Last updated: October 17, 2024
Person
Brigadier General Arthur S. Nevins
U.S. Army Signal Corps Photograph
Quick Facts
Significance:
Brigadier General in the U.S. Army, friend and manager of Eisenhower's Gettysburg Farm
Place of Birth:
Camp Point, Illinois
Date of Birth:
July 19, 1891
Place of Death:
San Antonio, Texas
Date of Death:
January 19, 1979
Place of Burial:
Gettysburg, PA
Cemetery Name:
Gettysburg National Cemetery
General Arthur S. Nevins was a key figure in the life of Dwight D. Eisenhower, as a friend, as an army officer, and in managing Eisenhower’s beloved Gettysburg farm. Nevins was born in July of 1891 in Illinois. He grew up on a farm and was disinterested with the traditional exploits for children of his age, instead reading and studying history. It would be at University of Illinois that he joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps, or R.O.T.C., embarking him upon a military career. Following a stint as a high school teacher, he attended a training camp at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. After three months training, now 2nd Lieutenant Nevins was part of the United States Army. A day after this, he married his wife, Ann Louise Stacy, in August of 1917.
Nevins’ first assignment came that same year with the 57th Infantry, which was stationed at Leon Springs, Texas. Here, Nevins was introduced to the regimental supply officer of the 57th, Captain Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower and Nevins became fast friends. Eisenhower’s wife, Mamie Eisenhower, and Ann Nevins become close friends during this time.
By the early 1920s, Nevins was a captain commanding a company of the 57th Infantry at Fort McKinley in the Philippines. He served there for two years before returning to the United States. In 1923, Captain Nevins was assigned to the 25th Infantry, after which, he returned to his alma mater as an R.O.T.C. instructor, where he and Ann spent four years in the company of several other officers.
Nevins crossed paths again with Ike in the 1930s. By this point, Lt. Colonel Eisenhower was on the staff of General Macarthur in Manila with the Philippine Army. Arthur and Ann, along with their son, Arthur Jr., traveled to the Philippines in 1936. The Nevins family and the Eisenhowers met frequently for dinner or to play bridge. In 1938, Nevins returned to the United States.
During the Second World War, Nevins worked in the G-3 division in Allied Headquarters in Algiers. There, Nevins was promoted to Brigadier General, and worked under the now Commander of Allied forces in the North African Theatre, his old friend Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1943, Nevins worked on plans for the Allied landings on Sicily and mainland Italy.
After the success of the Italian landings, Nevins was assigned to England with Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, once again working under Eisenhower's command. There, Nevins assisted in the planning of Operation Overlord throughout the start of 1944, this culminated in the successful D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6th, 1944. Following the success of D-Day, Nevins remained in Europe for the rest of the war and left in 1946. In that same year, Nevins retired from the army, and returned to a post-war Untied States as a civilian.
Despite Nevins leaving the army, he and Eisenhower, who stayed for several years as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, stil remained close. Eisenhower asked Nevins to assist him in writing his first book, Crusade in Europe. That book, published in 1948, gave Ike and Mamie enough money to purchase what they hoped would be their retirement home, a 189 acre property in Gettysburg, PA.
Once they purchased this farm late 1950, Eisenhower asked Nevins if he would move to the property to help manage it. Ike was heading back to Europe in 1951 to lead the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and he left that role in 1952 to run for president. While Ike was making history, he needed a trusted friend to manage his new property in Pennsylvania. Nevins was that friend. He moved to Gettysburg in April 1951 and managed farm operations for Eisenhower.
After purchasing the Gettysburg farm, the Eisenhowers discovered that their historic farmhouse needed extensive repairs due to its advanced age. Most of the original structure was torn down in 1953, with a new house built around it in 1954 and 1955. During these years, Art and Ann Nevins lived in another house in Gettysburg, while managing farm operations at the Eisenhower property. Nevins served as a go between for Eisenhower with his partner, W. Alton Jones. Jones acquired nearby farmland surrounding the farm, with Nevins as his agent, to preserve the privacy of the Eisenhower's farm and main home. This additional land also helped Eisenhower's cattle herd by providing, which Nevins also managed and maintained.
Once the Eisenhower home was finished in 1955, Ike and Mamie used the property extensively during their presidential years. Art and Ann Nevins continued to play a key role in managing the farm, but they no longer lived in what became the Eisenhower home.
In 1967, with Eisenhower's health declining, the decision was made to sell off his extensive cattle herd. That same year, after 15 years of service to Eisenhower, Nevins retired from managing the property. It was also that year that the Eisenhowers donated their farm to the National Park Service, though they retained rights to the property for the rest of their lives. Ike passed away in 1969, and Mamie lived at the property another ten years until her death in 1979.
In the early 1970s, Nevins wrote a book on his time working for Eisenhower, titled, Gettysburg's Five Star Farmer. The book was published in 1977.
Art Nevins passed away two years later in 1979. He was buried in Gettysburg National Cemetery, alongside over 1,600 other WWII veterans, and just a short distance from the farm which he once managed for General Eisenhower.