Arthur MacArthur Jr.

At Missionary Ridge, nineteen-year-old Arthur MacArthur Jr. seized the colors of the 24th Wisconsin at a critical moment and carried them onto the captured Confederate works. The act made him a Medal of Honor recipient and began a military reputation that eventually carried him to lieutenant general.

MacArthur was born June 2, 1845, at Springfield, Massachusetts. He entered the 24th Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War and was serving as first lieutenant and adjutant when the regiment fought at Missionary Ridge. He later remained in the Regular Army and rose to lieutenant general.

On November 25, 1863, at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, the regiment's colors became the focal point of the advance. MacArthur seized them at a critical moment and planted them on the captured works at the crest. He received the Medal of Honor on June 30, 1890.

Medal of Honor Citation

Seized the regimental colors at a critical moment and planted them on the captured Confederate works at the crest of Missionary Ridge.

After the Civil War, MacArthur continued a long Army career, served in the West, took part in the war with Spain, and became military governor in the Philippines. He was the father of Douglas MacArthur, creating one of the best-known father-son Medal of Honor pairings in U.S. military history.

He died September 5, 1912 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His career connected the Civil War generation directly with the overseas Army of the turn of the twentieth century.