Henry Ware Lawton

Henry Ware Lawton was born March 17, 1843, in Manhattan, near Toledo, Ohio. He moved to Fort Wayne in 1847 and attended Fort Wayne Methodist Episcopal College until the Civil War began. He left school to enlist in the 9th Indiana. Lawton served in West Virginia and was commissioned first lieutenant of the newly organized 30th Indiana in August 1861. He saw action at Shiloh, and was promoted to captain the following month. With the Army of the Cumberland, he participated at Murfreesboro and Chickamauga. On August 3, 1864, he won a Medal of Honor in a skirmish before Atlanta. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in November 1864 and brevetted colonel in March 1865. He was mustered out of service in November and began to study law at Harvard. In May 1867, he accepted a commission of second lieutenant of the 41st Infantry (Colored) and was promoted to first lieutenant in July. In January 1878, he was transferred to the 4th Cavalry under Colonel Ranald S. MacKenzie and saw action in Indian campaigns in Texas and Indian Territory. He was promoted to captain in March 1879 and was later posted in Arizona. In 1886, he led a column more than thirteen hundred miles through the Sierra Madre Mountains in pursuit of Geronimo, whom he captured in September. He was then promoted to major in the inspector general’s department, promoted to lieutenant colonel in February 1889, and colonel in July 1898. In May 1898, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers for service in the Spanish-American War. He saw action at Daiquiri, Siboney, Santiago, and El Caney. He was promoted to major general of volunteers on July 8, 1898, and served as military governor of Santiago until October when he took command of the 1st Division of General Elwell S. Otis’ VIII Corps at Huntsville, Alabama. Lawton captured Santa Cruz and San Isidro and saw additional action at Cavite. In December 1898, he returned to Manila after turning his division over to General Loyd Wheaton. On December 19, 1899, while attacking San Mateo, he was shot and killed.

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