George Oscar Cress

George Oscar Cress (18 September 1862 – 8 May 1954) was a United States military officer. He mostly served in various departmental and staff capacities and also taught as a professor of Military Science and Tactics.

Early life and education
Cress was born on 18 September 1862 in Warsaw, Illinois to George and Mary Cress. In 1884, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was a classmate of generals DeRosey C. Cabell and William L. Sibert, as well as Isaac Newton Lewis, the inventor of the Lewis gun. Later in 1911, he graduated from the Army War College.

Military career
After graduating from the USMA, Cress was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry and from 1884-1889 served on the U.S. frontier. After his frontier duty, Cress was a professor of Military Science and Tactics at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois from 1889-1893. In 1891, he was transferred to the 4th Cavalry and, after his tenure as professor, was stationed at Fort Walla Walla in Washington state until 1897. Cress was then sent to Yellowstone National Park from 1897-1898, where he served in various commanding duties including as Quartermaster and Commissary and later as Acting Superintendent; after leaving Yellowstone, Cress was promoted to Captain in 1899.

Cress later served with the cavalry in the Philippine-American War from 1899-1900 under the ill-fated General Henry Lawton. After the Philippines, Cress acted as Constructing Quartermaster at the Cavalry School in Fort Riley, Kansas. He then returned to teaching Military Science and Tactics, this time at the Michigan Military Academy in Orchard Lake from 1904-1908. Cress later participated in the Mexican Punitive Expedition as a member of General John J. Pershing's staff. He was also part of the Inspector General's Department from 1916 until in 1918, when the U.S. entered World War I. Cress then organized the 49th Field Artillery Brigade and was promoted to Brigadier General of the National Army on 1 October 1918. After the war, Cress was in charge of militia affairs in the Southern Department and later became the commander of Columbus Barracks on 6 October 1919. He retired in 1926 at the rank of colonel.

Personal life and death
Cress was married to Donna Scott Dean on 26 May 1886. He died in Oakland, California on 8 May 1954.