Bandholtz, Harry Hill, 1864-1925

Career army officer, brigadier general and chief of the Philippine Constabulary, 1907-1913.

Army officer from Constantine, Michigan, who served with the United States forces during the occupation of the Philippines following the Spanish-American War, later Brigadier General and chief of the Philippine Constabulary, 1907-1913. Bandholtz also served during World War I and as a member of the Inter-allied Military Mission to Hungary, 1919-1920.

Bandholtz was a brigadier general who was the American representative on the Interallied Mission to Hungary; American Military representative to Hungary.

Harry Hill Bandholtz, a lifelong military man, was born in Constantine, Michigan on December 18, 1864. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1890, and then for the next thirty-three years he served his country in more than a dozen different assignments and posts. Bandholtz early demonstrated his competence as an officer with leadership abilities, and he was continuously rewarded with a steady series of promotions to different challenging assignments. He was a front-line officer, a teacher of the military arts, an administrator within the military hierarchy, and a skilled and respected diplomat.

Following some early assignments, Bandholtz in 1896 was selected to teach military science and tactics at Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University). He was a teacher for two years when, with the outbreak of war with Spain in 1898, he returned to active duty. In Cuba he served in the Santiago campaign with the 7th U.S. Infantry, receiving a Silver Star citation for his participation. Between 1898 and 1900, he held different positions in the United States and Cuba. In July 1900, he left Cuba for the Philippine Islands where he served for the next thirteen years. Bandholtz' first responsibility was to help establish peace in the Islands which was then being disturbed by various local insurgent armies, notably in Central Luzon and on the Island of Marinduque and in Tayabas Province.

Bandholtz quickly earned the respect of the Philippine people. In 1902, he was elected governor of Tayabas Province, the only regular army officer to be elected to so high a position. In 1903, he was appointed assistant chief of Philippine Constabulary with the temporary rank of colonel and placed in command of the District of Southern Luzon. Bandholtz was an effective commander who arranged for the unconditional surrender of insurgent general Simeon Ola and his forces in Albay. In 1905, he was transferred to the District of Central Luzon where he similarly apprehended Philippine bandit leaders. In 1907, he was appointed chief of Philippine Constabulary with the temporary rank of brigadier general. He held this position until relieved on September 1, 1913.

Upon returning to the United States, Bandholtz was put in command of Fort Porter at Buffalo, New York (1914-1915) and a battalion of the 30th Infantry at Plattsburg Barracks, N.Y. (1915-1916). With this command, he served on the Mexican border for six months in 1916. During World War I, Bandholtz served on the Western Front, receiving promotion to brigadier general with command of the 58th Infantry Brigade of the 29th Division. In September 1918, General Pershing appointed Bandholtz to be provost marshal general of the American Expeditionary Forces where his duties included reorganizing the military police corps and managing the guarding of German prisoners of war.

From August 1919 to February 1920, Bandholtz served as American representative on the Interallied Military Mission sent to Hungary by the Supreme Council to control the unauthorized Rumanian occupation of that country. Bandholtz later served as the first United States Commissioner to Hungary. He returned to the United States in 1920, receiving promotion to permanent brigadier general with command of the 13th Infantry Brigade at Camps Funston and Meade. In August 1921, Bandholtz was assigned the duty of organizing and commanding the newly authorized District of Washington. Shortly thereafter, he was sent to West Virginia when the state authorities requested federal aid in maintaining the peace during a strike of coal miners. Bandholtz retired from military service in 1923 with the rank of major general. He died in his hometown of Constantine, May 7, 1925.