Major General Smedley Darlington Butler — A Marine’s Story | Spanish-American War & WWI
Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, A Marine's Story
Major General Smedley Darlington Butler was born on July 30, 1881, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He attended the West Chester Friends Graded School and later The Haverford School, where he excelled in athletics, serving as captain of the baseball team and quarterback of the football team.
Just weeks before his seventeenth birthday, and before completing graduation, Butler left Haverford in 1898 to enlist following the outbreak of the Spanish–American War. Because he was underage, Butler misrepresented his age to serve. Despite leaving early, Haverford formally awarded his diploma on June 6, 1898, based on accumulated credits.
Butler was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, arriving shortly after its capture. He later spent several months aboard the USS New York, after which he was briefly mustered out. In April 1899, he rejoined the Marines as a First Lieutenant and was sent to the Philippines, where he led Marines in actions at Noveleta during the Philippine-American War. It was there that he received the eagle-and-anchor chest tattoo that became part of his legend.
From the Philippines, Butler deployed to China, participating in the Boxer Rebellion, including the Battle of Tientsin and the multinational Gaselee Expedition. During one engagement, Butler was wounded while attempting to rescue a fellow Marine. For his actions, he earned the Marine Corps Brevet Medal, recognition for extraordinary heroism before the establishment of newer decorations.
Over the next decade, Butler became heavily involved in Caribbean operations, the period now known as the “Banana Wars.” In 1903, he was dispatched to Honduras to defend the U.S. consulate during political unrest between rebel forces and the government. During this deployment, Butler contracted an illness that left his eyes permanently bloodshot, earning him the nickname “Old Gimlet Eye.”
In 1909, he was stationed in Panama, and in 1912, he was rushed to Nicaragua amid civil war. Butler led Marines during the Battle of Masaya and helped suppress rebel strongholds, including the assault on Coyotepe Hill. He later returned to Panama before deploying to Mexico in 1914 following the Tampico Affair. There, Butler led Marines during the Battle of Veracruz, where he was awarded his first Medal of Honor for his battlefield leadership, an award he felt deeply uncomfortable accepting, believing he was simply doing his duty.
In 1915, Butler was sent to Haiti following the assassination of the Haitian president. During operations against insurgent Caco fighters, Butler led a daring night assault on Fort Rivière, personally entering the fortress through a drainage tunnel. His actions resulted in the capture of the stronghold and the collapse of organized resistance in the region. For this extraordinary bravery, he was awarded his second Medal of Honor, making him one of only nineteen Americans to receive the decoration twice.
During World War I, Butler hoped to command troops on the Western Front but was instead assigned to command Camp Pontanezen in Brest, France, a massive processing center for the arriving American Expeditionary Force. The camp was infamous for mud and disease. Butler aggressively reorganized operations, improving sanitation and infrastructure. His constant efforts earned him the nickname “Old Duckboard,” after his large-scale acquisition of wooden duckboards to stabilize walkways throughout the camp.
After the war, Butler returned stateside and held several high-profile command positions, including overseeing the Marine Barracks at Quantico. From 1924 to 1925, he was appointed Public Safety Director of Philadelphia, where he conducted massive crackdowns on Prohibition-era crime, personally leading raids on illegal speakeasies and confronting entrenched police corruption. He also served as commander of Marine Corps Base San Diego and, from 1927 to 1929, returned to China as commander of the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Force in Tientsin.
On October 1, 1931, Major General Smedley Butler formally retired from the U.S. Marine Corps after 33 years of service.
In retirement, Butler became a fierce critic of militarism and corporate war profiteering. He spoke widely about what he viewed as the use of American troops to protect commercial interests abroad rather than genuine national defense. Although he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1932, his growing public profile led to his 1934 testimony before the McCormack–Dickstein Committee, in which he reported knowledge of the so-called “Business Plot,” an alleged conspiracy to organize a fascist coup against President Franklin Roosevelt. The committee found Butler credible while concluding that the plot did not progress to a prosecutable stage.
In 1935, Butler published his most famous work, War Is a Racket, drawing bluntly upon his own combat experiences to argue against economic exploitation of wartime sacrifice. He also served as a leading voice within the American League Against War and Fascism, advocating for peace and veterans’ interests.
Major General Smedley Darlington Butler died on June 21, 1940, and is buried at Oaklands Cemetery in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania.
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a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller living in Salem, Virginia.
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