{{Short description|United States Army general (1861–1947)}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{For|the sociologist and environmental justice advocate|Robert D. Bullard}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox military person | name = Robert L. Bullard | birth_date = {{birth date|1861|1|5}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1947|9|11|1861|1|5}} | birth_place = [[Lee County, Alabama]], United States | death_place = [[New York City]], United States | burial_place = [[West Point Cemetery]] | image = File:111-SC-31923 - NARA - 55223004-cropped.jpg | caption = Bullard in October 1918. | allegiance = United States | branch = [[United States Army]] | service_years = 1885–1925 | service_number = 0-16 | rank = [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lieutenant General]] | commands = [[26th Infantry Regiment (United States)|26th Infantry Regiment]]<br/>[[2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division|2nd Brigade]]<br>[[1st Infantry Division (United States)|1st Infantry Division]]<br/>[[III Corps (United States)|III Corps]]<br/>[[Second United States Army|Second Army]] | unit = [[Infantry Branch (United States)|Infantry Branch]] | battles = [[Spanish–American War]]<br/>[[Philippine–American War]]<br/>[[Mexican Border Service]]<br/>[[World War I]] | awards = [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Army Distinguished Service Medal]] | other_work = President of the [[National Security League]]<br/>author<br/>orator }} [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lieutenant General]] '''Robert Lee Bullard''' (January 5, 1861 – September 11, 1947) was a senior [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]] of the [[United States Army]]. He was involved in conflicts in the American Western Frontier, the [[Philippines]], and [[World War I]], where he commanded the [[1st Infantry Division (United States)|1st Infantry Division]] (nicknamed "The Big Red One") during the [[Battle of Cantigny]] while serving on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]. He later was an administrator in [[Cuba]].
==Military career== A native of Alabama, Bullard attended the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama, now [[Auburn University]], and the [[United States Military Academy]] (USMA) at [[West Point, New York]], graduated twenty-seventh in a class of thirty-nine in 1885. Among his classmates who also became [[general officer]]s were [[Beaumont B. Buck]], [[Joseph E. Kuhn]], [[Henry Pinckney McCain|Henry P. McCain]], [[Robert Michie]], [[George Washington Burr|George W. Burr]], [[John Davenport Barrette|John D. Barrette]], [[John Miller Carson Jr.|John M. Carson Jr.]], [[Robert A. Brown (United States Army officer)|Robert A. Brown]], [[Charles Henry Muir|Charles H. Muir]], [[William Franklin Martin|William F. Martin]], [[Daniel Bradford Devore|Daniel B. Devore]] and [[Willard Ames Holbrook|Willard A. Holbrook]].
He was promoted to [[first lieutenant]] in 1892. He served in various capacities in the [[Spanish–American War]], and in the Philippines from 1902 to 1904. He was made lieutenant colonel in 1906. In 1907, he was special investigator for the U.S. provisional government in Cuba, and the following year was superintendent of public instruction there. In 1911, he was promoted to colonel.{{sfn|Davis|1998|p=58}} He attended the [[United States Army War College|U.S. Army War College]] from 1911 to 1912.{{sfn|Zabecki|Mastriano|2020|p=209}}
===Bullard's Indians=== The 39th Volunteer Infantry was unit of [[United States Volunteers]] raised to fight in the [[Philippine–American War]]. Bullard was promoted to colonel and given command of the unit. It was nicknamed the "Bullard's Indians" due to the type of tactics the unit employed.{{sfn|Zabecki|Mastriano|2020|p=209}}
===World War I=== [[File:111-SC-6377 - Staff, First Division - NARA - 55173660 (cropped) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Major General Bullard (center, facing towards the right), the newly appointed commander of the 1st Division, and members of his divisional staff at [[Gondrecourt-le-Château|Gondrecourt]], France, January 17, 1918.]]
After the [[American entry into World War I]], in April 1917, Bullard was quickly promoted to [[brigadier general]] (June 1917) and [[major general]] in the National Army (August 1917).
