Ralph Van Deman

Ralph Henry Van Deman
Born	1865 Delaware, Ohio
Died	1952 (aged 86–87) San Diego, California
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1891 – 1929
Rank	Major General
Commands held	Military Intelligence Section 31st Infantry Regiment 6th Infantry Brigade 3rd Infantry Division
Battles/wars	Spanish–American War Philippine–American War World War I
Awards	Legion of Merit
Other work	Consultant to War Department

Ralph Henry Van Deman (1865–1952) was a United States Army officer, sometimes called "The Father of American Military Intelligence." General Van Deman is in the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.

Van Deman was born in Delaware, Ohio, and graduated from Harvard in 1888. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant of infantry in 1891 after attending law school, and enrolling in medical school. He received his medical degree from the Miami University Medical School in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1893.

Van Deman then entered the Army as a surgeon, before attending the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth in early 1895. There he met Arthur L. Wagner who became head of the War Department's Military Information Division in 1896. In June 1897 Van Deman followed Wagner to Washington to work for MID.

During the Spanish–American War Van Deman collected information on the military capabilities of Spain in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines and had charge of the White House war map. At the end of hostilities he went to Cuba and Puerto Rico to collect cartographic data. He was reassigned to the Philippines in April 1899 as aide to Brigadier-General Robert Patterson Hughes. After two years he was promoted to Captain and was moved to the Bureau of Insurgent Records in Manila, which he helped transform into the Philippine Military Information Division. He organized a counter-intelligence group using locally recruited agents. (See Philippine–American War).

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