Pecos Bill: A Military Biography of William R. Shafter

by Paul H. Carlson

General William R. Shafter was no gallant hero. He drank, gambled, swore, got into fights with his men. They nicknamed him for the river that was one of his “Pecos Bill.” He was accused of trying to start a war with Mexico and became involved in an embezzlement case. Associated with military blunders during the Spanish-American War, he has often been pictured as a fat, incompetent buffoon.

But Shafter, if coarse and abrasive, was a man who got results. A winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, he served in the Army for forty years, from the Civil War to the Spanish-American War, in which he commanded all Army operations. In Texas, he commanded one of the army’s first all-black regiments. He helped restore peace at Pine Ridge after the Wounded Knee massacre, and he carried out in Cuba one of the swiftest and most successful campaigns in the history of American warfare.

In this carefully researched and very readable study, Paul Carlson gives insight into the career and life of one of history’s enduring enigmas.

225 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1989

About the author

Dr. Paul Howard Carlson is a historian, former professor, and former assistant chairman of the Department of History at Texas Tech University. He was also editor of the West Texas Historical Association Year Book (now West Texas Historical Review) for a number of years.

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Spanish American War if remembered is for the overwhelming naval victories of Admirals Dewey
and Sampson and the charge of the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill. In charge of the army in the
Cuban theater was a portly 300 pound man named William R. Shafter.

Shafter was Michigan born in 1835 and as a youth was something of a hellraiser. At 26 he joined the
army with the 7th Michigan and saw action at Ball's Bluff and Fair Oaks being wounded there but
staying in the fight. Said action earned him a Congressional Medal of Honor years later.

After the war he stayed in the army and was in charge of a regiment of black troops, popularly called
Buffalo soldiers. He was mostly on the Texas frontier in action against Comanches, Cheyenne,
Kickapoo and Kiowa tribes. Later on he was in Arizona and saw action against the Apache led by
Vittorio. Shafter always stood up for his troops and allowed no one to mistreat them on racial
grounds. And on the frontier he was again a hellraiser.

At the time of the beginning of the Spanish-American War Shafter was given command of the land
forces in Cuba. Horribly bungled logistics from the War Department hampered Shafter in his
operations in the south as sought to capture Santiago on the southern portion of the island. By
sheer grit and determination Americans and Cuban rebels won the battles of San Juan Hill and El
Caney.

The naval victory where the Spanish fleet was annihilated in Havana harbor in the north was what
really ended the war as the Spaniards saw no chance for reinforcements. Just in time because
malaria and yellow fever was starting to decimate American ranks.

Shafter commanded from the rear and sadly this has sullied his reputation. He was always a big
hefty guy, but that never hampered him before in leading troops. But the tropical climate was too much for 300 body to handle,

After the war Shafter retired from the army and died in 1906.

William R. Shafter is a forgotten figure as a military leader in America and Professor Paul Carlson's
book brings a neglected figure to light.