Patton III came from a background that was an approximate American equivalent to the landed-gentry origins of so many British military leaders. Born in 1885, he grew up on the Wilson-Patton ranch in what is now San Marino, near Pasadena, California. His family background, however, was Southern; Patton's paternal grandfather had been killed in the Civil War, and no fewer than seven great-uncles served as Confederate officers. His father educated at home till age eleven, an education devoted largely to readings from the classics; in later schooling his academic preparation was deficient, but he retained by heart long passages of heroic verse which profoundly shaped his outlook (Essame, 1974, p. 3).
Patton attended Virginia Military Institute, then West Point, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1910, entering that traditionally aristocratic arm, the cavalry. The next year he married a girl from a wealthy family; influence from her family and h
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