General Peyton Conway March (December 27, 1864April 13, 1955) was a senior officer of the United States Army. He served in the Philippines, on the Mexican border, and World War I. March was the ninth Chief of Staff from 1918 to 1921, accomplishing centralized control over supply, the creation of the Air Service, Tank Corps, and Chemical Warfare Service. Early life and education March was born on December 27, 1864, in Easton, Pennsylvania, to Francis Andrew and Mildred ( Conway) March. His father was a college professor, and is regarded as the principal founder of modern comparative linguistics in Old English. His mother descended from Thomas Stone, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and was Moncure D. Conway's sister. March attended Lafayette College, where his father occupied the first chair of English language and comparative philology in the United States. While at Lafayette College, March was a member of the Rho chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon. After graduating with honors in 1884, he was appointed to West Point and graduated in 1888, ranked 10th in a class of 44. Among his classmates there were several men who would, like March himself, eventually attain the rank of general officer, such as James W. McAndrew, William M. Morrow, William Robert Dashiell, Robert Lee Howze, Peter Charles Harris, Eli Alva Helmick, Charles Hedges McKinstry, Henry Jervey Jr., William Voorhees Judson, John Louis Hayden, Edward Anderson, William H. Hart, Charles Aloysius Hedekin and William S. Peirce. Early career After his initial assignment to the 3rd Artillery, March was assigned to the 5th Artillery as a 1st lieutenant in 1894. He was sent to the Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Virginia in September 1896 and graduated in April 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish–American War. As he was not immediately assigned, he watched as his classmates went off to various commands, and began fearing he would not see combat. In early May, that changed when he was offered to lead what later became known as the Astor Battery, named so because it was personally financed by John Jacob Astor IV. He organized, equipped and subsequently commanded the battery when it was sent to the Philippines during the Spanish–American War. Historian Bruce Campbell Adamson has written about Henry Bidwell Ely (Adamson's great grandfather) who was placed in charge of The Astor Battery by John Jacob Astor IV, to give Peyton March whatever he needed.