He took over command of the [[1st Infantry Division (United States)|1st Infantry Division]] ("Big Red One") from [[William L. Sibert]], holding this post from December 1917 to July 1918.{{sfn|Davis|1998|p=58}} The division was then serving in France as part of the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] (AEF), commanded by General [[John J. Pershing]].{{sfn|Zabecki|Mastriano|2020|p=210−211}}
He led his division in the [[Battle of Cantigny]] (May 28, 1918) and captured the village of [[Cantigny, Somme|Cantigny]]. It had been held by the [[18th Army (German Empire)|German Eighteenth Army]]. It was the site of a German advance observation point and strongly fortified. This was the first sustained American offensive of the war. It was considered a success in that it expanded the American front by about a mile.{{sfn|Zabecki|Mastriano|2020|p=212}} General Pershing said of the attack:
<blockquote>The enemy reaction against our troops at Cantigny was extremely violent, and apparently he was determined at all costs to counteract the most excellent effect the American success had produced. For three days his guns of all calibers were concentrated on our new position and counter-attack succeeded counter-attack. The desperate efforts of the Germans gave the fighting at Cantigny a seeming tactical importance entirely out of proportion to the numbers involved."{{ref|2|2}}</blockquote>
Bullard was fluent in [[French language|French]] and often served in joint U.S.–French operations. Due to the success of the Cantigny operation, Bullard was promoted and given command of the newly formed [[III Armored Corps|U.S. III Corps]] in July. His command was put under the [[10th Army (France)|French 10th Army]] and given command of the U.S. 1st and [[2nd Infantry Division (United States)|2nd Division]] during the Aisne-Marne counter-offensive. Finding his new staff to be inadequate to the task of preparing a corps-level attack on short notice, Bullard made what historian John Eisenhower called a "sensible" and "courageous" (as it invited Pershing's wrath) decision to have the French 20th Corps exercise tactical control of the two U.S. divisions during the [[Battle of Soissons (1918)|Battle of Soissons]].<ref>{{Cite book|first=John S.D.|last=Eisenhower|authorlink=John Eisenhower|title=Yanks: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I|year=2001|publisher=The Free Press|page=165-166}}</ref>
On August 1st, his corps moved to the [[Vesle]] area near the Marne river where it assumed command of the [[3rd Infantry Division (United States)|U.S. 3rd Division]], [[28th Infantry Division (United States)|28th Division]], and [[32nd Infantry Division (United States)|32nd Division]]. It was during this period that the 32nd and 28th Divisions fought the [[Battle of Fismes and Fismette]] (August 3rd-September 1st, 1918), the only notable urban battle for the AEF during World War I.<ref>''Yanks, pg. 171-173''</ref> The town of Fismes changed hands five times during the battle. After the fighting concluded, Bullard felt compelled to send a memorandum to Pershing explaining a tragic incident in the battle's final days. Concerned about the exposed nature of the position north of the Vesle River in [[Fismette]], Bullard had ordered the withdrawal of all forces south to [[Fismes]]. This order was countermanded by the French general commanding the [[6th Army (France)|6th Army]], an order that Bullard reluctantly obeyed. As a result, an entire company in the 28th Division was killed or captured. Bullard considered it "the only accident of my military career".<ref>{{Cite book|first=Hervey|last=Allen|title=Toward the Flame|year=1926|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|page=280}}</ref>
[[File:111-SC-15836 - NARA - 55191774 (Bullard à Tartigny) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|General John J. Pershing, Major General Robert Lee Bullard and members of Bullard's staff about to leave Chateau Tartigny to attend a review and decoration parade. [[Tartigny]], France, June 30, 1918.]]
General Pershing created the [[Second United States Army|Second U.S. Army]] on October 10 and appointed Bullard as its first commander with the temporary rank of [[Lieutenant general (United States)|lieutenant general]]. At the same time he turned over command of the [[First United States Army|U.S. First Army]] to Lieutenant General [[Hunter Liggett]]. Pershing retained his position as commander of the AEF with authority over both of the armies, becoming effectively an [[army group]] commander. {{sfn|Zabecki|Mastriano|2020|p=215−216}}
[[File:111-SC-28466 - NARA - 55216386 (cropped) (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Major General Robert Lee Bullard, the newly appointed commander of the U.S. Second Army, pictured here with members of his staff at Second Army's headquarters at [[Toul]], [[Meurthe-et-Moselle]], France, October 20, 1918. On Bullard's left is his chief of staff, Brigadier General [[Stuart Heintzelman]].]]
