George Grant Gatley (September 10, 1868—January 8, 1931) was a career officer in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. He attained the rank of

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

, and his

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

commands included the 30th and

42nd 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

Infantry Divisions.

Early life

George G. Gatley was born in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

on September 10, 1868, a son of Richard K. Gatley and Sarah (Markham) Gatley. He attended the public schools of Portland, and graduated from the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

in 1890. Ranked 25 of 54, he was commissioned in the

Field Artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

. He served initially with the 5th Field Artillery, and later with the 2nd and

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

Field Artillery.

Start of career

During the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

, Gatley commanded Battery K, 5th Field Artillery; after completing mobilization and deployment training, his battery was at the

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

port of embarkation awaiting transport to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

when the war ended. He was promoted to captain in 1901, and served in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

during the

Moro Rebellion The Moro Rebellion (1899–1913) was an armed conflict between the Moro people and the United States military during the Philippine–American War. The word "Moro" – the Spanish word for "Moor" – is a term for Muslim people who li ...

as commander of the 17th Field Artillery Battery. Gatley served in Cuba from 1906 to 1913, first as part of the U.S. occupation force, and later as an artillery trainer and instructor for the Cuban Army; he was promoted to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in 1911. He was with the 13th Field Artillery on the Mexican border during the

Pancho Villa Expedition The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the p ...

; from 1915 to 1917 he was a member of the Army's Ordnance Board, which designed and tested new cannons, and made recommendations about which ones to procure. He was promoted to

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in 1916, and

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in May, 1917.

World War I

In August 1917, Gatley was promoted to

as commander of the 55th Field Artillery Brigade, a unit of the 30th Division. He subsequently transferred to command of the 67th Field Artillery Brigade of the 42nd Division, which he led until the end of the war. He took part in the

Champagne-Marne The Second Battle of the Marne (french: Seconde Bataille de la Marne) (15 July – 18 July 1918) was the last major German offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The attack failed when an Allied counterattack, supported by ...

Aisne-Marne The Third Battle of the Aisne (french: 3e Bataille de l'Aisne) was a battle of the German spring offensive during World War I that focused on capturing the Chemin des Dames Ridge before the American Expeditionary Forces arrived completely in ...

, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne battles and offensives. From December 1917 to January 1918, Gatley commanded the 30th Division. In 1919 he commanded the 42nd Division during part of its post-war occupation duty in Germany.

Later career

Gatley commanded the 8th Field Artillery Brigade at

Fort Knox Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold res ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

from 1919 to 1920, and graduated from the Army War College in 1921. From 1921 to 1924, he commanded the 10th Field Artillery at

Camp Pike Robinson Maneuver Training Center (Camp Robinson) a facility located at North Little Rock, Arkansas, which houses the Joint Forces Headquarters, Arkansas National Guard, the Headquarters, Arkansas Air National Guard, Headquarters, 77th Combat Avi ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

and Fort Lewis,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Gatley commanded the Overseas Discharge and Replacement Depot at Fort McDowell, California from 1924 to 1929.

Death and burial

He was commander of the 15th Field Artillery Brigade when he became ill in December, 1929. He was hospitalized at

Walter Reed Army Medical Center The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951was the U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in the District of Columbia, it served more than 150,000 active and ret ...

until April, 1930, when he was transferred to

Letterman Army Hospital The Letterman Army Hospital, established around 1898 and redesignated as the Letterman Army Medical Center (LAMC) in 1969, was a US Army facility at the Presidio of San Francisco in San Francisco, California, US. It was decommissioned in 1994. ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Gatley died in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

on January 8, 1931. He was buried at

San Francisco National Cemetery San Francisco National Cemetery is a United States national cemetery, located in the Presidio of San Francisco, California. Because of the name and location, it is frequently confused with Golden Gate National Cemetery, a few miles south of the ci ...

, Section OS, Row 1, Site 11. At his death, Gatley held the permanent rank of

. His rank of brigadier general was restored after he died as the result of a 1930 law which allowed World War I generals to retire at the highest rank they had held.

Family

In 1897, Gatley married Elizabeth "Bessie" Walton Crabb (1876–1954), the daughter of Major George W. Crabb of the 5th Field Artillery. They were the parents of two daughters: Edith (1898–1985), the wife of Robert T. Nash and John Donald MacKenzie; and Dorothy (1902–1981), an actress whose stage name was

Ann Harding Ann Harding (born Dorothy Walton Gatley; August 7, 1902 – September 1, 1981) was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress. A regular player on Broadway and in regional theater in the 1920s, in the 1930s Harding was ...

References

Sources

Books

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gatley, George G. 1868 births 1931 deaths United States Military Academy alumni United States Army War College alumni American military personnel of the Spanish–American War Burials at San Francisco National Cemetery United States Army Field Artillery Branch personnel United States Army generals of World War I United States Army generals Military personnel from Maine