941 for his “For conspicuous leadership in preparing the Philippine Islands to resist conquest, for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against invading Japanese forces, and for the heroic conduct of defensive and offensive operations on the Bataan Peninsula.” Arthur and his son were the only father and son Medal of Honor recipients until President Theodore Roosevelt, father of World War II Medal of Honor recipient Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was posthumously awarded in 2001.
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