Samson L. Faison

Samson L. Faison was born in Faison, Duplin County, North Carolina on November 29, 1860.

He entered the US Military Academy on September 1, 1878. In 1879 he was turned back to
repeat his first year again, and graduated number 41 out of a class of 52, on June 13, 1883.
He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Infantry. On February 24, 1891 he was promoted
to 1st Lieutenant in the 13th Infantry, and transferred back to the 1st Infantry on July 20 of that year.
On July 1, 1898 he was promoted to Captain. He was assigned to the 13th Infantry on January 1, 1899,
and was the Quartermaster of that regiment from October 29, 1905 to June 29, 1906.

On June 30, 1906 Faison was promoted to Major of the 24th Infantry. On September 27, 1911 he was
promoted to Lt. Colonel of Infantry. That same year he graduated from the Army War College.
He was assigned to the 5th Infantry on April 17, 1912.

He received a promotion to Colonel of Infantry on October 2, 1915 and was assigned to the 25th Infantry
On December 8 of that year. He was assigned to command the 42nd Infantry on June 22, 1917.

On August 5, 1917, Faison was promoted to Brigadier General of the National Army, a position which he accepted
on August 30, 1917. He temporarily commanded the 30th Division, and then commanded the 60th Brigade
of that Division in France during World War I. On July 15, 1919, Faison was honorably discharged from the
National Army, reverted back to his permanent rank of Colonel and was assigned to command the 43rd Infantry.

He was unassigned on March 1, 1921, until he became Commander of the 22nd Infantry on July 5, 1921.

On June 5, 1922 Faison was promoted to Brigadier General, a position which he accepted on June 14.
He retired from the Army on December 1, 1922, with a disability in the line of duty.

The date Faison relinquished command of the 22nd Infantry is not known. It is most likely the date on which
he formally accepted the position of Brigadier General, June 14, 1922.

The following graphic illustrates Faison's service from his promotion to Major on June 30, 1906
through the end of World War I.

Newspaper article announcing the promotion
of Samson L. Faison to Brigadier General.

Six months later Faison would retire
from the Army.

The citation for the Distinguished Service Medal presented to Samson L. Faison

Historical Marker for Samson L. Faison on US 117 (East Center Street)
in the city of Faison, North Carolina. Erected in 1950.

Samson Lane Faison, brigadier general in the U. S. Army, was born November 29, 1860, in Faison. He was educated
in private schools in the area, including Faison Academy. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy at
West Point and graduated in June 1883 as a second lieutenant. Faison was assigned to the First Infantry, serving under
General George Crook in Arizona against the Indians. He was present at the council between Crook and Geronimo,
leader of the Chiricahua Apache, in Mexico in March 1886.

Faison was promoted to first lieutenant in 1891 and enrolled in the Army’s Torpedo School. He became a recruiter
for a time and later became a senior instructor in the Infantry Tactics Department at West Point. Promoted to captain in 1898,
Faison resigned from West Point the following year to fight in the Philippines. While there he served as adjutant general
to several units and as judge advocate of military commissions and judge of the provost court. When he returned to the
United States in 1903, Faison was given command of Fort Mason in California and later was transferred to the
quartermaster general’s office in Washington, D. C. In 1906 he was promoted to major and returned to the Philippines,
where he commanded Camp Downs. Two years later he returned again to the States and in 1910 was appointed to study
at the Army War College. After graduation he stayed on as an instructor and administrator.

Progressively moving up in the Army ranks, Faison spent time in Panama and Hawaii before the start of World War I.
On August 30, 1917, he was promoted to brigadier general of the National Army (a wartime promotion) over the
Sixtieth Infantry Brigade of the Thirtieth ("Old Hickory”) Division. During the war, his division served in Belgium and France,
serving with distinction at the Hindenburg Line at Bellecourt, France. There Faison’s troops were the first Americans
to break through the line, producing a victory for the Allied forces. After the war, Faison returned to his rank of colonel.
He was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army on June 14, 1922. He retired less than six months later,
after having served in the Army for over forty years. Faison died at his home in Baltimore in 1940
and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

North Carolina Department of Cultural Resource

As a Lieutenant in the 1st Infantry, Samson L. Faison accompanied General George Crook's expedition
into Mexico to persuade Geronimo to surrender in 1886. In the photo above, Samson is standing, rear row,
eleventh from the left, directly behind General Crook.

The meeting with Geronimo, March 25, 1886 at Canýon de los Embudos, in Sonora, Mexico.
General George Crook is second from the right, in the white hat.
2nd Lieutenant Samson Faison is in the foreground, left.