Retired Gen. William Childs Westmoreland, the man most often associated with America's war in Vietnam, died Monday night at his James Island home. He was 91.

Westmoreland died of natural causes at Bishop Gadsden retirement home, where he lived with his wife for the past several years, his family said. Before that he lived many years on Tradd Street and became one of Charleston's best-known residents. Westmoreland had long struggled with Alzheimer's disease.

Westmoreland was born in Spartanburg County on March 26, 1914, to Eugenia Childs Westmoreland and James Ripley Westmoreland. He attended The Citadel for a year, at the end of which he received an appointment to West Point. In June 1936, he graduated from the military academy as first captain, the institution's highest cadet rank.

Westmoreland's Army career would span more than 36 years and include leadership positions during World War II, Korea and the Cold War, long before most Americans ever heard of Vietnam. Later, after he retired from the Army, he would run for governor of South Carolina and later still would file a libel suit against CBS News for accusing him of filing inflated casualty reports with his superiors in Washington, D.C.

While his efforts in politics and in the courtroom would fail, he would gain the respect of many Vietnam veterans as he championed their legacy in front of an often-unforgiving public. Vilified by some observers, lauded by others, he will, according to one of his former aides, be recognized more favorably by history than the loss in Vietnam would imply.

"The war (in Vietnam) was conducted differently than World War II," said Paul Miles, now a lecturer in History at Princeton University who served as Westmoreland's aide during his last three years in the Army.

Those differences included the length of the war -- 14 years -- the frequent changes in goals and direction, the so-called "micro-managing" from civilians in Washington, the frequent bombing halts and the refusal of both Presidents Johnson and Nixon to take the offensive that Westmoreland believed would lead U.S. and South Vietnamese forces to victory.

"He was a significant figure, but he never commanded the entire military effort in Vietnam," Miles said. "He never had direct control over the Air Force or the Navy."

In fact, direction of the war was divided among senior military officers in Washington and Hawaii, and civilians at the Pentagon and at the U.S. State Department. Johnson, who was president throughout Westmoreland's four years in Vietnam, once boasted the military "couldn't bomb an outhouse" in North Vietnam without his (Johnson's) permission.

Most military officers with Westmoreland's credentials would have retired long before Vietnam became a household word. His Army life prior to Vietnam reflected a record of constant success. It began in the late 1930s in the sleepy, peacetime life at Fort Sill, Okla. His tour in what was then a horse-drawn artillery unit later led to a domestic milestone.

In his autobiography, "A Soldier Reports," Westmoreland describes how Katherine "Kitsy" Van Deusen, then the daughter of Fort Sill's executive officer, caught his attention on a day in which he was feeling dejected after a girl he had been dating married another officer.

"Cheer up, Westy," the 11-year-old Van Deusen said. "Don't worry. I'll be a big girl soon. I'll wait for you."

The two were married nine years later after Westmoreland had fought his way through the last 2-1/2 years of World War II. What transpired during those intervening years was enough to fill any career soldier's resume.

Early in the war, he was chosen to command the 34th Field Artillery Battalion which landed in North Africa in November 1942, and fought Rommel's Afrika Corps near the Kasserine Pass. For its gallantry, the battalion was awarded the Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation.

Sicily came next, in July 1943, as the 34th Field Artillery helped clear the island of German forces. In 1944, Westmoreland went ashore in France with the 9th Infantry Division at Normandy. Promoted to colonel and assigned as the division's chief of staff, he served during the rapid advance across France and Germany, slowed only by the Battle of the Bulge.

After returning to the United States, he commanded the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. In 1952, he was selected to command the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team and led his regiment in three campaigns during the Korean War. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1952, and later served in the Pentagon. In 1958, he was promoted to major general and was appointed commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division. Under his leadership, the 101st Airborne became one of the elite divisions of the Army.

In 1960, President Eisenhower appointed Westmoreland superintendent at West Point. In 1964, Westmoreland was appointed deputy commander, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Six months later, he was promoted to general and placed in command.

According to West Point's Association of Graduates, Westmoreland faced a "challenge unique in the annals of American wars -- the task of commanding a multinational force in support of a series of unstable South Vietnamese governments against a foe operating from politically protected sanctuaries in a war of attrition increasingly opposed by major segments of his country's people."

