James Henry McRae

Major General James Henry McRae (December 24, 1863 – May 1, 1940) was a United States Army officer who served in numerous conflicts during his military career.

Early life James Henry McRae was born December 24, 1863, to Daniel F. McRae and Marion McRae in Lumber City, Georgia.

He graduated from the United States Military Academy number forty-eight of seventy-seven in the class of 1886. Several of his classmates included men who would, like McRae himself, eventually rise to general officer rank, such as John J. Pershing, Charles T. Menoher, Walter Henry Gordon, Edward Mann Lewis, Mason Patrick, Julius Penn, Avery D. Andrews, John E. McMahon, Frank L. Winn, William H. Hay, George B. Duncan, Lucien Grant Berry, Malvern Hill Barnum, Benjamin A. Poore, Henry C. Newcomer and Jesse McI. Carter.

Military career Major General James McRae, commanding the 78th Division, pictured here in conversation with the division's chief of staff, Colonel Charles D. Herron, at Chatel Chehery, Ardennes, France, October 25, 1918.

McRae was commissioned in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) and performed frontier duty from 1886 to 1888. During the Spanish–American War, he was in the Battle of El Caney in Cuba, and he also served in the Sanitary Corps, for which he received his first Silver Star Commendation. He received his second Silver Star during the Philippine Insurrection and was recommended for a brevet promotion. From 1905 to 1908, he served on the General Staff, and in 1911, he graduated from the United States Army War College. McRae served in the Adjutant General's Department from 1913 to 1917, and on August 5, 1917, he was promoted to brigadier general and commanded the 158th Depot Brigade at Camp Sherman, Ohio.

Personal life On December 14, 1887, McRae married Florence Stouch, daughter of Lt. Col. R. H. Stouch, a Civil War veteran. Together they had three children: Donald M. McRae, Dorothy McRae, and Mildred McRae. He remarried to Helen "Nellie" Burgar Stouch, a former sister-in-law, on February 24, 1926.