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The death of Major <em>General Charles H. Martin</em> at Portland, Oregon, on September 22, 1946, brought to a close the career of one of West Point’s distinguished graduates. General Martin not only established an outstanding record of achievement as an Army officer but, on his retirement for age, he commenced a new career in civil life which culminated in national recognition of his accomplishments as a Congressman and as the colorful and dynamic Governor of the State of Oregon during a period when labor agitation and strife were keeping the whole country in a state of turmoil.</p>
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Charles Henry Martin was born at Albion, White County, Illinois, on October 1, 1863, the son of Judge Samuel Holly and Mary Jane (Hughes) Martin. His father, who was county Judge and a leading Democratic politician in southern Illinois, had served in the Mexican War as a Second Lieutenant in the 14th U.S. Infantry and Judge Martin determined that his son, Charles Henry, should have a military career. His young son did not evince any interest whatsoever in the career his father had selected for him and wished instead to be a writer, with the idea of entering politics, eventually, undoubtedly in the back of his mind. However, his father obtained for him an appointment to West Point and to the academy young Charles H. went, willy-nilly, entering with the Class of 1886 on July 1, 1882.</p>
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Cadet Martin did not enthuse over his life and work at West Point and his early interest in national politics eventually led to his separation from the Academy—an event which would have foreclosed any military career had it not been for his father’s dogged perseverance and faith in his son. As one of young Martin’s classmates relates:</p>
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“Martin and McClure roomed near together in the Fall of 1884. Both were ardent Democrats. They were supposed to study French every day except Sunday from 11 A.M. to 12 noon but they had subscribed to the New York World for the period of the presidential campaign then raging. So, instead of studying French, they proceeded to elect Cleveland and Hendricks and did so by the skin of the teeth. Throughout the campaign they followed the fortunes of three black cats which had wandered into the National Democratic Headquarters in New York. These came in one at a time and were named Grove, Cleve and Dave. The third was named after David B. Hill, (a prominent Democrat of that period).</p>
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“On November 8th, 1884, Cleveland and Hendricks were elected though this was not assured for several days. During that period Martin and McClure studied little French. Taking the campaign as a whole, they were just about ruined as regards learning anything about the French language.”</p>
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Immediately on his son’s separation from the Academy, Judge Martin set unremittingly to work to procure his readmission and young Charles Henry was readmitted with the Class of 1887. Given this second chance, he settled down to hard work and at graduation was No. 19 in his class of 64 graduates.</p>
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Lieutenant Martin’s first assignment was to the 14th Infantry, (his father’s old regiment) then stationed at Vancouver Barracks, Washington, across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon. Here he remained for eleven years until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. The Army played a large part in the social life of Portland and it was while he was stationed at Vancouver Barracks, on April 18, 1897, that he married Louise Jane Hughes, the daughter of Ellis G. Hughes, one of Portland’s leading lawyers. It was also during this period of his service that he formed many lifelong friendships with Portland people and developed a keen interest in the State of Oregon and its future. These were the quiet, peaceful days of the 1880’s and 1890’s when the probabilities of wars seemed remote and there was a natural tendency to relax and take things easy. Lieutenant Martin, however, worked away conscientiously and did all that he could from day to day to prepare himself for competent service. The high administrative and executive ability he later showed to such a marked degree first manifested itself when, on his promotion to First Lieutenant in 1894, he was made regimental quartermaster.</p>
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In July of 1898, he was sent with the 14th Infantry to the Philippines. In December of that year he was detached from the regiment, made a captain of Volunteers, and detailed as quartermaster of the Provost Guard of Manila and, a few months later, was made Chief of the Department of Streets, Parks, Fire, and Sanitation of the Military Government of Manila, a position of tremendous responsibility for a junior officer lacking in prior experience in municipal government. Captain Martin fulfilled his duties with marked success and saw to it that the essential services he supervised were efficiently maintained.</p>
