William Dillon Otter

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William Dillon Otter in 1900

General Sir William Dillon Otter (December 3, 1843 – May 6, 1929) KCB, CVO, VD was a professional Canadian soldier who became the first Canadian-born Chief of the General Staff, the head of the Canadian Army.

He began his military career in the Non-Permanent Active Militia in Toronto in 1864. He joined the Permanent Force as an infantry officer when Canada established its own professional infantry unit in 1883. On May 2, 1885, he led a Canadian force of more than 300 in the Battle of Cut Knife against Poundmaker's Cree Indians. Otter's tactics were ineffective against the defending warriors, forcing him to retreat.

In 1890 Otter founded the Royal Canadian Military Institute as a body for "the promotion and fostering of military art, science and literature in Canada."

Otter commanded the 2nd Battalion of The Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry in South Africa, where they were considered by many British officers to be the best infantry battalion in the country. He became the first Canadian-born officer to command Canada's military in 1908, and he retired in 1910. During the First World War he came out of retirement to command operations for the internment of enemy nationals resident in Canada.

Most famously, perhaps, Otter headed the Otter Committee which oversaw the integration of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the existing Militia in the years following the First World War.