Peyton C. March
9th Chief of Staff of the United States Army (1864–1955)
General Peyton Conway March (December 27, 1864 – April 13, 1955) was a senior officer of the United States Army. He served in the Philippines, on the Mexican border, and World War I. March was the ninth Chief of Staff from 1918 to 1921, accomplishing centralized control over supply, the creation of the Air Service, Tank Corps, and Chemical Warfare Service.
Early life and education
March was born on December 27, 1864, in Easton, Pennsylvania, to Francis Andrew and Mildred (née Conway) March. His father was a college professor, and is regarded as the principal founder of modern comparative linguistics in Old English. His mother descended from Thomas Stone, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and was Moncure D. Conway's sister.
March attended Lafayette College in Easton, where his father occupied the first chair of English language and comparative philology in the United States. While at Lafayette College, March was a member of the Rho chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon. After graduating with honors in 1884, he was appointed to West Point and graduated on June 11, 1888, ranked 10th in a class of 44. Among his classmates there were several men who would, like March himself, eventually attain the rank of general officer, such as James W. McAndrew, William M. Morrow, William Robert Dashiell, Robert Lee Howze, Peter Charles Harris, Eli Alva Helmick, Charles Hedges McKinstry, Henry Jervey, William Voorhees Judson, John Louis Hayden, Edward Anderson, Charles Aloysius Hedekin, John S. Winn (who had been March's roommate), and William S. Peirce.
Career
After his initial assignment to the 3rd Artillery, March was assigned to the 5th Artillery as a 1st lieutenant in 1894.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q373428. VIAF identifies the subject as 9416370. The Library of Congress control number is no93010556. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1864, 1955, 1918 and 1921.
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