Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Schuyler (December 22, 1900 – December 4, 1993) was a United States Army four-star general who served as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (COFS SHAPE) from 1953 to 1959.

Early life

Schuyler was born in Mount Arlington, New Jersey on December 22, 1900. He was the son of Frank Herbert Schuyler (1865–1942) and Harriette Jarvis Ferris (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Fosdick) Schuyler (1865–1919). His father was the president of the Federal Bridge Company for a decade before his death in 1942. Schuyler was a descendant of the prominent Schuyler, Van Cortlandt, and Van Rensselaer families of upstate New York. His fifth great-grandparents were Kiliaen Van Rensselaer and Maria Van Cortlandt, the daughter of Stephanus van Cortlandt and Gertrude Schuyler, a daughter of Schuyler family progenitor

Philip Pieterse Schuyler Colonel Philip Pieterse Schuyler or Philip Pieterse (1628 – 9 May 1683) was a Dutch-born colonist landowner who was the progenitor of the American Schuyler family. Early life Philip Pieterse Schuyler was born in Amsterdam, Holland in the Republ ...

. He attended Columbia High School in

Maplewood, New Jersey Maplewood is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is an inner-ring suburban bedroom community of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's populatio ...

. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1922, where he finished 11th in a class of 102, and was commissioned in the Coast Artillery Corps.

Career

His first assignment was at Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he was assigned to the 61st Antiaircraft Battalion, at the time the only anti-aircraft unit in the army. Later he served with the 60th Coast Artillery (antiaircraft) in the Philippines and the 4th Coast Artillery (Antiaircraft) at

Fort Amador Fort Amador ( es, Fuerte Amador) and Fort Grant were former United States Army bases built to protect the Pacific (southern) end of the Panama Canal at Panama Bay. Amador was the primary on-land site, lying below the Bridge of the Americas. Grant ...

in the

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terr ...

. He graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 1937. In 1939, while a member of the Antiaircraft section of the Coast Artillery Board, he participated actively in the development of the first multiple, power-operated antiaircraft machine gun mount.(

Quadmount The M45 Quadmount (nicknamed the "meat chopper" and "Krautmower"Rottman, Gordon L., Browning .50-Caliber Machine Guns', Osprey Publishing (2010), , p. 19-20 for its high rate of fire) was a weapon mounting consisting of four of the "HB", or "hea ...

), He was awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

for his work in this field. In 1942, Schuyler was assigned to the Antiaircraft Command in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

in 1942. He was promoted to brigadier general and assigned as chief of staff of the Antiaircraft Command. The Antiaircraft Command had the task of organizing and training all antiaircraft units of a rapidly expanding Army and controlled eight large training centers from Massachusetts to California. In the fall of 1944, General Schuyler was assigned to Bucharest, Romania, as the U.S. Military Representative to the Allied Control Commission. The agency was created by the three interested allied governments (British, U.S. and Russian) to administer the terms of the Romanian armistice.

Return to Washington

In 1947, General Schuyler returned to Washington and was assigned as the Chief of the Plans and Policy Group, Army General Staff. It was in this position that he became heavily involved in the fast developing concept of the North Atlantic alliance. He assisted in the preparation of policy papers and participated in the discussions which, in 1949, culminated in the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). When General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed as the Supreme Commander of all NATO forces in Europe, General Schuyler was part of Eisenhower's staff as the special assistant to the chief of staff. In 1952, Schuyler was promoted to major general and given command of the 28th Infantry Division in 1953. In July 1953, he was promoted to lieutenant general and assigned to SHAPE headquarters in Paris as the Chief of Staff to Supreme Allied Commander General

Alfred M. Gruenther General (United States), General Alfred Maximilian Gruenther (March 3, 1899 – May 30, 1983) was a senior United States Army Officer (armed forces), officer, American Red Cross, Red Cross president, and Bridge (game), bridge player. After be ...

. Schuyler was promoted to general in 1956 and remained as the chief of staff for the new Supreme Commander, General Lauris Norstad, until his retirement from the Army in November 1959.

Post military career

After retiring from the army in 1959, Schuyler served as Commissioner of the New York State Office of General Services from 1960 to 1971, and was an executive aide to New York Governor

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

. In 1962, Rockefeller appointed Schuyler chairman of his Emergency Staff committee and ordered it to meet as needed in support of President John F. Kennedy's administration during the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

. In 1963, he was appointed chairman of the State Civil Defense Commission.

Personal life

Schuyler was married twice, first to Wynona Coykendall (1902–1981), the daughter of Electra (née Heaton) Coykendall and Louis T. Coykendall, a vice-president of Presbrey-Leland, Inc. Together, they had a daughter and a son: * Shirley Schuyler (1929–2006), who married Edward Stanley Saxby, son of Harold A. Saxby, in 1949. * Philip Van Rensselaer Schuyler (b. 1932) After his first wife's death, he married Helen Van Rensselaer (née Stillman) Honnen (1905–1994), who was previously married to Major General George Honnen. Schuyler died on December 4, 1993, in San Antonio, Texas. He was buried at West Point Cemetery, Section 8, Row C, Site 172. At his death, he was survived by his wife, two children, and two stepchildren.

Awards

Dates of rank

U.S. Army Register, 1948. Volume II. pg. 1618.

References

External links

* *
Generals of World War II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuyler, Cortlandt 1900 births 1993 deaths Military personnel from New Jersey American people of Dutch descent Schuyler family Van Cortlandt family People from Maplewood, New Jersey People from Mount Arlington, New Jersey United States Military Academy alumni United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni United States Army generals Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Legion of Merit Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Burials at West Point Cemetery United States Army generals of World War II