behind AotW

John Coalter Bates began his Army career with a commission as First Lieutenant, 11th United States Infantry at the start of the war in May 1861. He commanded Company E of the 11th Infantry at Antietam, was promoted to Captain in May 1863, and spent the rest of the war on General George Meade’s staff.

After 45 years of Regular Army service – in the Civil War, the West, the Spanish-American War, and the Philippines – he was appointed Chief of Staff of the US Army and promoted to Lieutenant General, USA in 1906. His portrait here was painted by Cedric Baldwin Egeli in 1974 (from a photograph), and is in the Army Art Collection, probably exhibited in the Pentagon. Its online from the National Museum of the US Army.