Conrad S. Babcock was born on February 26, 1876 in Stonington, Connecticut to Blandina Stanton and Brigadier General John Breckinridge Babcock, a Civil War veteran who served with the 5th Cavalry during the American Indian Wars. Conrad S. Babcock was appointed to the United States Military Academy (West Point) in 1894. After graduating from West Point in 1898, he served the first of two terms in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. In 1901 he returned to the United States where he wedded Marion Eeles of San Francisco. They had two sons, Conrad Stanton, Jr. and Charles Parmelee Stanton, both of whom went on to have distinguished military careers. While in the United States, Babcock was stationed at numerous bases around the country, providing relief duty in San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and patrolling the borderlands of Yuma, Arizona during the Mexican Revolution. In 1917, Babcock was sent to France, where he led three different infantry regiments in battle during the final months of World War I. Over the course of his career, Conrad S. Babcock earned two Silver Star citations and a Distinguished Service Medal. Upon his retirement in 1937, Babcock began writing about his military service. His memoirs describe a rapidly growing army undergoing a dramatic shift in wartime tactics and weaponry. An edited version of his writings, Reminiscences of Conrad S. Babcock: The Old U.S. Army and the New, 1898-1918, was published in 2012. Though he retired as a Colonel in 1937, Babcock was advanced to Brigadier General on the retired list in 1940. He died in 1950 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Bibliography

Babcock, Conrad S., and Robert H. Ferrell. Reminiscences of Conrad S. Babcock: The Old U.S. Army and the New, 1898-1918. Columbia, Mo: University of Missouri Press, 2013. Print.

Cliford, J. Garry. "Reminiscences of Conrad S. Babcock: The Old U.S. Army and the New 1898-1918." Journal of Military History 77.1 (2013): 352-353. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. Nov. 23, 2015.

Babcock, Conrad Stanton, Jr. “Conrad S. Babcock 1898.” West Point Memorial Articles. Web. Nov. 23, 2015.

Santa Clara University was founded in 1851 by the Society of Jesus as Santa Clara College and is California’s oldest operating institution of higher learning. It was established on the grounds of Mission Santa Clara de Asìs, the eighth of the original 21 California missions. The college originally operated as a preparatory school and did not offer courses of collegiate rank until 1853. The institution became known as the University of Santa Clara in 1912, when the schools of engineering and law were added. For 110 years, Santa Clara University was an all-male school. In 1961, women were accepted as undergraduates and Santa Clara University became the first coeducational Catholic university in California. The number of students and faculty tripled over the next decade and the university began the largest building program in school history with eight residence halls, a student union, and an athletic stadium. In the early 1970s, the Board of Trustees voted to limit the size of the undergraduate population, an action that was intended to preserve the character and ensure the quality of the university for generations to come. In 1985, the university adopted Santa Clara University as its official name.

Bibliography

Santa Clara University. “About SCU – History.” www.scu.edu/about/history.cfm (Accessed Nov. 23, 2010)

McKevitt, Gerald, S.J. The University of Santa Clara: A History, 1851-1977. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1979.