Born in 1858 in the sedate college town of Davidson, North Carolina, as a young boy McIver was influenced by the singular drama of the Civil War. Following training at West Point and long service on the Western Frontier, McIver saw his first major action in Cuba with the Spanish-American War. During America's expansionary fever in the late nineteenth century, he served in various frontier posts, including the Alaska Territory during the great gold rush. While commandant of Alcatraz Prison he found himself playing a crucial role in the relief effort after the devastating San Francisco fire and earthquake of 1906.
As a colonel assigned to the Militia Bureau at the War Department in Washington, D.C., McIver's critical observations of the bureau's efforts to mobilize the militia during the Pancho Villa campaign of 1916 led to reforms that greatly improved the army's mobilization during World War I. And during that war, McIver was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
More than just an eyewitness to U.S. history, McIver was a participant, and his reflections on a life of duty to his country offer tremendous insight into almost a century of dramatic change in America and into the life of a dedicated military man.