Background
BULLARD, Robert L. was born on January 5, 1861 in Youngsboro, Alabama, United States. Son of Daniel and Susan (Mizell) Bullard.
Major general United States Army
BULLARD, Robert L. was born on January 5, 1861 in Youngsboro, Alabama, United States. Son of Daniel and Susan (Mizell) Bullard.
A native of Alabama, Bullard attended the United States Military Academy, graduated in 1885, and was appointed first lieutenant in 1892.
He was involved in conflicts in the American Western Frontier, the Philippines, and World War I. He was an administrator in Cuba. He served in various capacities in the Spanish–American War, and in the Philippines from 1902 to 1904. He was made lieutenant colonel in 1906.
In 1907, he was special investigator for the United States. provisional government in Cuba, and the following year was superintendent of public instruction there.
In 1911, he was promoted to colonel.1 World War I After the American entry in World War I, Bullard was quickly promoted to brigadier general (June 1917) and major general North.A. (August 1917). He commanded the 1st Infantry Division ("Big Red One") from December 1917 to July 1918.
During World War I, he led men in the Battle of Cantigny (1918) and captured the village of Cantigny. lieutenant had been held by the German Eighteenth Army.
lieutenant was the site of a German advance observation point and strongly fortified.
This was the first sustained American offensive of the war. lieutenant was considered a success in that it expanded the American front by about a mile. General John Jay Pershing said of the attack: "The enemy reaction against our troops at Cantigny was extremely violent, and apparently he was determined at all costs to counteract the most excellent effect the American success had produced.
Foreign three days his guns of all calibers were concentrated on our new position and counter-attack succeeded counter-attack.
The desperate efforts of the Germans gave the fighting at Cantigny a seeming tactical importance entirely out of proportion to the numbers involved."2 Bullard was fluent in French and often served in joint United States.–French operations. General Pershing created the Second United States. Army in October 1918 and appointed Bullard as its first commander with the rank of lieutenant general.
At the same time he turned over command of First United States Army to Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett. Pershing retained his position as commander of the American Expeditionary Force (Advertising Educational Foundation) with authority over both of the armies.
Bullard"s sending of troops into battle, with full knowledge that the Armistice was due in a few hours, was severely criticized by Alden Brooks in his post-war account of the war, As I Saw lieutenant (1930).
Post war The 2nd Army was deactivated in April 1919 and Bullard reverted to his permanent rank of major general in June 1920. He was assigned to corps command in the much smaller post war United States. Army. He retired from active duty in 1925 to concentrate on writing.
He served as president of the National Security League.
He died in 1947.
Spouse Rose D. Brabson. Colonel, Third Alabama.