William Voorhees Judson

William Voorhees Judson (February 16, 1865 – March 29, 1923) was an American brigadier general, who served as a military aide with the Root Mission to the Russian Provisional Government.

Early life and education William Voorhees Judson was born to Charles E. Judson and Abby Cady Voorhees Judson in Indianapolis, Indiana, on the February 16, 1865. He attended Harvard University for two years before being admitted into the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated third in his class in 1888.

Following that, Judson served in a variety of engineering capacities until 1917. Notable postings included that as an instructor at the U.S. Army Engineer School, as the Engineer Commissioner for Washington, D.C., and as the Assistant Division Engineer for the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. Judson also was sent among the military attachés and observers in the Russo-Japanese War from 1904 to 1905, when he returned to the US as a result of the Russian defeat. From 1905 to 1909, he supervised maintenance and improvement of harbors and lighthouses on the western shore of Lake Michigan. During this time, he also received an honorary M.A. from Harvard in 1911.

On April 6, 1917, the day of the American entry into World War I, Judson returned to Russia as part of Root Mission, headed by Elihu Root. Following Root's return to the U.S. three months later, Judson remained in Russia as head of the Root Mission itself before being detached as a military attaché to the American embassy in Petrograd and chief of the American military mission to Russia until Spring 1918.

Upon his return, Judson was placed in command of the 38th Infantry Division at Camp Shelby until August 1918. From September to December 1918, Judson commanded the New York Port of Embarkation. Judson wrote many letters and documents as a military attaché in Petrograd, which are considered to be of historical value. A book, Russia in War and Revolution: General William V. Judson's Accounts from Petrograd, 1917–1918 has been written on the basis of Judson's materials.