The Way of Duty, Honor, Country: The Memoir of General Charles Pelot Summerall

by Charles Pelot Summerall, Timothy K. Nenninger (Editor)

Overview

After graduating from West Point in 1892, Charles Pelot Summerall (1867–1955) launched a distinguished military career, fighting Filipino insurgents in 1899 and Boxers in China in 1900. His remarkable service included brigade, division, and corps commands in World War I; duty as chief of staff of the U.S. Army from 1926 to 1930; and presidency of the Citadel for twenty years, where he was instrumental in establishing the school's national reputation.

Previously available only in the Citadel's archives, Summerall's memoir offers an eyewitness account of a formative period in U.S. Army history. Edited and annotated by Timothy K. Nenninger, the memoir documents critical moments in American military history and details Summerall's personal life, from his impoverished childhood in Florida to his retirement from the Citadel in 1953. From the perspective of both a soldier and a general, Summerall describes how the very nature of war changed irrevocably during his lifetime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813126180
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	10/29/2010
Series:	American Warriors Series
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Timothy K. Nenninger is chief of the Textual Records reference staff at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Editorial Reviews

An important work by a pivotal figure in the US Army's transition from constabulary to an overseas expeditionary force. The memoirs are especially valuable for Summerall's views on the imperial wars, the AEF's performance in World War I, and the problems of the postwar period.

Brian Linn

[An] often lively, sometimes contentious, yet completely engaging memoir of his long career.

Strategy Page

Winner of the Army Historical Foundation's 2011 Distinguished Book Award in the Journals, Memoirs, and Letters category

From the Publisher

This is a fascinating account of a life that saw the U.S. Army's transition from a frontier constabulary to a powerful armed force on the world stage.

The Past in Review

It is remarkably candid, but at the same time it is the account of a strong and opinionated man.

Journal of America's Military Past

It is, simply, a great story, very well told.

Coast Defense Journal

Charles P. Summerall was one of the best American combat commanders in World War I who, after the war, reached the pinnacle of his profession as Chief of Staff of the Army. After his retirement as president of the Citadel 1931-1953, he made the South Carolina military school a national institution. His memoir, ably edited and annotated by Timothy Nenninger, is a fascinating account of his experiences from his youth as a poor farm boy through West Point and his winning distinction in fighting in the Philippines and China then later in World War I through his post-war career in the War Department and the Citadel.

Edward Coffman

Summerall's life covered an incredible time of change in the South, the United States and Europe. This memoir gives the reader a ground-floor view of some of those changes, straight from the pen of a man who played a part in making those changes happen.

Post and Courier

Nenninger has done an excellent job of editing and annotating the memoir.

Bowling Green Daily News

This book will give readers a long-overdue exposure to Summerall's accounts of the many fascinating events of which he was a part, as well as an equally overdue window into the mind and character of this important American figure.

Mark E. Grotelueschen

This is a personal story, written in prose that sounds like something you might hear if you were sitting in the living room listening to the generations above you tell their story. It is fascinating, revealing, and intimate. This is one man's journey though a very important time in American history.... It is a journey well told, and it is worth reading.

H-Net Review - Mack Easter III

[The author] provided a thorughtful introduction, clarificatory footnotes, and additional material, which strengthens the value of Summerall's account.

NYMAS Review

Dr. Tim Nenninger has done us all a marvelous service by editing this memoir. While it is known to many World War I enthusiasts/scholars, this readable, thoroughly annotated publication saves us all much additional grubbing in the files, particularly after the names which Summerall so scrupulously avoided using. [...] There is much to be learned from this memoir. [...] Students of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I and the U.S. Army in general must know this memoir.

Journal of Military History