| abstract
| - Daniel MacArthur (b. 1884) was a United States Army general who served in both the Great War and the Second Great War. While an audacious and daring leader, MacArthur was also arrogant and narcissistic, traits that alternately hindered and helped him throughout his military career. During the Great War, MacArthur became the youngest division commander in the history of the US Army and a newspaper hero. This achievement was overshadowed somewhat by his serving the flamboyant commander of First Army, George Armstrong Custer, also a publicity-conscious personality who ensured that MacArthur did not win any major victories. MacArthur was eclipsed still further when Lieutenant-Colonel Irving Morrell succeeded in using innovative tactics and barrels to break the Confederate lines in early 1917. After the Great War MacArthur became unpopular in the United States General Staff and his career began to slow. He was appointed military commander in Houston, the state the U.S. created from territory taken from Confederate Texas during the Great War. Despite his best efforts, MacArthur never entirely stopped the flow of Freedom Party men and weapons from Texas, but open rioting and revolt was ruthlessly crushed wherever it occurred. He was reassigned after the plebiscite called for by the Richmond Agreement in 1941 returned Houston to the CSA as part of Texas. Although his actions hadn't particularly solved the Houston problem, MacArthur was promoted to Major General. Upon the outbreak of the Second Great War, MacArthur was given command of the US troops attacking Northern Virginia with the goal of taking the Confederate capital of Richmond. MacArthur was not selected for his skills, however, but as a sop to Congress' Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. That may have had something to do with the slowness of the US Army to undertake its offensive, and the heavy autumn rainfall did not help either. Whatever the reason for the delays, the Confederate forces opposite him had adequate preparation time for the offensive. The CS Army counterattack caught him by surprise and pushed his troops back after they had advanced towards the Rapidan River. Despite this, his troops began to go forward again, but at a slower pace. Once his troops did reach the Rapidan River, he insisted on attacking the city of Fredericksburg. Both of the Battles of Fredericksburg were failures and his drive to Richmond was postponed as the US Army began to move troops west to deal with Operation Coalscuttle. However, when MacArthur planned with Admiral William Halsey to invade Virginia's east coast, General Abner Dowling went behind his superior's back and notified the General Staff, derailing the plan. In early 1944, with the Confederate war effort collapsing on nearly every front, the General Staff again authorized MacArthur to drive on Richmond. Once MacArthur crossed the Rapidan, Richmond fell in short order.
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