William Jones Nicholson was born on January 16, 1856 in Washington, D. C. , United States. He came of a family represented in many wars of the United States. His father being Commodore Somerville Nicholson, United States Navy, and his grandfather, Major Augustus Nicholson, first quartermaster of the United States Marine Corps. His mother, Hannah, was the daughter of Dr. William Jones, a surgeon who took part in the battle of Bladensburg in the War of 1812. A brother, Reginald Fairfax Nicholson, reached the grade of admiral, United States Navy.
Education
Young Nicholson attended the schools of the Jesuit Fathers in Washington and later (1867 - 68), the preparatory school of Georgetown College.
Career
In 1876, the 7th United States Cavalry having become depleted of officers by reason of the so-called "Custer Massacre, " Nicholson was appointed by President Grant a second lieutenant in that regiment, in which he subsequently served for some thirty-seven years. He shared hardships with his regiment in campaigns against the Apaches, Nez Percés, and Sioux, culminating in the sanguinary battle of Wounded Knee (1890).
During the war with Spain, he served on the staff of General Sanger as major and chief ordnance officer, United States Volunteers.
Promoted through all the intermediate grades, he reached the rank of colonel on August 24, 1912.
Later, as a participant in General Pershing's punitive expedition into northern Mexico, he commanded the 11th Cavalry.
With the outbreak of the World War, he was commissioned brigadier-general, National Army, and commanded first the training camp at Camp Meade and later a similar one at Camp Upton. In 1918 the War Department sent him overseas in command of the 157th Brigade, 79th Division, composed in large part of soldiers from Pennsylvania and Maryland.
He participated with marked distinction in the military operations of the Avocourt sector, the Meuse-Argonne offensive, and the Bois Belleu-Côte sector, until hostilities were terminated by the Armistice.
He was retired from active service as a colonel of cavalry on January 16, 1920, by operation of law, and seven years later was advanced to the grade of brigadier-general by special act of Congress.
His death occurred at Washington, D. C. , from a stroke of paralysis, following a hunting trip some months before in the high altitudes of Colorado, and he was buried with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.
Achievements
Personality
Tall, wiry, active in his movements, affable and just in his relations with subordinates, but forceful in the administration of his brigade, Nicholson possessed to a marked degree the qualities of a successful leader of soldiers.
Connections
On February 6, 1883, while a student officer at the Infantry and Cavalry School, from which he graduated, he was married to Harriette Fenlon of Leavenworth, Kansas.