Bullard held a low opinion of Black American troops, writing in his diary that they were "hopelessly inferior." Historian [[Tyler E. Stovall]] described this view as part of a tradition of white U.S. military officers ascribing any failings on the part of African-American soldiers to "innate racial inadequacies".<ref>{{Cite book|first=Tyler E.|last=Stovall|authorlink=Tyler E. Stovall|title=Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light|year=1996|publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]]|isbn=9780395683996|page=14}}</ref>
Bullard's military actions have also been subject to criticism. In the [[Battle of Montfaucon]], Bullard reportedly refused orders to turn the flank of the German troops with his 4th Division as he did not want to help Major General [[George H. Cameron]], commander of [[V Corps (United States)|V Corps]], get credit for taking the German fortress at [[Montfaucon-d'Argonne|Montfaucon]].<ref name=cisn>{{cite journal |last=Walker |first=William |title=Mystery At Montfaucon |journal=MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History |volume=29 |issue=3 |page= 36 |publisher=History.Net |location=Vienna, Virginia |year=2017 }}</ref> Due to his alleged disobedience or deliberate misinterpretation of orders, the 79th Division, part of Cameron's V Corps, had no support to their right and suffered unnecessarily severe casualties as they performed a frontal attack on the fortress.<ref>{{cite book|last=Walker |first=William |title=Betrayal at Little Gibraltar: A German Fortress, a Treacherous American General, and the Battle to End World War I|publisher=Scribner |date=2016}}</ref> Additionally, Bullard continued to conduct offensive operations, with full knowledge that the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Armistice with Germany]] was due to take effect in a few hours, was criticized by [[Alden Brooks]] in his post-war account of the war, ''As I Saw It'' (1930).
For his services during the war Bullard was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Army Distinguished Service Medal]], the citation for which reads:
{{Quote|The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant General Robert Lee Bullard, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. In the course of this war, General Bullard commanded in turn the first American division to take its place in the front lines in France, the 3d Corps, and the Second Army. He participated in operations in reduction of the Marne salient and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. He was in command of the Second Army when the German resistance west of the Meuse was shattered.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/17321|title=Valor awards for Robert Lee Bullard|publisher=Military Times}}</ref>}}
===Post war=== [[File:Hughes party for Brazil LCCN2014715067.jpg|thumb|Bullard (far left) travels to Brazil with Secretary of State [[Charles Evans Hughes]] in August 1922.]] The Second Army was deactivated in April 1919 and Bullard reverted to his permanent rank of major general in June 1920. He was assigned to corps command in the much smaller post war U.S. Army. He retired from active duty in 1925 to concentrate on writing.{{sfn|Davis|1998|p=58}} He served as last president of the [[National Security League]] from 1925 until he disbanded it in 1947.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shulman|first1=I|title=The Progressive Era Origins of the National Security Act|publisher=Dickinson Law Review|edition= Winter 2000}}</ref>
Bullard wrote ''American Soldiers Also Fought'' in 1936.{{sfn|Davis|1998|p=58}}{{sfn|Zabecki|Mastriano|2020|p=217}}
He died on September 11, 1947, at the age of 86.{{sfn|Davis|1998|p=58}} Bullard is buried at the [[West Point Cemetery|U.S. Military Academy Post Cemetery]], with his wife Ella (Reiff) Bullard (5 November 1870 to 3 March 1963).
==Writing== He was author of the following books: * ''Personalities and Reminiscences of the War'', New York: Doubleday Page, 1925. {{ISBN|0-7661-9742-5}} * ''American Soldiers also Fought'', New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1936. {{OCLC|2854191}}
Bullard also wrote several magazine articles.
==Military awards== *[[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Army Distinguished Service Medal]] *[[Indian Campaign Medal]] *[[Spanish War Service Medal]] *[[Philippine Campaign Medal]] *[[Army of Cuban Pacification Medal]] *[[Mexican Border Service Medal]] *[[World War I Victory Medal (United States)|Victory Medal]] *Commander, French [[Legion of Honor]] *Commander, Belgian [[Order of Leopold (Belgium)|Order of Leopold]] *Commander, Italian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus *French [[Croix de Guerre]] with 2 palms <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/3084*.html|title = Robert L. Bullard • Cullum's Register • 3084}}</ref>
==Dates of rank== {|class="wikitable" |+ ! Insignia !! Rank !! Component !! Date |- |None || [[Cadet]] || [[United States Military Academy]] || 1 July 1881 |- |None in 1885 || [[Second lieutenant#United States|Second Lieutenant]] || [[Regular Army (United States)|Regular Army]] || 14 June 1885 |- |[[File:US-O2 insignia.svg|15px|center]] || [[First lieutenant#United States|First Lieutenant]] || Regular Army || 2 April 1892 |- |[[File:US-O3 insignia.svg|40px|center]] || [[Captain (United States)|Captain]] || Regular Army || 22 June 1898 |- |[[File:US-O6 insignia.svg|80px|center]] || [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] || [[United States Volunteers|Volunteers]] || 6 August 1898<br>(Honorably discharged from Volunteers on 6 May 1901.) |- |[[File:US-O4 insignia.svg|45px|center]] || [[Major (United States)|Major]] || Regular Army || 1 April 1901 |- |[[File:US-O5 insignia.svg|45px|center]] || [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|Lieutenant Colonel]] || Regular Army || 31 October 1906<ref>https://digital-library.usma.edu/digital/collection/p16919coll3/id/19831/rec/2</ref> |- |[[File:US-O6 insignia.svg|80px|center]] || [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] || Regular Army || 11 March 1911<ref>https://digital-library.usma.edu/digital/collection/p16919coll3/id/19831/rec/2</ref> |- |[[File:US-O7 insignia.svg|40px|center]] || [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] || Regular Army || 16 June 1917<ref>https://digital-library.usma.edu/digital/collection/p16919coll3/id/19831/rec/2</ref> |- |[[File:US-O8 insignia.svg|80px|center]] || [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] || [[Army of the United States|National Army]] || 5 August 1917<ref>https://digital-library.usma.edu/digital/collection/p16919coll3/id/19832/rec/2</ref> |- |[[File:US-O9 insignia.svg|120px|center]] || [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lieutenant General]] || Emergency || 1 November 1918<br>(Date of rank 16 October 1918. Discharged and reverted to <br>permanent rank 30 June 1920.) |- |[[File:US-O8 insignia.svg|80px|center]] || [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] || Regular Army || 16 February 1919 <br>(Date of rank 27 November 1918.) |- |[[File:US-O8 insignia.svg|80px|center]] || [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] || Retired List || 15 January 1925 |- |[[File:US-O9 insignia.svg|120px|center]] || [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lieutenant General]] || Retired List || 21 June 1930 |} Source: ''Army Register'', 1926<ref name="Register">{{Cite book |last=The Adjutant General's Office, War Department |url=https://www.archive.org/18/items/officialarmyregi1926unit/officialarmyregi1931unit_bw.pdf |title=Official Army Register for 1926 |date=1926 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |page=688 |access-date=July 22, 2021}}</ref>
==Bibliography== *{{cite book|last=Millett |first=Allan R. |author-link=Allan R. Millett| title=The General: Robert L. Bullard and Officership in the United States Army, 1881–1925 |publisher=Greenwood Press|date=1975|isbn=0837179572 |oclc=1530541}} *{{cite book|last=Davenport |first=Matthew J. |title=First Over There: The Battle of Cantigny, America's First Battle of World War I |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|date=2015}} *{{cite book|last=Walker |first=William |title=Betrayal at Little Gibraltar: A German Fortress, a Treacherous American General, and the Battle to End World War I|publisher=Scribner |date=2016|isbn=978-1-5011-1789-3}} *{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Henry Blaine Jr. |title=Generals in Khaki |publisher=Pentland Press |location=Raleigh, NC |year=1998 |isbn=1571970886 |oclc=40298151}} *{{cite book|last=Venzon|first=Anne Cipriano|title=The United States in the First World War: an Encyclopedia|location=Hoboken, NJ|publisher=Taylor and Francis|date=2013|isbn=978-1-135-68453-2|oclc=865332376}} *{{cite book|title=Pershing's Lieutenants: American Military Leadership in World War I|date=2020|editor1-last=Zabecki|editor1-first=David T.|editor-link1=David T. Zabecki|editor2-last=Mastriano|editor2-first=Douglas V.|editor2-link=Doug Mastriano|location=New York, NY|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-3863-6}}
==Notes== {{note|1|1}} {{Cite EB1922|wstitle=Bullard, Robert Lee |short=x}}
{{note|2|2}} ''Source Records of the Great War, Vol. VI, ed. Charles F. Horne, National Alumni 1923''
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{wikiquote}} {{Commons category|Robert Lee Bullard}} * [http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/cantigny.htm The Battle of Cantigny, 1918] * Martin T. Olliff: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/bullard_robert_lee/ Bullard, Robert Lee], in: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/home.html/ 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War].
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=[[William L. Sibert]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[1st Infantry Division (United States)|Commanding General 1st Division]]|years=1917–1918}} {{s-aft|after=[[Charles Pelot Summerall|Charles P. Summerall]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=Newly activated organization}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Second United States Army|Commanding General Second Army]]|years=1918–1919}} {{s-aft|after=Post deactivated}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullard, Robert Lee}} [[Category:1861 births]] [[Category:1947 deaths]] [[Category:United States Army Infantry Branch personnel]] [[Category:United States Army War College alumni]] [[Category:United States Army generals]] [[Category:United States Army generals of World War I]] [[Category:United States Military Academy alumni]] [[Category:People from Auburn, Alabama]] [[Category:Burials at West Point Cemetery]] [[Category:Military personnel from Alabama]] [[Category:American military personnel of the Spanish–American War]] [[Category:American military personnel of the Philippine–American War]] [[Category:American white supremacists]] [[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)]] [[Category:Auburn University alumni]] [[Category:19th-century United States Army personnel]]