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In July, 1900, the Boxer Rebellion broke out and the 14th Infantry was ordered to the relief of the besieged legations in Peking. With action at hand, Martin who had now become a Captain, Regular Army, had no inclination to remain behind in Manila, and, at his own request, he was reassigned to his regiment and given command of Company M. There ensued the arduous march of the Allied expedition across the miles of terrifically hot, dusty, Chinese countryside in a race against time—daily marches interspersed with numerous battles and skirmishes. It was a grueling ordeal and the morale of many of the men of the expedition broke under the hard physical strain but Captain Martin enforced strict discipline on the men of his company and won commendation for the splendid morale and excellent condition of his command.</p>
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Company M of the 14th Infantry spearheaded several of the engagements in which the Americans participated and was the first unit to breach the walls of Peking. At the battle of Yangtsun, Captain Martin was cited for his bravery in leading a handful of men from his company across an open field under devastating enemy fire and routing a Chinese battery and, in storming the walls of the Imperial City, he was again cited for bravery in leading his men into a courtyard under fire from Chinese on the surrounding walls, in order to rescue a detachment that had been trapped there. An English historian of the expedition, A. Henry Savage-Landor, wrote “Such men as Captain Martin, Colonel Daggett, Major Quinton and Lieutenants Murphy and Burnside were officers whom any nation would be proud to possess”.</p>
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After the fall of Peking, the Allies held a procession through the Forbidden City with each of the eight victorious Powers represented by a picked detachment of men. Captain Martin and his Company M were chosen to represent the Americans as a reward for their outstanding performance in battle and also because they were the only men of our command who had not been allowed to discard their blouses and could therefore appear in complete uniforms.</p>
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Between the Boxer Rebellion and World War I, Martin went up through the grades of Major and Lieutenant Colonel and served successively with the 14th, 1st and 18th Infantry Regiments interspersed with a tour of duty as Chief Quartermaster, Department of Visayas, Ilo Ilo, P. I., a course at the War College, and two years as commander of the Oregon National Guard regiment.</p>
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At the time this country entered World War I, he was serving on the Mexican Border as Lieutenant Colonel of the 18th Infantry. Within a few days after the declaration of War, Colonel Martin was made Senior Instructor at the First Officers’ Training Camp at Leon Springs, Texas. Here he gave intensive training to a large portion of the officer personnel of the 90th (Oklahoma-Texas) Division, a division which later made an enviable record in combat in France and one which he subsequently commanded in the Army of Occupation. During this three month course, he received his promotion to Colonel, Regular Army and, on completion of the course, he was made Brigadier General, National Army, and assigned to command of the 172nd Infantry Brigade, 86th Division, which was to be organized at Camp Grant, Illinois.</p>
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As Brigade Commander he established an excellent record and when, in April of 1918, the Commanding General of the division was found physically unfit for overseas duty and was assigned to another station, General Martin received recognition for his outstanding ability and qualifications by being promoted to Major General and given command of the division. The following excerpt from the Official History of the 86th Division gives a vivid picture of its new leader:</p>
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“Major General Charles H. Martin’s assignment as Camp Grant’s new chief was recognized as a sure sign of real action during every minute of the training period. Under this dynamic leader there could be nothing else. The period he made an exclamation point, with a clenched fistful of asterisks thrown in!”</p>
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“Upon taking over the Eighty-sixth in May, 1918, General Martin instituted his ‘thick-skinned-hard-as-nails’ system of training.”</p>
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“ ‘There will be DISCIPLINE in this division,’ he declared, ‘but it will be the discipline built on perfect trust and understanding’.</p>
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“That was Martin. He left no room for a misunderstanding. He wanted ‘pep’, he said; his orders were orders, and ‘pep’ he got. ‘Pep’ became the slogan of the division. In the first place, there was no getting around it. General Martin did not believe in directing his division from division headquarters alone. He was here, there and everywhere about the camp. No Lieutenant drilling his platoon or corporal instructing his squad could risk being off his guard for a moment.”</p>
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“Staff and field officers left their swivel chairs and took to the saddle with the general, who followed to the letter the Pershing instructions relative to training in open warfare. Weather meant nothing in the life of the Eighty-sixth Division, even the higher officers riding for hours every day, through pouring rain as well as sunshine. Soon the division had covered itself with mud as well as glory, and the French and British officers aiding in the instructions, expressing astonishment at the rapid strides made, declared the organization ready for France.”</p>
