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 [decorative delimiter] Class of 1863

Vol. III
p6 2009

(Born N. Y.)

William S. Beebe

(Ap'd at Large)

15

Military History. — Cadet at the Military Academy, July 1, 1858, to June 11, 1863, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

Second Lieut., Ordnance, June 11, 1863.

Served during the Rebellion of the Seceding States, 1863‑66: as Asst. Ordnance Officer at St. Louis Arsenal, Mo., July 14, 1863, to Feb. 4,

(First Lieut., Ordnance, July 30, 1863)

1864; in the Department of the Gulf, as Asst. Ordnance Officer, Mar. 7 to May 7, 1864, participating, as Chief Ordnance Officer, in the Red River Campaign,​1 — in the Military Division of West Mississippi, May 7,

(Bvt. Captain, July 6, 1864, for Gallant and Meritorious Services,
and for Intrepidity, Daring, and Skill in Handling Men
in the Face of the Enemy)

1864, to May 17, 1865, participating in the Sieges of Fts. Gaines and Morgan, Aug. 4‑23, 1864, and the Mobile Campaign, Mar. 4 to Apr. 12,

(Bvt. Major, Aug. 23, 1864, for Gallant and Meritorious Services
at the Siege of Fort Morgan, Ala.)

1865, — and of the Department of the Gulf, May to June 27, 1865.

Served: in command of Mount Vernon Arsenal, Ala., July 1, 1865, to Oct. 3, 1866; as Asst. Ordnance Officer at Frankford Arsenal, Pa., Nov. 16, 1866, to Nov. 1, 1868 (leave of absence, Oct., 1867, to July 18, 1868), — at Ft. Monroe Arsenal, Va., to Sep. 13, 1870,​2 — at Watervliet Arsenal, N. Y., to Aug. 14, 1872, — at Allegheny Arsenal, Pa., to Sep. 20, 1873, — and at Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., to Nov. 1, 1873; and awaiting orders to Jan. 1, 1874.

Resigned, Jan. 1, 1874.

Civil History. — Residence, Thompson, Ct.

Vol. IV
p140 [Supplement, Vol. IV: 1890‑1900]

Civil History. — Residence, Thompson, Ct.

Military History. — Awarded a

Medal of Honor,

July 9, 1897, "for most distinguished gallantry in action at Cane River Crossing, La., April 23, 1864." — Offered his services to the War Department at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war.

(Major and Chief Ordnance Officer U. S. Volunteers, June 27, 1898)

Served: Chief Ordnance Officer on the Staff of Major General Wade in the United States and at Havana, Cuba.

Died, Oct. 12, 1898, of Yellow Fever, at Havana, Cuba: Aged 57.

See Annual Association of Graduates, U. S. M. A., 1899, for an obituary notice, with a portrait.

The Author's Notes:

1 Admiral Porter, in his letter of Apr. 6, 1866, says: "It was under Captain Beebe's orders that that most efficient Ordnance party worked so laboriously and skillfully to save the  p7 guns of the Fleet at Alexandria, on Red River, from falling into the hands of the enemy by the hasty abandonment of Alexandria by General Banks, and that but for Captain Beebe's energy and perseverance the guns would have been abandoned."

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2 Major Beebe, after an explosion, Aug. 3, 1870, of one of the Laboratory buildings, at the imminent risk of his life, with the assistance of a few gallant men, rolled, from in and about the wrecked structure, twenty barrels of powder and a number of loaded shells.

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