Warren Whitside

Warren Webster Whitside was a career U.S. Army colonel who served as a Cavalry and Quartermaster officer. He was posthumously inducted into the Quartermaster Hall of Fame in 2010.

Early life

Colonel Whitside was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on November 2, 1875, the son of a career cavalry officer, Brig. Gen Samuel M. Whitside.Russell, Major Samuel L., "Selfless Service: The Cavalry Career of Brigadier General Samuel M. Whitside from 1858 to 1902." MMAS Thesis, Fort Leavenworth: U.S. Command and General Staff College, 2002. He spent the first fifteen years of his life among soldiers and Indians on the Western plains. He was educated at Kemper Military School, Boonville, Missouri, and the Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia.''New York Times'', "Left College for War in '98 And Now Gets His Degree," May 31, 1936, Section: General News, p. N10.
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Military career

In May 1898 Colonel Whitside left college just before graduating in answer to President William McKinley’s call to service during the Spanish–American War. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Cavalry in 1899,United States Congress, ''Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States'', Volume 32, The University of Michigan, 1909. pp. 16, 85, 271–272.
/ref> and served for the next seven years as a lieutenant in the 10th CavalryUnited States War Department, General Orders, U.S. Adjutant General's Office, 1900. p. 73. and 15th Cavalry Regiments. In 1906 he was promoted to Captain of Quartermaster Corps, and for the next 33 years he served in a variety of command and key leadership positions within the Quartermaster field.

Colonel Whitside served on numerous campaigns including the Spanish–American War in 1898; the Cuban Occupation from 1899 to 1902 with service as the aide-de-camp to his father, the Commanding General of the District of Santiago Cuba;Whitside, Samuel M., United States Army Dept of Santiago and Puerto Principe, Annual Report of Colonel Samuel M. Whitside, 10th U.S. Cavalry Commanding Department of Santiago and Puerto Principe, Adjutant General’s Office, 1900. p. 188.
/ref> the Army of Cuban Pacification from 1906 to 1909 serving as a troop commander in the 15th Cavalry Regiment; the Punitive Expedition along the Mexico–U.S. borderTompkins, Frank, Chasing Villa: The Story Behind the Story of Pershing’s Expedition into Mexico, The Military Service Publishing Company, 1934. p. 259.
/ref> in 1916 serving as the Commander of Motor Truck Company No. 11;''Washington Post'', "Army and Navy News: Army Orders," May 18, 1916, p. 15. and World War I during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensive serving as the Commander of the 89th Division Trains and Military Police,English, George H. and the War Society of the 89th Division, ''History of the 89th Division, U.S.A.: From Its Organization in 1917, through Its Operations in the World War, the Occupation of Germany and until Demobilization in 1919'', War Society of the 89th Division, 1920
pp. 21, 25, 26, 269, 299–301, 392, 483, 495, 511. a regimental level command for which he was awarded what was then the U.S.'s highest decoration for service, the Distinguished Service Medal.United States Congress House Committee on Military Affairs, Hearings, The University of Michigan, 1931. p. 16.

From 1912 to 1915 he was instrumental in the establishment and construction of the Aleshire Quartermaster Remount Depot, Front Royal, Virginia, serving as one of its first commanders. Following his return from the Punitive Expedition, he was the commander of Fort Apache from 1916 to 1917.

From 1920 to 1925 he served as the Fort Riley Post Quartermaster where he was singularly responsible for modernizing much of the post including training sites for the National Guard, one of which was named in his honor and to this day is recognized as Camp Whitside.Mechem, Kirke, James C. Malin, "Kansas State Historical Society," ''The Kansas Historical Quarterly'', Volumes 24–25, Kansas State Historical Society, 1958. p. 66.
/ref> From 1925 to 1930 he served as the Department Quartermaster for the Panama Canal Division.

In 1930 he served as the Post Quartermaster of West Point, New York,Patterson, Homer L., Patterson’s American educational directory, Volume 27, Educational Directories, 1930, p. 671. followed by an assignment in Washington, D.C., as the Chief of Storage and Distribution in the Office of the Quartermaster General (OQMG). While assigned to OQMG, Colonel Whitside was featured on the cover of the July–August 1934 edition of the Quartermaster Review. From 1934 until his retirement in 1939 he returned to Front Royal as the Commander of the Remount Depot, which had evolved into the largest remount depot in the Army and served as a vital economic enterprise throughout the lower Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Colonel Whitside retired from the military and started an apple cider business that ultimately failed. He was married for over 63 years to the former Miss Lillian Rigney of Bridgeport, Connecticut. He died in 1964 and was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia.

Decorations and honors

* Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army): For exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services. As Division Quartermaster and later Commander of the 89th Division Trains, he rendered services of great value to the American Expeditionary Forces. By his sound judgment and his ability as an organizer the system of supply and evacuation of his Division functioned efficiently, which contributed greatly to the success of the 89th Division during the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives.
* Spanish Campaign Medal
* Army of Cuban Occupation Medal
* Army of Cuban Pacification Medal
* Mexican Service Medal
* World War I Victory Medal (United States) with three battle clasps (St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, and Defensive Sector)
* Army of Occupation of Germany Medal
* French Croix De Guerre with two stars: During the preparation for the St. Mihiel attack in August 1918 he displayed the most brilliant qualities of organization and in some particularly dangerous reconnaissances he gave proof of the highest courage.

Dates of rank

Colonel Whitside was posthumously inducted into the Quartermaster Hall of Fame on June 18, 2010, at a ceremony at Fort Lee, Virginia.BG Jesse R. Cross, Letter to LTC Samuel L. Russell, May 15, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitside, Warren
1875 births
1964 deaths
United States Army Cavalry Branch personnel
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)
American recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)
Military personnel from Toronto
United States Army colonels
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
People from Old Toronto
Washington and Lee University alumni
Kemper Military School alumni
American military personnel of the Spanish–American War
Buffalo Soldiers
United States Army personnel of World War I
Quartermasters
People from Front Royal, Virginia
Canadian emigrants to the United States
19th-century United States Army personnel