Major Sheridan, 37, was the only son of Civil War hero Gen. Philip H. Sheridan and the former Irene Rucker. The youngest of their four children, he was also the grandson and nephew of noted American soldiers: Generals Daniel H. Rucker and Michael V. Sheridan. His own military career began at the USMA at West Point (Class of 1902), and he subsequently served in the 9th and 5th US Cavalries, as a military aide to President Theodore Roosevelt, and as a general staff officer. Among other locations, his duties took him to the Philippines, Arizona, and Hawaii, where in 1913 he married Isabelle Ray McGunnegle in Honolulu. Two children were later born to the couple. A fine horseman and an excellent polo player, Major Sheridan's physical resemblance to his celebrated father during his Civil War days proved useful to sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who made studies of the younger Sheridan for the renowned equestrian statue of the General in Washington's Sheridan Square. But Philip Jr. also endured the more negative aspects of being the child of a famous parent. A young man of quiet courage and perseverance, he had withstood particularly humiliating hazing as a West Point cadet, and later resigned a high profile but "easy" staff position at the White House in order to take a more challenging role in the field. During the year preceding his death, he participated in General Pershing's 1916 military expedition into Mexico to subdue the outlaw Pancho Villa. Afflicted with diabetes and his father's tendency to coronary disease, he suffered a fatal heart attack at age 37. In addition to his wife, Isabelle, Maj. Sheridan left his widowed mother, his elder sisters Mary, Irene and Louise, and two young children, 5-year-old Carolina and the toddler Philip H. Sheridan III. His survivors also included his paternal uncle, Gen. Michael V. Sheridan, who died four days later.