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<em>Fred W. Sladen</em>, son of the late Major Joseph A. Sladen, was born November, 1867. He entered the U.S. Military Academy, June, 1885 and graduated June, 1890. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 14th Infantry and was stationed with his company at Vancouver Barracks till 1897. During the summer of 1893, he served with his company in the field, at the Puyallup Indian Reservation, Washington, both during the labor troubles (Coxey Army movement) and railroad strikes in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, in the Spring and Summer of 1894.</p>
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Promoted 1st Lieutenant of the 4th Infantry, February 10, 1897, he served as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General E. S. Otis, Commanding the Department of Columbia, April 7, to May 21, 1897. He was aide-de-camp, Inspector S.A.P., and A.O.O., Headquarters Department of Colorado, May 24, 1897 to May 12, 1898, aide-de-camp to Major General E. S. Otis, U.S. Volunteers, while commanding U.S. Expeditionary Forces and Independent Division, 8th Army Corps, San Francisco, Cal., May 17, to July 15, 1898; during the fourth expedition to the Philippine Islands, San Francisco, to Manila, July 15, to August 22, 1898; Department of Pacific and 8th Army Corps, Manila, P.I., August 26 to 29, 1898; and while Military Governor in the Philippines and commanding the Department of Pacific and 8th Army, August 29, 1898 to Mustering Officer, Department of the Pacific and 8th Army Corps, September 28, 1898; aide-de-camp to General Otis, August 30, 1898 to May 5, 1900.</p>
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He was promoted Captain 8th Infantry, October 20, 1899 and transferred to the 14th Infantry, April 17, 1900.</p>
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During his service in the Philippines, he took part in the engagements around Manila and at Caloocan, February 1899; San Pedro Macate and Caloocan to Mecauayan, March 1899; Putol and San Francisco de Malabon, October 1899; and was Adjutant General of Schwan’s Independent Brigade to October 1899.</p>
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Assigned to duty at the U.S. Military Academy, he served as Assistant Instructor of Infantry Tactics, and commanded a company of cadets from August 1900 to August 1904. He was Acting Adjutant of the U.S. Military Academy from March to August 1902. He served at Vancouver Barracks, Wash., with his regiment, from October 1904 to August 1907, as Post Quartermaster and Commissary; commanding Company “B” 14th Infantry and later as Regimental and Post Adjutant. From April to June, 1906, he served with his company on relief duty, at San Francisco, Cal., after the earthquake and fire.</p>
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He was detailed to the General Staff Corps, August 15, 1907 and became Secretary of that Corps from April 7, 1908 till January 19, 1911, when he was appointed Commandant of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy. Promoted Major, 11th Infantry, March 11, 1911, he transferred to the 15th Infantry, January 23, 1914 and in March of this same year was enroute to the Philippines and China, with station in Tientsin.</p>
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On July 1, 1916, he was promoted Lieut. Colonel 21st Infantry and returned to the United States, October 12, 1916, taking station at San Diego, California. On detached service instructing the National Guard of California and stationed at Los Angeles, Assistant to the Commanding Officer, Southern District, Western Department. In March 1917, he commanded the Post of the Presidio of San Francisco, together with the school for Non Commissioned Officers, candidates for appointment as temporary 2nd Lieutenants. From May 1917 till September 28, 1917, he commanded the 1st and 2nd Training Camps there.</p>
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He was detailed as a member of the General Staff, on duty in the office of the Chief of Staff, till March 21, 1917, when he was relieved to take command of the 5th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division, at Camp Merritt, N.J. Commissioned Brigadier General, National Army, December 17, 1917, he accompanied his brigade to France, and took station at the Chateau Villain Training station area, April, 1918.</p>
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From May 31, 1918, he commanded the 5th Infantry Brigade in the Chateau Thierry Defensive Sector and took part in the actions in the Champagne-Marne Defensive, holding the southern bank of the Marne from Chateau Thierry to Fossoy, also in the Aisne-Marne Offensive from the Marne to the Ourcq. With his brigade he served in the Training Areas of Fort de la Ville, Naix-aux-Forges and Vaucouleurs. His brigade was in reserve in the St. Mihiel Offensive, from l’Hermitage to Essey and in action in the Argonne-Meuse Offensive, north of Verdun.</p>