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The 86th reached France in September of 1918 and was sent to the Bordeaux Training Area. Here, while General Martin was temporarily detached and assigned to the First Army for duty during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the division engaged in intensive combat training and was ready to participate in the final offensive against the German Army when the Armistice was declared. It was always a keen disappointment to General Martin that the sudden ending of hostilities deprived him of the opportunity of taking into combat the division he had so assiduously trained and prepared with this goal in view.</p>
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Following the Armistice, General Martin was assigned to command the 92nd Division for the purpose of preparing the division for return to this country. He completed this task on December 15, 1918, and was then assigned to command of the 90th Division with Headquarters at Berncastel, Germany, in the Army of Occupation, a post he held until June, 1919.</p>
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For his outstanding service in World War I, General Martin was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.</p>
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On his return to this country, he reverted to his regular rank of Colonel.</p>
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In the Spring of 1920, the Army was far below its authorized strength. The War Department felt that an intensive drive was necessary and, because of his proven high administrative and executive ability and his record of achieving results, General Martin was chosen to organize and carry out this drive as head of the Division for Procurement of Recruits, Adjutant General’s Office. At this time employment conditions were excellent, the war emergency was over, and it was difficult to interest men in joining the Army. General Martin, however, organized and pushed through the drive so efficiently that the ranks of the Army were completely filled by the end of that year.</p>
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On October 10, 1921, he received his promotion to Brigadier General, Regular Army, and after a period on board duty in Washington and as Commanding General of the 16th Infantry Brigade at Camp Meade, Md., he was made Assistant Chief of Staff (G-l), under General Pershing. He held this position until January of 1925, when he was promoted to Major General, Regular Army and assigned to command of the Panama Canal Division. In October, 1926, he assumed command of the Panama Canal Department and held this post when he reached retirement age on October 1, 1927.</p>
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On reaching his 64th birthday, General Martin closed one career and promptly began another. He returned to Portland, Oregon, ostensibly to settle down there and to lead a quiet life among the many friends he had formed in his early army days at Vancouver Barracks. He was not one to remain idle for very long, however, and he soon plunged wholeheartedly into civic activities.</p>
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Then, in 1930, came a political opening for which he was virtually drafted by his friends. Oregon was a strong Republican state. For years the various Democratic candidates for Congress from the Third Oregon District had been snowed under in the elections. The situation was so bad that no Democratic candidate even filed for the 1930 primary. The Democrats searched wildly for a candidate and certain of them felt that a man of General Martin’s background would add at least some distinction to their party and that he might have a chance to win, although this was hoping for almost too much. Consequently, at the primaries a handful of Democrats wrote General Martin’s name on the ballot and to his surprise he suddenly found himself the Democratic nominee for Congress. No one took much interest in his campaign outside of the few Democrats who had launched him, and he was without organization, funds or any issue on which to rally votes until, shortly before the election, the Anti-Saloon League provided him with an issue by demanding to know how he stood politically and personally on the “dry” issue. General Martin’s reply that he would not be dictated to by any group touched off the spark. He began an intensive campaign on the repeal of the 18th Amendment and friends and funds rallied to his support. He was elected by a plurality of 14,000 votes in a district normally Republican by over 40,000 votes.</p>
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General Martin served two terms in Congress from 1931-35. He was the fourth Major General of the Regular Army to serve in Congress, his predecessors there having been Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison and Daniel E. Sickles. In Congress, he worked with quiet efficiency, seldom participating in debate on the floor. But when he did participate in debate there were fireworks a’plenty and on one memorable occasion he had quite a heated battle with the Hon. Fiorello LaGuardia on which occasion he more than held his own. Because of his army background, he was of great value to the office of the Chief of Staff. His chief accomplishment, however, was his work in procuring the appropriation for the great Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River, a work which has given a tremendous boost to the industrial prosperity of Oregon and of the entire Pacific Northwest. He prepared and presented his case for Bonneville with such thoroughness and skill that it won the approval of the President.</p>
