William Rufus Shafter.
William Rufus Shafter was born at Galesburg, Michigan, October 16, 1835. He was brought up on a farm and received a common school education. He entered the Union army as first lieutenant of the Seventh Michigan infantry. He rose in rank, and when mustered out of the volunteer service, in 1865, entered the regular army as lieutenant colonel. In 1867 he was breveted colonel and given congressional honor for gallant conduct at the battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia. He was made a brigadier-general May 3, 1897, in charge of the department of California and later a major-general of volunteers; May, 1898, he went to Tampa, Florida; afterward to Cuba, where he commanded the military operations which ended in the surrender of Santiago de Cuba in July, 1898, while at the close of the war he received his share of criticism for some incidents of the campaign, yet his personal gallantry and technical skill have never been questioned. His success in his chosen profession may be traced to his putting into practice the ruling axiom of his life, which he formulates thus: “I think that, when a man once finds the thing he likes, and for which he is best fitted, he is bound to like it always, and stick to it.”