William Rufus Shafter
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William Rufus Shafter (October 16,1835 – November 12, 1906) was a Major General in the United States Army. Fort Shafter, Hawaii is named for him. He took a prominent part in the Spanish-American War.
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Early Life
Shafter was born in Galesburg, Michigan on 16 October 1835. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War and took part in the Battle of Ball's Bluff and the Peninsula Campaign. He was wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks and later received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the battle. He was captured at the Battle of Thompson's Station and spent several months in a Confederate Army prison. After his release he lead the 17th Infantry, a regiment of the United States Colored Troops, at the Battle of Nashville.
By the end of the war he had been promoted to brevet brigadier general. He stayed in the army, and during his service in the Indian Wars, he received his nickname Pecos Bill. He led the 24th Infantry, another United States Colored Troops regiment, in campaigns against the Cheyenne, Comanche, Kickapoo and Kiowa Indians in Texas. In May, 1897 he was appointed brigadier general.
Spanish-American War
When the Spanish-American War began, the United States organized a ground expedition for the island of Cuba. Shafter weighed over 300 pounds and was not fit for the tropical conditions, but he received the appointment anyways, due to his lack of political ambitions. In May, 1898 he was appointed major general in the regular and assumed command of the V Corps and sailed for Cuba. During the Santiago Campaign he suffered from gout. After winning the battles of San Juan Hill and El Caney, Shafter's forces laid siege to Santiago. The city surrendered on 17 July 1898, bringing an end to the war on Cuba. Sickness and disease plagued the army, and Shafter returned to the U.S. with the V Corps in September. He took command of the Department of California after returning to the U.S. and was in that position when he retired in 1900.
Trivia
Having appeared in two early films, he was once listed as the "actor" with the biggest known finite Bacon number (10). As of 12 July 2003 William F. Cody's Bacon number has dropped to three, apparently due to new information rather than new movies. This has dropped Rufus Shafter's Bacon number to 8, and he is no longer unique. See this page (http://oracleofbacon.org/cgi-bin/oracle/movielinks?firstname=Bacon%2C+Kevin&game=1&secondname=william+rufus+shafter) for details.