Sturgill, Walter Stephen

Birth Name Walter Stephen Sturgill
Gender male

Events

Birth Jul 7, 1879;  Ashe County, NC
Death Nov 14, 1948

Parents

Father Byrum Sturgill b. 1846d. 1920
Mother Martha C. Pennington b. 1848d. Aug 11, 1935
 
Siblings William Edward Sturgillb. Jul 20, 1881d. Feb 23, 1961
James Victor Hugo Sturgillb. Oct 8, 1883d. Oct 27, 1952
Myrtie Orlean Sturgillb. Jul 12, 1886d. Jul 10, 1932
Lessie Johanna Sturgillb. Apr 12, 1891d. Oct 1, 1925
Mamie Artie Sturgillb. Feb 13, 1893 
Maggie Irene Sturgillb. Oct 17, 1895d. Apr 28, 1967
 

Families

Wife May Ellicot  
Marriage Sep 1915

Narrative

WALTER STEVEN STURGILL

GRADUATE OF WEST POINT

WALTER STEPHEN STURGILL, son of Byrum and Martha Pennington Sturgill, was a native of Ashe Co., N.C. After graduating from State A & M College in Raleigh, he remained there as an instructor. In 1902, Spencer Blackburn chose Walter for an appointment at the Military Academy.

At West Point, he did extremely well, and the Academy's motto, "Duty, Honor, Country" suited him and his Sturgill family traditions so aptly that he rose quickly through the ranks to become a lieutenant in the Cadet Corps. A good horseman, he played on the Cadet Polo Team.

Graduation 27th in the class of 1906, Walter a commisioned second lieutenant in the Cavalry, reported for duty at Fort Riley, Kansas, in September of that year. By October, he was in Cuba, where he remained until 1909, returning to the States, a first lieutanant.

After special training at the Mounted Service School, Lt. Sturgill was ordered to the Philippines, during the uprising of the Moro Chiefs. Upon his return to the States in 1913, he went to West Point as an instructor at the US Military Academy, where he remained until 1915.

When WW I broke out, First Lt. Sturgill was training artillery units at Fort Sill, Okla. By the fall of 1917, Captain Sturgill was on his way to fight the Germans in France. Over there, he was a field artillery instructor at Coetquidan, where he was awarded the Purple Heart and was promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel, and finnally to the rank of Colonel, Assistant to the Artillery Chief. Cited by his own commander, Sturgill was made an Officer of the Legion of Honor of France.

When he returned home, he became Assistant to the Chief of Field Artillery, Washington, D.C. Through the years of a distinguished military career, he taught at different military posts, did regimental duty at Fort Sheridan, Ill. and staff duty in Chicago, was Asst. and Deputy Chief Coordinator, Bureau of the Budget,Washington, D.C., a special appointment by President Coolidge. In 1929 he became a professor of Military Science and Tactics at Harvard University. He returned to the Phillipines as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-4, Manila. After a long illness, Sturgill retired from military service in the rank of Colonel, in May 1938.

After his retirement, Col. Sturgill and his wife, May Poultney Ellicott, lived near West Point, where he had first met her in 1914. For the next ten years, he took an active part in the life of the Academy. He spent his time studying the history of his alma mater, which he had begun researching while teaching at Harvard. He even took up water color painting in order to depict the reservation at different periods in its development for the history of the Academy he was writing. When he died, 14 January 1948, the history was completed up to 1860, including illustrations he had painted himself. The publication of his History of West Point would be a fitting memorial to Col. Sturgill's contributions and service to his country and the example he left for thoise who will follow him at West Point.

MHS

Information for this sketch is taken from an article written by Charles G. Mettler, which was sent to me by Mamie Sturgill Carty, Col. Sturgill's sister. DAS -pg 119