Cornelius Wendell Wickersham


Cornelius Wendell Wickersham was a United States army officer, a lawyer and an award-winning author of philatelic literature.

Early life

Cornelius Wendell Wickersham was born on June 25, 1885 in Greenwich, Connecticut. His parents were George W. Wickersham, an American lawyer and future United States Attorney General, and Mildred Wickersham.
In 1906 Wickersham graduated from Harvard University. In 1909 he obtained his professional degree from Harvard Law School. In 1914 he joined the Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft law firm in New York City, in which his father was a partner.
He practiced law for a sixty-year career at Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft in New York where his father worked. He ended a senior partner in that firm.

Military career

Wickersham enlisted in 1915 in the New York Cavalry; he subsequently served with the 12th New York Infantry in the Mexican Border Campaign between 1916 and 1918, during the Mexican Civil War.
During World War I, Wickersham was sent to the Europe with IV Corps as Acting Assistant Chief of Staff. He distinguished himself during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, when he participated in the preparation and execution of the IV Corps attack. For this service, Major Wickersham was awarded with the Army Distinguished Service Medal.
In the inter-war era, Wickersham commanded 306th Infantry Regiment and the 153rd Infantry Brigade, units of the 77th Division in the Organized Reserve.
During World War II, in 1942, he became the first commandant and director of the School of Military Government, created in the University of Virginia.
Promoted to Brigadier general, he was deputy to Lieutenant General Arthur Edward Grassett, chief of European Allied Contact Section in the SHAEF staff of General Dwight Eisenhower.
After the war, he was appointed an assistant to Lieutenant General Lucius D. Clay, Deputy Military-Governor of the American Zone of Occupation Germany.
Wickersham was the first commander of the 42nd Infantry Division when it was reorganized as a National Guard formation following World War II. He was promoted to major general in the National Guard.
When he retired from the military in 1948, Wickersham was promoted to lieutenant general on the New York National Guard's retired list.

Philately

Thanks to his collection of postage stamps of Venezuela, he published The Early Stamps of Venezuela in 1956. He wrote articles about other countries at well in philatelic publications.
He was awarded the Lichtenstein Medal, which is given to a living individual for outstanding service to philately, by the Collectors Club of New York in 1959.
Governor of the Collectors Club, he was its President in 1956. He presided the Jury of the 1956 New York City international exhibition.
Brigadier General Cornelius W. Wickersham died on January 31, 1968, aged 82 in Mineola, New York.

Honors and awards

For his military services:


For his work in the field of philately, Wickersham was provided the following award: