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James Franklin Bell (January 9, 1856 – January 8, 1919) was Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1906 to 1910. Bell was a major-general in the Regular United States Army, commanding the Department of the East, with headquarters at Governors Island, New York at the time of his death in 1919. He entered West Point in 1874, and graduated 38th in a class of 43 in 1878, with a commission as second lieutenant of 9th Cavalry Regiment, a black unit. ==Early life== Bell was born to John Wilson and Sarah Margaret Venable (Allen) Bell in Shelbyville, Kentucky. His mother died when he was young. Thereafter, two most important women in his life were the black woman who looked after him as a child and the white woman who became his step mother.〔Ltr, Maj Gen J. Franklin Bell to Maj Gen Hugh L. Scott, September 30, 1915, Hugh L. Scott Mss., Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.〕 During the Civil War, Shelby County was split between Union and Confederate factions. The extended Bell family was strongly in favor of the secession. After the firing on Fort Sumter, John Wilson Bell and his brothers drew lots to determine who would remain at home to look after their parents and who would join the Southern armies. John lost and remained at home. Young James Franklin, "Frank" as he was known to family and friends, thus grew up in a milieu in which slavery was not only accepted and practiced but strongly defended. He attended the public schools in Shelbyville. Until he was sixteen, he also worked on his father's farm six days a week with breaks only for school and the Sabbath. In the process, he developed a strong physical constitution that stood him in good stead for the remainder of his life. In 1872 he began working as a clerk in a general store owned by one of his uncles. His chief recreations were baseball and horse racing. One neighbor later remembered Frank and a friend tearing down country lanes on horseback "as if the Devil" was after them.〔''Shelby News'', May 10, 1906; E. A. Garlington, "James Franklin Bell," ''Fiftieth Annual Report of Association of Graduates, United States Military Academy'' (Saginaw, Mich., 1919), pp. 162-63.〕 Working in a general store did not appeal to such a high spirited young person, and in 1874 he secured appointment to West Point. During his four years at the Military Academy, he excelled in art, horsemanship, demerits, and making friends. He graduated 38th in a class of 43. The War Department assigned him to the 9th Cavalry, one of the black units formed after the Civil War. Then in Kentucky on home leave, Bell attempted to resign his commission. This, in fact, was illegal, but someone at the War Department understood the attitudes that were behind this action and assigned him to the all-white 7th Cavalry. He joined the unit at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory, on October 1, 1878.〔Ltr, 2d Lt J. Franklin Bell to The Adjutant General, August 9, 1878, Adjutant General Correspondence, 1890-1917, 3773 Appointment, Commission, Promotion (ACP) 78 filed with 937 ACP 79, Record Group (RG) 94, National Archives and Records Service (NARA), Washington, D.C.; Ltr, 2d Lt J. Franklin Bell to Col E. F. Townsend, November 19, 1890, 6842 ACP 90 filed with 937 ACP 79, RG 94, NARA.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「J. Franklin Bell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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