Charles White Whittlesey

Charles White Whittlesey was an American Medal of Honor recipient who led the Lost Battalion in the Argonne Forest during the final stages of World War I.

Whittlesey was born in Florence, Wisconsin, but moved with his family in 1894 to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he graduated from Pittsfield High School class of 1901. He enrolled at Williams College, where he was a member of St. Anthony Hall, graduating in 1905. He was voted the third brightest man in his class, and because of his aristocratic manner was nicknamed Count. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1908. Soon after graduating he formed a law partnership with his Williams classmate J. Bayard Pruyn in New York City. Influenced by his friend and roommate at Williams, Max Eastman, Whittlesey spent several years as a member of the American Socialist Party before resigning his membership in disgust over what he viewed as the movements increasing extremism.

Source: Wikipedia