John B. Bellinger
Brigadier General, U.S. Army

John B. Bellinger was born on 13 April 1862 in Charleston, SC, and his early education was in private schools in that city.

Bellinger enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy in 1880; he graduated in 1884 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. He began his career in a Calvary regiment with duty in Wyoming, Kansas and Indian Territory, later admitted as Oklahoma.

He returned to West Point in 1888, where he became an instructor and continued that duty until 1892 when he enrolled in law school. After two years of study he passed the bar in 1894 and returned to West Point where he became the Quartermaster.

During the Spanish-American War, he cleared the congestion at railroad terminals from Tampa, FL, to Columbia, SC, and moved the Fifth Corps from Tampa to Port Tampa for embarkation to Cuba. He planned and executed the return of troops, due to fear of yellow fever from Cuba and Puerto Rico, through the quarantine stations in Florida and Georgia in 1899.

He served as Depot Quartermaster and General Superintendent of the Army Transport Service at San Francisco from 1906-09. For the next two years, he was in charge of preparing plans, constructing buildings, water and sewerage systems, organizing and equipping shops and the railroad system, and operating them for the building of Fort Mills on Corregidor Island in Manila, Philippines.

Bellinger originated and executed supplying the Siberian Allied Expeditionary Forces at Vladivostok in World War I, as well as for those in the Orient. He was also responsible for shipping troops home on Army transports.

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his services as Quartermaster, Philippine Department;, a position of great responsibility. He administered the services of transportation and supplying the troops serving in the Philippines and China, in a markedly successful manner.

Death and Burial

Brigadier General John B. Bellinger died on 22 September 1931 in Washington, DC. He is buried at the U.S. Military Academy Post Cemetery in West Point, NY.