John Simpson – Brigadier General, United States Army

GENERAL JOHN SIMPSON DEAD

Retired Veteran Served In the Army for Forty-One Years

GALVESTON, Texas, October 31, 1914 – Brigadier General John Simpson, USA, retired, died late last night at the home of his son-in-law, Captain William Leo Guthrie, at the Second Division Encampment in Texas City.  General Simpson was 74 years old.  The body was sent to Washington, D.C. for burial in Arlington Cemetery.

General Simpson was born in Bethel, Clermont County, Ohio, and was the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Griffith Simpson.  He was educated in the public schools and in September 1862 enlisted in the Fifth Ohio Cavalry as a Private.  From July 1863 until the end of the Civil War, he was attached to the Headquarters Division of the Tennessee and the Military Division of the Mississippi.  He remained with the Army after the war and was made a Second Lieutenant in 1867.

In 1874 be became a First Lieutenant and a Regimental Quartermaster of the Fourth Artillery. He was made a Captain and Assistant Quartermaster in 1875 and in 1892 a Major and Assistant Quartermaster.  In 1897, General Simpson was appointed a Lieutenant Colonel and Deputy Quartermaster General; in 1901 he was made a Colonel and Assistant Quartermaster General and in 1903 was retired with the rank of Brigadier General.

General Simpson married Miss Laura S. Chafee of Newport, Rhode Island, in 1869.

SIMPSON, JOHN

• BG USA RET
• DATE OF DEATH: 10/30/1914
• BURIED AT: SECTION ES SD  SITE 1790
• ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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