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After the Armistice his brigade formed a part of the 3rd Army, American Expeditionary Forces, in the American Army of Occupation, with Brigade Headquarters at Naniedy on the Rhine, till August 3, 1919, when he was sent to command the 8th Infantry and the 7th Machine Gun Battalion, including the outpost troops in the Bridgehead area east of the Rhine. On November 7, 1919, he was placed in command of the 1st Brigade, American Forces in Germany, where he remained till June 30th, 1921. On his return to the United States, he commanded Fort Sheridan, Illinois and the 6th Corps Area Training Center till April 20, 1922.</p>
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Appointed Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, he became Major General, January 19, 1924, and remained at West Point till March 23, 1926. He commanded the Philippine Department from May 4, 1926 to April 30, 1928, when he returned to the United Slates to command the 3rd Corps Area, Headquarters at Baltimore, Maryland. On November 30. 1931, he was placed on the retired list by operation of law.</p>
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<em>Decorations</em><br />
Distinguished Service Cross<br />
Distinguished Service Medal<br />
Legion of Honor (French)<br />
Croix de Guerre with 2 palms (French)<br />
Cross al Merito di Guerra (Italian)<br />
Medal La Solidaridad (Panama)<br />
<em>Campaign Medals</em><br />
Spanish-American War<br />
Philippine Insurrection<br />
World War I (6 clasps)<br />
Occupation Medal World War I</p>
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General Sladen was born in the army and during his boyhood he was surrounded by officers and enlisted men, from whom he absorbed all the traditions of the old army. His father was a veteran of the Civil War, wherein he won the Medal of Honor, was aide-de-camp to General O. O. Howard for many years and was the Adjutant of the U.S. Military Academy when General Howard was the Superintendent. General Fred W. Sladen played in the Superintendent’s yard when a boy and he always felt that West Point was home to him. At frontier posts, where his father was stationed, his earliest recollections were the stories of Indian campaigns and the intimate details of battles in the war between the states, told by brave officers who participated in them. It was natural that his love of army life led him to the fountain of military training, West Point, and when it came his turn to join the ranks of that small but select gray army, he was better prepared than most of his classmates to endure the rigor demanded by it.</p>
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Fred Sladen was a soldier from the tip of his cap to the sole of his neatly shined shoes, a model in discipline and deportment. It is not surprising that he was selected, at a very early period in his career as an officer, for the personal staff of one of our ablest general officers, General E. S. Otis, and that his training under such a superior fitted him for the high commands he was destined to occupy. To have been closely associated with such an able administrator and soldier was an education in itself. To be present at the solution of new situations in handling both military and civil government in the early days of the Philippine Insurrection gave him examples of good judgment that were to influence his whole career and enable him to take the same broad view of events in his own later career.</p>
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His selection to command a cadet company and as assistant commandant of cadets at the Military Academy was fortunate for the Academy and the cadets who served under him; his subsequent selection to be Commandant and later Superintendent demonstrated that his worth in those positions were all that could be desired.</p>
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There was no swagger about Sladen, he was just a natural born soldier. He loved the life and put into it all his brain and energy; dignified and cordial with all whom he met, military or civil, he was the embodiment of all that old Colonel Sylvanus Thayer wished every cadet to be: a soldier, a scholar and a gentleman.</p>
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After retiring, he went to New Hampshire, where he lived a quiet, restful life, among his books and trophies, in a modest country home, enjoying rural scenes, far from the maddening crowd. He passed away suddenly after three days in hospital, just as he would have wished to go. He lies in his beloved West Point, where he labored many years to beautify and perfect it and where his sterling worth made a lasting impression on all cadets who came under his command.</p>
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Au revoir Soldier, sans peur, sans reproche.</p>
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<em>—J. A. R.</em></p>
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