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General Martin’s second Congressional term was in the first Congress under the New Deal. At first, he was an enthusiastic supporter of all New Deal policies but his enthusiasm soon began to wane. The money poured out in the “priming of the pump” did not quite jibe with the economic theories with which he had been inculcated since early youth and he was a bit skeptical. Furthermore, he did not approve of the government’s policy then toward organized labor.</p>
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At the end of his second term, he was drafted by the Democrats to run for Governor of Oregon and won handily. His career as Governor was a stormy one. Over the whole country, there was spreading a wave of sit-down, strikes, beat-ups, and vandalism, and Oregon came in for its share. General Martin at all times maintained law and order in Oregon without once calling out the National Guard and without any physical injury to strikers or law enforcement officials. The state police were trained in the steps they should take to prevent the forming of mobs and the breaking up of riots, and they applied their training with great efficiency. When acts of violence were committed, the offenders were promptly tracked down, prosecuted and convicted. Seventy-seven law violators received penitentiary and county jail-sentences ranging from 12 years to 6 months. During this time, General Martin constantly battled with the New Deal when his convictions made him feel that he must oppose their demands.</p>
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His failure to “go along” with the administration on all matters led ultimately to his defeat for renomination in 1938. He lost out in a very bitter and close election. As an aftermath, the Democratic party in Oregon, which he had done so much to build up, was badly shattered and the Republicans won handily.</p>
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After his defeat, General Martin retired from political life, but to the last—even during the fatal illness from which he suffered during the last two years of his life—he took a keen and active interest in civic affairs, and many friends came to his bedside for advice and guidance. In 1940, he was chosen “First Citizen” of Portland in recognition of his distinguished service to the community and on October 1, 1943, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, he was given a large testimonial reception at Portland’s Arlington Club. Not only was there an outpouring of the leading citizens of Portland but Major General A. M. Patch, who was later to command the 7th Army in France and Germany, left Army maneuvers in Central Oregon in order to attend, and telegrams and letters of congratulations were sent from all over the country, including messages from General Pershing and General Marshall.</p>
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General Martin was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by Portland University and by Oregon State College. The citation from the president of Oregon State College in awarding him his degree epitomizes his accomplishments as follows:</p>
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“Charles Henry Martin: Officer in the United States Army whose rank has ranged from 2nd Lieutenant to Major General and whose service, in various capacities, has extended not only throughout the United States but also to Central America, the Philippines, China and Europe; a member of the 72nd and 73rd Congresses; Governor of the State of Oregon, since January, 1935; citizen, soldier, statesman, whose principles and policies have helped to perfect the distinctive traits of American citizenship, initiative, resourcefulness and responsibility”.</p>
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Following his death, “The Oregonian”, Portland dally, in an editorial headed “A Delegate to Mankind” stated:</p>
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“From the statements he made, impromptu, one might assemble a primer of American principles for the guidance of the children of the republic. Place such a primer in the two hands of the juvenile aspirant to citizenship, bid him to read and reflect and retain, and neither demagogue nor charlatan ever should rise to control of the nation. Let’s remember, for of this there is more need than ever, that General Martin once said to us, ‘The Government owes no man a living’. And that also he said, ‘No citizen has fulfilled his duty merely by paying taxes’. And again. ‘We have nothing to fear from the future except our own foolishness and slothfulness’. And, having declared himself, he turned with zest to whatever conflict or controversy might be offered him.</p>
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“What a full life he lived! And how generously he lived it—for this is the measure of fullness—and how gallantly and laughingly he went forward, jesting with destiny, yet constant in purpose, until at length the veil fell over his eyes and he awakened, while his friends said with sorrow. ‘The General is dead’. It is our privilege to have known and to have exchanged friendship with a commendably remarkable and levelheaded delegate to the flusterated but constant convention of mankind.”</p>
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<em>—S. H. M.</em></p>
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