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History knows Douglas MacArthur. It also knows his father Arthur MacArthur. Both men
earned the Medal of Honor during their long and distinguished military careers.
But for most, knowledge of the MacArthurs stops with those two men. There are of
course those who remember first-hand General MacArthur’s roles in World War II,
the occupation of Japan, and the Korean War; they may remember the General’s
wife Jean and their son, Arthur. But history – popular history – records little
about the forbears of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.
Generations: The MacArthur Family will examine
the roots of the family of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, beginning with
the MacArthur clan in 14th Century Scotland – the time of
Robert the Bruce – and continuing the family line to the present. Generations
will open in early November in the special exhibit galleries in the MacArthur
Memorial Theatre.
This exhibit will examine not only those ancestors bearing the "MacArthur
name," but all aspects of the genealogical tree which form the MacArthur family,
including the Hardy family of Norfolk, Virginia, of which the General’s mother,
Mary Hardy was a part, and the Belchers, a leading family in Massachusetts into
which Gen. MacArthur’s grandfather, Judge Arthur MacArthur, married. In
addition, the General’s wife, Jean Faircloth, was from a prominent Southern
family from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Thus the MacArthur family has ancestors
which fought on both sides during the Civil War.
Also, based on recent information received from several
historians at the Carter House Museum, in Franklin, Tennessee, the identity of
the Confederate officer who wounded Arthur MacArthur at the Battle of Franklin,
November 30, 1864, will be revealed. In addition, the myths and truths will be
separated regarding the death of Arthur MacArthur at the 50th
reunion of the 24th Wisconsin Infantry.
Among the notable artifacts to be included in this exhibit
are: a MacArthur clan tartan which was given to Gen. MacArthur during the
Occupation of Japan by Hervey Rhodes of the British House of Commons; a silver
cigarette case belonging to Gen. MacArthur’s brother, Arthur, which was only
recently acquired by the MacArthur Memorial; a hand-painted map of Scotland
which was given to Gen. MacArthur by the artist, Edith Tunnell in 1946; and the
door knocker from the Faircloth family homestead in Murfreesboro, TN.
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