Most of Westmoreland's autobiography is devoted to his role in Vietnam. He noted that shortly before he left for Saigon, former President Eisenhower urged him to keep a diary which served as a model for the book.

The book reflects a steadfast loyalty and friendship Westmoreland felt for Lyndon Johnson, despite Johnson's constant over-management of the war. He saved his strongest barbs, however, for former Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford, whom he accused of turning into a misdirected "dove" after Johnson appointed him to run the Pentagon.

"It was not his inclination to be sharp with people he disagreed with," Miles said in an interview. But most of his book was written prior to the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

Westmoreland was hardest on Clifford "because after the Tet offensive, he thought he would be included in all the discussions on how to proceed, as he was under (Robert S.) McNamara," the previous secretary of Defense.

The 1968 Tet offensive, engineered by Hanoi, turned out to be a military defeat for the North Vietnamese but a political victory in the United States for opponents of the war.

"Clifford shortchanged him and Westmoreland was caught off guard. He believed Clifford and his people had distorted his positions and shunted him aside," Miles said.

In 1968, Westmoreland returned to the United States to assume the Army's highest post, chief of staff. He had been acclaimed as one of the great military tacticians of modern times at the same time he was being burned in effigy on college campuses. His last three years in uniform were spent trying to balance the Nixon administration's attempt at "Vietnamization" of the war while preparing the Army to convert to an all-volunteer force once U.S. forces left the field.

He described the eventual collapse of Vietnam, three years after he retired from the Army, as a scene of "unmitigated misery and shame." Watergate and the aftermath of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam had doomed any effort to bolster the South Vietnamese government.

George B. Herring is a professor of history at the University of Kentucky and author of a book, "America's Longest War." He placed Westmoreland's role into focus.

"The problem is you can't separate him from a failed war," Herring said. "His frustration is easy to understand. It was an incredibly difficult war to fight; its effects linger with us even today."

Westmoreland moved to Charleston soon after he retired and tossed his hat into the political ring for governor. It was the emerging Republican Party's first attempt in South Carolina to hold a primary election for the state's top job.

Westmoreland lost the primary to Dr. James Edwards, a Mount Pleasant oral surgeon and legislator, even though he carried more than half of the state's 46 counties. According to Miles, Westmoreland was angry at Sen. Strom Thurmond who had urged him to run in the first place.

"He said he had been double-crossed by Strom, who left him for Edwards," Miles said. "He was bitter over that."

Westmoreland's relationship with the news media ran the gamut of emotions. He filed suit after CBS anchorman Mike Wallace -- in the 1982 television documentary "The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception" -- accused him of deliberately falsifying information about so-called "body counts" in reports to his superiors.

According to Miles, political conservatives in Washington urged Westmoreland to sue CBS even though they knew how difficult it is for public figures like Westmoreland to win such contests.

"Eventually, there came the realization that he was going to lose and they (his backers) were running out of money," he said.

Later, Westmoreland agreed to drop the suit in return for a statement from CBS affirming his loyalty and patriotism. But despite his setbacks, he became a champion for his fellow Vietnam veterans.

Kentuckian Herring said he was especially impressed with Westmoreland's devotion and concern for veterans years after the war.

"I remember a bitter cold January day in Lexington," he said, "when a bare-headed Westmoreland made a speech at an outdoor memorial to the Vietnam vets. By his devotion, he was an admirable and honorable man."

Retired State Guard Brig. Gen. Michael McDermott of Charleston couched his praise in a different venue.

"I think Gen. Westmoreland is the 20th Century's Robert E. Lee," McDermott said in an interview. "The best thing they (Westmoreland and Lee) ever did was to take care of their troops. Both of them never lied to anyone and they both didn't think anyone could ever lie to them.

"He (Westmoreland) once said, 'My job has been to take the blame.' Vietnam wasn't his fault, but he took the blame for everything that happened," McDermott said.

Survivors include his wife; his daughters Katherine Stevens Westmoreland and Margaret Childs Westmoreland; and a son, James Ripley Westmoreland.

Funeral arrangements were not available late Monday.