DARKE COUNTY OHIO - BIOS: SIGERFOOS, EDWARD (published 1925)
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HISTORY OF OHIO, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925

        BRIG.-GEN. EDWARD SIGERFOOS was the highest ranking officer of the
American Expeditionary Forces killed in the World war. He was mortally
wounded at the front September 29, 1918, and died in the base hospital
eight days afterward. He is properly ranked as one of the famous Ohioans of
his generation.
        His old home community was in Darke County, though he was born in
Miami County, December 14, 1868. His father, George W. Sigerfoos, was born
in 1825, in Maryland, was taken to Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1834, and in
early life was a farmer and school teacher and subsequently a brick maker.
He became a merchant, and in 1872 established a business at Arcanum in
Darke County, where he was engaged until his death, on October 16, 1875. He
married in 1850 Nancy Shanck, who was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, in
1830. Of the children of George Sigerfoos and wife three, including Edward,
gained distinction as educators. Miss Arabella, whose home is at Arcanum,
graduated from the Michigan State Normal College and taught in Ohio and
also in California. A son, Charles P. Sigerfoos, the older brother of
Edward, was a graduate of the class of 1889 from the Ohio State University,
and for a quarter of a century has been professor of zoology at the
University of Minnesota.
        Edward Sigerfoos attended public schools until he was sixteen, and
in the fall of 1885 accompanied his older brother, Charles, to the Ohio
State University, spending two years in the preparatory school and
graduating with the class of 1891. He took a lively interest in all phases
of student life, distinguishing himself in his class rooms, becoming editor
in chief of the "Lantern," took a prominent part in the literary society
and won honors on the platform, and began his military career on the campus
by becoming the captain of a company in the University Battalion, winning
the prize sword for the best drilled company, and later a medal in a state
contest at Portsmouth.
        With such thoroughness of preparation it was not difficult for him
to gain admission to the United States Army, which he did in less than two
months after his graduation. On August 1, 1891, he was appointed second
lieutenant of the Fifth United States Infantry. He did not find army life
inconsistent with his serious habits of study, and while at Fort
Leavenworth he achieved the title of "Honor Graduate" of the United States
Infantry and Cavalry School in 1895. During the Christmas holidays of that
year he married Miss Opal Robeson, of Greenville. In April, 1898, he was
promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, and four months later was sent to
Cuba, where he served for more than a year as commissary under Gen. Leonard
Wood. The war with Spain afforded him still further experience beyond the
immediate boundaries of the Untied States, for he spent the next four years
in the Philippines, and was commissioned a captain February 2, 1901, and
made an adjutant the following September.
        In 1905 Captain Sigerfoos was detailed to serve as professor of
military science and tactics at the University of Minnesota, where his
brother was professor of zoology. During his four years in the institution
Edward Sigerfoos not only gained an enviable reputation as a teacher and
commandant of University Cadets, but also found time for his
self-improvement by completing the regular and post-graduate courses in
law, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1908 and that of Master of
Laws in 1909.
        In 1915 he graduated highest in the class in the War College at
Washington, though the youngest officer in the class. He remained there a
year as a professor of war games, and then was given a taste of active
service with Pershing on the Mexican border, after which he was sent to
China. Meantime, he was acquitting himself with unfailing credit in every
duty to which he was assigned, and was earning his promotions through major
to colonel. As commandant of the American Forces he was in charge of the
Red Cross Relief during the foods at Tien-tsin.
        Colonel Sigerfoos was recalled from China, soon after America
entered the World war, and after a few months was sent to France and put in
charge of a group of army schools at Langres. It was in the course of this
duty that he several times went to the front. He had just been detailed in
command of the Fifty-sixth Infantry Brigade at Mount Balinville in the
Argonne Drive, and was wounded, dying October 7, 1918. He has been promoted
to brigadier-general on the basis of a citation from Big.-Gen. H.A. Smith,
commanding the army schools. General Smith's citation read as follows: "I
recommend that Col. Edward Sigerfoos, infantry, be promoted to be
brigadier-general. Colonel Sigerfoos is a graduate of Ohio State
University, is a polished and cultured man, and an officer of character and
decision. He took charge of the Army School of the Line last May, and has
made a great success of this school, which up to that time had been a
failure. I believe that Colonel Sigerfoos merits this promotion."
        One of his classmates at the university wrote of him: "There was
little of the traditional army officer about him and much that belongs to
the newer type. He consistently maintained and strengthened the Christian
character which he possessed in youth. I never heard him use a word
unfitted for the presence of wife or daughter. He was an abstainer, even of
tobacco; and in his room at Langres I saw three things in prominent places:
A picture of wife, daughter and son, the Bible and an American flag. To
them he gave full devotion and from them he received the inspiration of a
life that was strong, true and useful."
        General Sigerfoos was survived by his wife and two children. Grace
and Edward. The daughter Grace, attended the University of Minnesota for a
time, but graduated from the University of Michigan class of 1923. After
General Sigerfoos went to France his wife returned to her old home in Ohio,
at Greenville, to live with her parents, but at present lives in Ann Arbor,
Michigan.


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