Littleton Tazewell "Tony" Waller (September 26, 1856 – July 13, 1926) was a career officer in the United States Marine Corps, who served in the Spanish–American War, the Caribbean and Asia.

Historian David McCulloch noted that, in the nineteenth century, every literate person in the English-speaking world was familiar with three books – the King James Bible, the works of Shakespeare, and John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.

Waller first went to sea as the Executive Officer of the Marine Detachment aboard the sloop-of-war USS Lancaster, the flagship of the European Squadron and a veteran of the Civil War, in 1881.

Although the French troops had abandoned the city and cautiously returned to their ships, the Marines secured the Grand Square and began to patrol the streets of the European Quarter, as the international business and consular area was named.

According to the Times of London: Lord Charles Beresford states that without the assistance of the American Marines he would have been unable to discharge the numerous duties of suppressing fires, preventing looting, burying the dead, and clearing the streets.As there was no wireless radio in those days, and the telegraphic cable office in Alexandria was not functioning, the Squadron Commander had approval to land the naval force, but once ashore Goodrich had been on his own.

Due to her position at the extreme eastern end of the blockade, the Indiana could not participate in the initial chase after the enemy cruisers made their sortie without cutting across the bow of the USS Oregon, which Captain Taylor, the ship's commander, wisely decided not to do.

The battleship and the Marines manning her secondary batteries were, however, able to engage and aid in the destruction of the Furor and the Pluton, the fifth and sixth ships bringing up the rear of Spanish line, as they left the bay.

Admiral Sampson described the service of Waller and his men in his after-action report to the Secretary of the Navy: The Iowa and the Indiana, having done good work, and not having the speed of the other ships, were directed by me ... to drop out of the chase and resume blockading stations.

But no risk deterred our officers and men until their work of humanity was completed.Waller himself later remembered it: After the destruction of the three largest ships and two torpedo-boat destroyers, I was sent to pick up the wounded and bring off prisoners from the beaches where they were huddled and in constant danger from the exploding magazines.

At 02:00 on June 21, this small combined force set out for Tientsin, a large enemy held city along the route to Peking, arrayed against a Chinese contingent of some 1,500 to 2,000 men.

After participating in the final fighting for the city of Peking on July 13–14, Waller and his men took possession of the American sector and brought order out of the havoc caused by the Chinese retreat.

Promoted by brevet to lieutenant colonel and advanced two numbers in grade for his performance of duty at Tientsin and Peking, Littleton Waller was commended in 1903 by Brigadier General Aaron S. Daggett, U.S. Army, Ret., in his book, America in the China Relief Expedition.

After the Balangiga massacre, U.S. Army Brigadier General Jacob H. Smith asked for Marine Corps assistance to help subdue the Philippine population on the island of Samar.

Since it was a popular belief among the Americans serving in the Philippines that native males were born with bolos in their hands, Major Waller asked, "I would like to know the limit of age to respect, sir?"

In the southern half of Samar, Waller ran patrols, amphibious operations, and led a detachment of marines which defeated Philippine insurgents in a battle at Sohoton cliffs on 5 November 1901.

Ten were shot in groups of three (one had been gunned down in the water attempting to escape) The bodies were left in the square as an example, until one evening under cover of darkness, some townspeople carried them off for a Christian burial.

Waller, United States Marine Corps, being then and there detached for service with the United States Army by authority of the President of the United States, did, in time of war, willfully and feloniously and with malice aforethought, murder and kill eleven men, names unknown, natives of the Philippine Islands, by ordering and causing his subordinate officer under his command, John Horace Arthur Day, 1st Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, and a firing detail of enlisted men under his said command, to take out said eleven men and shoot them to death, which said order was then and there carried into execution and said eleven natives, and each of them, were shot with rifles, from the effects of which they then and there died.

"I can have them here tomorrow morning", the prosecutor responded, and next day he submitted in evidence a series of telegrams between Admiral Rogers and General Chaffee in which the offer of three hundred Marines for service with the Sixth Brigade is made and accepted.

[6] As a result of evidence introduced at the Waller trial, General Smith was then court martialed, convicted, and admonished; President Roosevelt personally ordered his dismissal from the army.

Leading the 1st Marine Brigade, Waller subsequently participated in the Battle of Veracruz in 1914 before being appointed to command USMC forces during the United States occupation of Haiti.

On March 28, 1901, appointed Lieutenant-Colonel by brevet, in the Marine Corps of the United States, for distinguished conduct and public service in the presence of the enemy near Tientsin, China, from the 13th day of July, 1900.

In the Proceedings of the U. S. Naval Institute, November 1986, Lieutenant Colonel Merrill L. Bartlett, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), discusses the career of Waller's protege Smedley D. Butler.

Col. Bartlett continues: The passage of legislation in 1913 that limited the tenure of each CMC to four years -- unless reappointed -- ended the traditional system of appointment until retirement, which had been in effect since 1798.

Biddle had hoped to slide in the veteran campaigner, Colonel Lincoln Karmany, before sufficient political forces could be organized to oppose this handpicked successor.

Secretary Daniels reasoned that it made no sense to appoint an officer with a reputation for callous and inhumane treatment of the Filipino people, just when the Wilson Administration promised a more enlightened and humane government of the Philippines.Several key points are evident here.

Waller's "reputation for callous and inhumane treatment of the Filipino people" was based almost entirely on the editorials in the anti-imperialist press, but these views had been rejected by the public long before.

Waller's medal recognized his promotion to the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel, "for distinguished conduct and public service in the presence of the enemy near Tientsin, China", on 13 July 1900.

[10][11] The letter of August 3, 1904, awarding this medal to Waller "in recognition of your gallant conduct in assisting in rescuing crews from the burning Spanish ships after the battle of Santiago de Cuba on July 3, 1898" is reproduced above.

Waller was authorized the ribbon with numeral "4" in recognition of the following service: Properly speaking, the "Commemorative Medal for Naval Engagements in the West Indies", it took its popular name from the fact that its obverse shows a portrait of Rear Admiral William T. Sampson.

Photos of Waller, and other Marine officers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, also show the wearing of numerous unofficial medals awarded by fraternal and patriotic societies.