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Library » Subject Guides » Conner, Fox


COLLECTIONS

Conner, Fox

Fox Conner was born Nov. 2, 1874, at Slate Springs, MS. He got his unusual first name from his mother, Nancy Fox. (It’s a tradition in the South to name a son with his mother’s maiden name.) He attended and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1898 and was commissioned as an artillery officer. He served with the occupation force in Cuba after the Spanish-American War.

Conner served at Washington Barracks in Washington, D.C., and Fort Hamilton, NY, before attending Army Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS, in 1905. After graduating from the Army War College in 1911, Conner was attached to the French artillery in 1911-12. He was a major attached to the Inspector General’s office when the United States entered World War I.

In June 1917, Conner was selected by Gen. John Pershing to work in the operations section of the American Expeditionary Force, where one of his subordinates was Major George C. Marshall. At the end of the war, Conner helped write the official history of World War I.

In 1920, a House subcommittee investigated the large number of casualties experienced between the signing of the Armistice, and its taking effect. Conner was criticized for not stopping a scheduled attack, but the committee held no one person accountable.

Conner was introduced to Capt. Dwight Eisenhower at a Sunday dinner at the George Patton’s in 1920. Two years later, Conner requested Eisenhower join his staff in Panama, where he mentored Eisenhower for the next three years.

Conner had three rules of war:

Never fight unless necessary

Never fight alone

Never fight for long

As a major general, Conner was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army. He was passed over for Chief of Staff in 1930 in favor of Douglas MacArthur. After two strokes, Conner retired in 1938. He died at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., in 1951.

To find other items that the Marshall Foundation has on Fox Conner, search “Fox Conner” in the library catalog: https://www.marshallfoundation.org/library/results/

Digitized items in the George C. Marshall archives:

1-147 Memorandum for the Records of G-3 Section, November 8, 1918
1-155 Memorandum for the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, February 10, 1919
1-293 To General John J. Pershing, October 24, 1930
1-348 To Major General Fox Conner, April 25, 1934
1-349 To Major General Fox Conner, May 12, 1934
1-463 To Lieutenant Colonel Walton H. Walker, December 21, 1937
1-467 To Major General Fox Conner, January 7, 1938
1-510 To Major General Fox Conner, September 9, 1938
5-233 To General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, September 20, 1945
Dwight D. Eisenhower Interview Details June 28, 1962
Frederick Butler Interview Details November 3, 1960
GCM00009 General Pershing, Col. Marshall, Brig. Gen. and Mrs. Fox Conner at “Camp Good Enough” Brandreth, NY
GCM00010 Bandreth Lake
GCM00016 Chang Tso-lin & General Fox Connor
GCM00018 General Fox Conner placing a wreath in the American compound in honor of Memorial Day
GCM00128 Gen. Pershing and his staff on board the SS Leviathan
GCM00132 Pershing & aides on Leviathan in Harbor
GCM01135 Marshall Foch bids farewell to Americans
GCM01734 General Fox Conner, Colonel Naylor, Captain Paul Steele, and George C. Marshall
GCM03348 Conference of War Dept. officers and AEF staff

Collection Formats:

War Department Chiefs and Executives, October 19,
Collection: F. Gorham Brigham Collection

Documents


Organization Chart Offices of the Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff & Secretary, General Staff, September 15,
Collection: F. Gorham Brigham Collection

Documents


Organization Chart Offices of the Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff & Secretariat, General Staff, March 1,
Collection: F. Gorham Brigham Collection

Documents


Statistics Branch War Department General Staff organization chart
Collection: F. Gorham Brigham Collection

Documents


Secretariat, War Department General Staff, June 7,
Call Number: GCM 7890 Collection: F. Gorham Brigham Collection, George C. Marshall Photographs

Photographs


Handshake after award from Gen. George C. Marshall, 1945
Collection: F. Gorham Brigham Collection

Photographs


Legion of Merit awarded by Gen. George C. Marshall, 1945
Collection: F. Gorham Brigham Collection

Photographs

Legion of Merit awarded by Gen. George C. Marshall


Newspaper clipping of Pershing attending Brown-Marshall Wedding, October 12,
Collection: George Catlett Marshall and Katherine Tupper Marshall Collection

Notice of Marshall-Brown wedding


Invitation list to wedding of Katherine T. Brown and Lt. Col. George C. Marshall, 1930
Collection: George Catlett Marshall and Katherine Tupper Marshall Collection

Documents

Inivtation list to the wedding of Katherine T. Brown and Lt. Col. George C. Marshall


Marshall Day at Virginia Military Institute, May 15,
Author: Virginia Military Institute
Collection: George C. Marshall Collection

Documents

Marshall Day Virginia Military Institute


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Please contact the Director of Library and Archives, Melissa Davis, at 540-463-7103 ext 122 or send an email.

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