Gen. Bartford Hamilton Steele Harry Morgan as daffy General Steele M*A*S*H character Vital information Rank: Major General (O-8), U.S. Army Job/Role in Unit: High ranking General who visits the 4077th M*A*S*H Home: Bethesda, MD Hair Color: Grey Eye Color: Blue Height: 5'7" Weight: 140 lbs. Family/Personal information Born: April 10, 1915 Birthplace: Maryland, U.S. Spouse(s): Marjorie Relatives/Children: 3 brothers, who are also high ranking Army brass Appearances First appeared in: "The General Flipped at Dawn" (Season 3) (Season 3) Last appeared in: N/A Appeared in: M*A*S*H in guest appearance in guest appearance Played by: Harry Morgan Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele was a two-star General who appeared in one episode of the M*A*S*H television series in Season 3. He was portrayed by Harry Morgan, who made a guest appearance as Steele in the opening third-season episode titled "The General Flipped at Dawn". Morgan won the Primetime Emmy Award for his performance as General Steele and joined the cast of M*A*S*H the following season as Colonel Sherman T. Potter.

About General Steele [ edit | edit source ]

General Steele comes from a prestigious military family; he has three brothers, who all are also Army Generals, as all four brothers attended the West Point Military Academy. One brother was also a U.S. Senator, and another, as Colonel Blake describes it upon the news that Steele would be visiting the camp, was the first soldier to volunteer to be part of the building of the Panama Canal, and to be "bitten by a mosquito" there! When the scatterbrained Steele, who's a stickler for regulations, arrives, he appears to be more eccentric than the usual Army brass, as he then attempts to make the 4077th bug out by moving the camp much dangerously closer to the front, about 5 miles from it! When Hawkeye and Trapper object, and try to get Henry to persuade the daffy Steele otherwise, he explains, "What can I do? He's a General! I can't disobey a direct order, unless I get orders from someone else higher ranking to do otherwise!"

Steele has Henry sterilize tongue depressors, and prepares the camp to be "mobile". In preparing to inspect the camp, Steele, thinking that Klinger is his wife says to him "Not now, Marjorie, I'm inspecting the troops!" Steele court-martials Hawkeye for using a chopper which Steele wanted to use to observe the bug out to transport a patient from the camp to the Seoul Army Hospital instead, as well pretending to be a civilian reporter, who Hawkeye says he is, when Steele and Col. Blake catches him in the supply room with Nurse Baker.

Unfortunately for Steele, the charges fall apart when he breaks into a negro work song "Mississippi Mud". when he excuses the chopper pilot, Warrant Officer Williams, played by Theodore Wilson, then asks Williams to perform "a little musical number"! When the head presiding hearing MP, now also convinced of Steele's daffiness, decides to cancel the disciplinary hearing, and then close his briefcase, Hawkeye asks, "I guess this means we don't have to leave?!", Blake responds. "Only the General does.", Hawkeye sarcastically adds "In a rubber truck!",

Days later, Hawkeye and Trapper are both taken aback when Col. Blake reads in the Stars and Stripes newspaper that the U.S. Army, in its infinite wisdom, has not only promoted Steele to a 3-Star General, they also awarded him a meritorious service medal for his duty in Korea, and gave him a new job title working at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. as Commander over military operations in the Asian theater!

Steele is the fifth in a long line of Generals who oversee the 4077th M*A*S*H (among other units), succeeding Brigadier General Hammond, General Barker, Brigadier General Clayton, and General Mitchell. Most generals lasted for a few episodes before disappearing without comment or explanation; Steele is unusual in that he lasts only for this one episode, and the circumstances of his change of position are revealed.

There is no replacement General named for the rest of the third season or the entire fourth season; Lieutenant General Robert "Iron Guts" Kelly visits the 4077th later in season 3, but does not appear to be directly responsible for overseeing the M*A*S*H unit. During the season 5 opener Bug Out, Colonel Potter talks with what would appear to be the next General in line to fill the supervisory role, the offstage character of General Irving "Binky" Hamilton.