Jonathan M. Wainwright (general) - Early Life and Training

Early Life and Training

Wainwright was born at Fort Walla Walla, an army post now in Walla Walla, Washington, and was the son of Robert Powell Page Wainwright, a U.S. Army officer who had served as a 2nd Lt in the US 1st Cavalry in 1875, commanded a squadron at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War, and in 1902 was killed in action in the Philippines. His grandfather was Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright II. He graduated from Highland Park High School in 1901 and from West Point, in 1906. He served as First Captain of the Corps of Cadets. Wainwright was commissioned in the cavalry. He served with the U.S. 1st Cavalry Regiment in Texas from 1906–08 and in the Philippines from 1908–10, where he saw combat on Jolo, during the Moro Rebellion. Wainwright graduated from the Mounted Service School, Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1916 and was promoted to Captain. By 1917 he was on the staff of the first officer training camp at Plattsburgh, New York.