William Sidney Graves

Major General William Sidney Graves (March 27, 1865 – February 27, 1940) was a United States Army officer who commanded American forces in Siberia during the Siberian Expedition, part of the Allied Intervention in Russia, towards the end of World War I.

Early life and education He was born on March 27, 1865, in Mount Calm, Texas, to the Reverend Andrew Carrol, a Southern Baptist minister and Evelyn Bennett. Graves began attendance at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, in 1884, although he caught pneumonia and missed his plebe year as a result. Nevertheless, he continued to attend and ultimately graduated forty-second in a class of forty-nine on June 12, 1889. Katherine was the niece of his commanding officer, Henry C. Merriam.

Military career He served in the Spanish–American War in the Philippines until 1902.

Graves thought that the British, French, and Japanese forces in Siberia were all following self-serving political ambitions beyond the stated goals of the Allies, which were to protect supplies provided by the powers to their erstwhile Tsarist allies and to provide for the safe conduct of foreign allied troops, primarily Czechs, who were to exit Russia via Vladivostok. Graves believed that the British and French were trying to suppress Bolshevik forces. He also believed that the Japanese had plans to annex part of Eastern Siberia (the Amur region, east of Lake Baikal). The Japanese deployed an estimated 72,000 soldiers—some 6 times the authorized troop level of 12,000 set by the Allies.

U.S. forces operated the Trans-Siberian railroad for almost two years, while bandits roamed the Siberian countryside and the political situation turned chaotic. The U.S. military did accomplish its main objective and the entire Czech Legion was evacuated out of Russia via Vladivostok. The last U.S. soldiers left Siberia on April 1, 1920. Historian Benson Bobrick wrote of Graves: "In the whole sad debacle, he may have been the only honorable man."

General Graves was promoted to the rank of major general on July 11, 1925,

Family William and Kate had four children, two of whom survived their parents. The first two children are buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado: a newborn infant (died October 27, 1891) and a girl, Marjorie (November 19, 1892 – February 24, 1894).

A son, Sidney Carroll Graves (1893–1974) graduated from West Point in 1915 and followed his father into a military career, attaining the rank of major. He earned two Distinguished Service Crosses: the first during World War I, and the second while serving in the Russian Expeditionary Force. In 1921 he married Olga Roosevelt (Bayne), a relative of President Theodore Roosevelt. Olga's grandfather, Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, and the president's father, Theodore Roosevelt Sr., were brothers.

Death Graves died on February 27, 1940, in Shrewsbury, New Jersey.

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