Major, U.S. Army
Centurion, 1913–1936
Born 12 May 1854 in New York (Manhattan), New York
Died 29 February 1936 in Washington, District of Columbia
Buried Arlington National Cemetery
, Arlington, Virginia
Proposed by J. Howard Van Amringe and William Conant Church
Elected 1 March 1913 at age fifty-eight
Archivist’s Note: Son of John Bigelow; brother of Poultney Bigelow; brother-in-law of Charles Edward Tracy; father-in-law of Gordon Stevenson
Century Memorial
John Bigelow’s quiet and gentle personality did not suggest the strong individuality of his father [John Bigelow], the sixth president of the Century; nor did it suggest to his neighbors at the Century’s lunch-table a military career. Nevertheless, during more than a quarter of a century Bigelow served in the regular army, and, for the rest of his life, study of celebrated military campaigns absorbed his interest. Colonel Bigelow had fought the Indians in the Seventies and Eighties. As captain in the Spanish War, he led his company in the engagement always known as San Juan hill, was severely wounded and was cited in general orders for gallantry in action. Even in the World War, although then in his seventieth year, he volunteered and was assigned to service with the Chief of Staff at Washington. Colonel Bigelow’s published writings on the Cuban campaign, on the crucial battles of the Franco-Prussian War, and on our own Battle of Chancellorsville, were distinguished by the greatest thoroughness and knowledge of strategy.
Alexander Dana Noyes
1937 Century Association Yearbook