Thomas Quinton Donaldson, Jr. – Major General, United States Army

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GENERAL DONALDSON, 70, DIES; FOUGHT SIOUX
Inspector General in World War Succumbs in Long Island Veterans’ Hospital
Taught Military Science
Took Part in Investigation of Escape of Grover Bergdoll, War Draft Dodger

NEW YORK, October 28, 1934 – Major General Thomas Quinton Donaldson, U.S.A., retired, who participated in the last battles against the Sioux Indians and who served as Inspector General in France during the World War, died late Friday night at the Veterans’ Hospital, East Northport, Long Island, New York.

Heart disease was the cause of death.  Major General Donaldson was 70 years old and had been in ill health since his retirement from the Army in 1928. Since then he had been confined in a number of hospitals throughout the country.

Major General Donaldson was the son of Colonel Thomas Quinton and Susan Barbara Hoke Donaldson and was born at Greensville, South Carolina.  He attended local schools and then entered Patrick Military Institute, where his interest in a military career became his life’s ambition.

At the school he joined the rifle squad and learned the first rudiments of marksmanship, for which he later won many awards.

Ion a competitive examination at the academy, Major General Donaldson won an appointment to West Point, from which he graduated in 1887.

As a Second Lieutenant of the old Seventh Cavalry under Colonel James W. Forsyth, he took part in Indian fighting on the Rosebud Reservation.  He fought against the Sioux in 1890-91, and saw action at Wounded Knee and White Clay Creek.

In the early years of the Nineties, General Donaldson was Professor of Military Science at the Patrick Military Institute, then at Clemson Agricultural College, Fort Hill, South Carolina.  He served in Cuba in the war with Spain and was with the Eighth Cavalry in the Philippines, 1905-07 and again, 1910-14.

During the first three years of the World War he was stationed at Governors Island, New York, as Assistant Inspector General. In the late Summer of 1918 he went to France, and from September of that year until the following June was Inspector General of the Service of Supply, with headquarters at Tours and the rank of Brigadier General.

General Donaldson, then a Colonel of the Inspector General’s Department in 1920, investigated for the War Department the escape of Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, draft dodger, in Philadelphia in May of that year.

The General is survived by his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Wilson Donaldson, of 430 West 116th Street, New York City, a daughter who is the wife of Major C. B. Rucker of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and two sons, Captain T. Q. Donaldson of the Eighth Cavalry, Fort Bliss, Texas, and A. H. Donaldson, formerly a Lieutenant, junior grade, United States Navy, and two sisters, Mrs. Davis C. Furman and Mrs. Albert Barnes of Greenville, South Carolina.

General Donaldson held the Distinguished Service Medal for “exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service while overseas,” and the Legion of Honor. In 1907 he was a member of the National Cavalry Rifle Team.  His clubs included the Army and Navy, Congressional and Chevy Chase of Washington. He also belonged to the Southern Society of New York, South Carolina Society of Washington and the Order of the Indian Wars of the United States.

NOTE: Thomas Quinton Donaldson IV, Major General, United States Army, is also buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

DONALDSON, THOMAS Q

  • MAJ GEN USA RET
  • DATE OF DEATH: 10/26/1934
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 7  SITE 8886
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

DONALDSON, ELIZABETH WILLEON WID OF DONALDSON, THOMAS Q

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 02/23/1872
  • DATE OF DEATH: 11/06/1959
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 7  SITE 9886 ES
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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