Briant Harris Wells – Major General, United States Army

Major General Briant Harris Wells
Born December 5 1871 in Salt Lake City, Utah
Died June 10 1949

Cadet U. S. Military Academy 1890-94
Graduated as No. 3610, Class of 1894

Second Lieutenant 1894
First Lieutenant 1898
Captain 1901
Brigadier General (National Army) 1918
Major General 1928

Served with 2nd Infantry Regiment 1894-98
Served with 18th Infantry Regiment (in the Philippines) 1898-01
Served with 29th Infantry Regiment 1901
Served in the Department of the Lakes 1901-02
Served in the Philippines 1902-04
Served in the Department of Colorado 1904-07
Served in the Department of Luzon (Philippines) 1907
Served with the Army General Staff 1916-17
Staff Officer, Supreme War Council 1918
Chief of Staff, VI & IV US. Corps 1918-19
Member, Joint Army & Navy Planning Committee 1920-21
Assistant Army Chief of Staff (War Plans Division) 1921-23
Commandant of The Infantry School 1923-26
Assistant Army Chief of Staff G-4 (Supply) 1926-27
Deputy Army Chief of Staff 1927-30
Commanding General, 1st Infantry Division 1930
Commanding General, Hawaiian Division 1930-31
Commanding General, Hawaiian Department 1931-35
January 31st, 1935

Briant Harris Wells of Utah
Appointed from Utah Cadet, United States Military Academy, 17 June 1890 (48)
Commissioned Second Lieutenant, 2nd United States Infantry,12 June 1894
First Lieutenant, 18th United States Infantry, 26 April 1898
Captain, 29th United States Infantry, 2 February 1901

There were five Latter-day Saint United States Generals in World War I – William E. Cole, Frank T. Hines, Briant H. Wells, Richard W. Young and Edgar A. Wedgewood.

Major General Briant H. Wells, Deputy Chief of Staff, 1 May 1927-8 March 1930.

GENERAL WELLS IS BURIED
West Point Classmates At Ries In Arlington Cemetery

WASHINGTON, June 17,1949 – Major General Briant H. Wells, one-time Deputy Chief of Staff, was buried today in Arlington National Cemetery. He died on June 10 in Long Beach, California, while on a visit from Hololulu, where he had lived since his retirement in 1935.

Major Gregory L. Locke, chaplain, officiated at the service in the Fort Myer Chapel.  Honorary pallbearers were West Point classmastes and men with whom General Wells served for more than forty yearson the Army.

They included General George C. Marshall, former Secretary of State; General Omar N. Bradley, Army Chief of Staff; General Charles Summerall, former Chief of Staff, under whom General Wells served as Deputy in 1927, and R. G. Bell of Honolulu, president of theHawaiian Sugar Planters Association.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard