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Class of 1873

Vol. III
p210 2476

(Born Ky.)

Joseph H. Dorst

(Ap'd Ind.)

Born Apr. 2, 1852, Louisville, KY.a

Military History. — Cadet at the Military Academy, Sep. 1, 1869, to June 13, 1873, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

Second Lieut., 4th Cavalry, June 13, 1873.

Served: at the Military Academy, as Assistant Instructor of Artillery Tactics, July 5 to Sep. 1, 1873 (leave of absence, to Nov. 29, 1873); on frontier dutyb at Ft. Clark, Tex., Nov. 29, 1873, to Jan. 23, 1874, — Ft. McKavett, Tex., Feb. 1 to Aug. 18, 1874, — Expedition to Staked Plains of Texas, Aug. 18, 1874, to Jan., 1875, being engaged in the Action near Tule Cañon, Sep. 26‑27, of Palo Duro Cañon, Sep. 28, and of Laguna Cuates, Nov. 3, 1874, — Ft. Richardson, Tex., Jan. 12 to May 6, 1875, — Ft. Sill, I. T., May 11, 1875, to Apr., 1876, — Member of Board to Purchase Horses, Apr. 20 to July, 1876 (witness before Senate Committee, to July 17, 1876), — Camp Robinson, Neb., Aug. 25 to Oct., 1876, — Powder River Expedition, to Jan., 1877, being engaged in the Fight on Willow Creek, Wy., Nov. 25, 1876, — Camp Robinson, Neb., to June, 1877, — Ft. Sill, I. T., June 30 to Apr., 1878 (leave of absence, to Apr. 19, 1878), — Ft. Clark, Tex., to Oct. 9, 1879, — Regimental Adjutant, May 17, 1878, to Jan. 1, 1883, and Acting Asst. Adjutant-General of the District of Nueces, June 23, 1877, to Oct. 9, 1879, — Ft. Garland, Col., to May 19, 1880, — on

(First Lieut., 4th Cavalry, Mar. 20, 1879)

Ute Expedition (Acting Asst. Adjutant-General of the Column) to Nov. 12, 1880, — Ft. Riley, Kan., to May 21, 1881, — on Navajo Expedition (Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the forces in the field), to Oct., 1881, — Ft. Marcy, N. M., to Dec. 31, 1881, — Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, District of New Mexico, to Nov. 24, 1882, — Ft. Bayard, N. M., to Jan. 4, 1883 (leave of absence, to Sep. 6, 1883), — Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, District of New Mexico, Sep. 13 to Oct. 24, 1883, — Aide-de‑Camp to Brig.‑General Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class. Mackenzie, Jan. 1, 1883, to Mar. 24, 1884, — and in charge of the Inspector-General's Office, Department of Texas, Nov. 6 to Dec. 26, 1883; as Recorder of Cavalry Equipment Board at Washington, D. C., Mar. 6 to Aug. 5, 1884; on frontier duty at Ft. Huachuca,

(Captain, 4th Cavalry, Mar. 20, 1885)

Ara., to July 8, 1886, — conducting Indians to and from Washington, D. C., and Apaches to St. Augustine, Fla., to Oct., 1886, — and Ft. Huachuca, Ara., Oct. 25, 1886, to May 22, 1887; on detached service, at Los Angeles, Cal., to June 27, 1887, and on leave, to Aug. 27, 1887; and at the Military Academy as Instructor of Cavalry Tactics, Aug. 28, 1887, to –––––.

Vol. IV
p232 [Supplement, Vol. IV: 1890‑1900]

Military History. — Served: At U. S. M. A. to Aug. 28, 1890; on leave to Jan. 1, 1891; garrison duty at Presidio, San Francisco, Cal. (at Sequoia National Park, Cal., May to Nov., 1890, and May to Nov., 1891), to Oct. 20, 1893; on leave to Dec., 1893. — Military Attaché at the U. S. Legation, Vienna, Austria, Jan. 21, 1894 to Sept. 14, 1897; en route to United States, and preparing his report, to March 3, 1898. — On duty at Headquarters of the Army, April to May, 1898; commanded successful expedition carrying arms and ammunition to Cubans from Tampa, Fla., to Cuba, in May, 1898, classing of Companies E and G, 1st Infantry, being engaged with the Spaniards at Point Arbolitas, Cuba, without losing a man killed or wounded.

(Lieutenant-Colonel and Asst. Adjutant-General,
U. S. Volunteers, May 9, 1898)

— Assistant Adjutant-General of the Cavalry Division, 5th Army Corps, June 5 to Sept. 23, 1898. — In the Santiago campaign, June 23 to July 17, 1898, participating in the action at Las Guasimas, June 24, San Juan p233 Hill, July 1‑3, and in the operations against Santiago, to July 17, 1898. — Served in Cuba, to Aug., 1898; at Montauk Point, N. Y., to Oct., 1898.

(Major of Cavalry, 2d Cavalry, Nov. 7, 1898)

— Adjutant-General of the 7th Army Corps, Oct. 13 to Dec. 30, 1898, being stationed at Savannah, Ga., Oct. to Dec., 1898. — Adjutant-General, Department of Province of Havana, Dec. 30, 1898 (on sick leave, Jan. 13 to Feb. 14, 1899) to April 19, 1899.

(Honorably discharged from Volunteer Service,
May 12, 1899)

— Assistant Inspector-General, Department of Matanzas and Santa Clara, Cuba, May to Aug., 1899.

(Colonel, 45th U. S. Volunteer Infantry, Aug. 17, 1899)

— Organizing and drilling his regiment at Ft. Snelling, Min., Aug. 28 to Oct. 22, 1899. — En route to and in the Philippines to –––––

Vol. V
p201 [Supplement, Vol. V: 1900‑1910]

Military History. — Unknown, no information having been received.

(Inspector-General, by detail, Feb. 28, 1901)

(Lieut.‑Colonel, 12th Cavalry, June 26, 1901)

(Colonel, 3d Cavalry, April 15, 1903)

Vol. VI
p181 [Supplement, Vol. VI: 1910‑1920]

(Joseph Haddox Dorst, Born April 2, 1852.)

Military History. —

Major, 2d Cavalry, Nov. 7, 1898.

With General Wheaton's expeditionary brigade in Provinces of Cavite and Batangas, P. I., January and February, 1900; with General J. M. Bell's expeditionary brigade to the Province of Camarines, February and March, 1900; stationed in Province of Camarines from Feb. 20, 1900; participated in engagement at Magallens, Cavite, Jan. 19, 1900; at San Antonio, February 25, 1900; at Polanqui, March 18, 1900; in four actions in Albay in March, 1900; commanding Department and sub‑district of Iniga, Luzon, July, 1900, to

(Inspector-General, by Detail, Feb. 28, 1901)

June 2, 1901; mustered out of volunteer service, June 3, 1901;

(Lieut.‑Colonel, 12th Cavalry, June 26, 1901)

On leave to Aug. 28, 1901; commanding regiment and post of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Aug. 28, 1901, to April 3, 1902; commanding regiment and post of Fort Clark, Tex., May 31, 1902, to February 7, 1903; again commanding regiment, April 10 to May 6, 1903;

(Colonel, 3d Cavalry, April 15, 1903)

Commanding regiment at Fort Assinniboine, Mont., from May 12, 1903; umpire of maneuvers, West Point, Ky., Sept. 22 to Oct. 6, and at Fort Riley, Kans., Oct. 17 to Nov. 2, 1903; commanding Department of Dakota, Jan. 26 to Feb. 25, 1904; on sick leave, June 16, 1904, to June 14, 1905; en route to Philippines, Dec. 15, 1905; commanding regiment at Camp Stotsenburg, P. I., January 16, 1906, to Jan. 15, 1908; en route to U. S. to Feb. 13, 1908; commanding regiment at Fort Clark, Texas, from Feb. 19, 1908; commanding Department of Texas, Nov. 3 to 16, 1909; on leave July 11 to Aug. 10, 1911.

Colonel, U. S. A., Retired, Aug. 11, 1911,
At His Own Request, After Over 40 Years' Service.

Died Jan. 11, 1916, at Warrenton, Va.: Aged 63.

Portrait and obituary in Annual Report, Association of Graduates, for 1916.

Buried, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.

Thayer's Notes:

a Col. Dorst's birthdate is from his tombstone (q.v.); the place is given in a number of printed sources, including the Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography (by Dan L. Thrapp, 1988), p418.

b Late in life, Col. Dorst wrote an interesting, detailed account of his early years of frontier duty interwoven with those of his classmate Augustus Tyler, in his obituary of him, in the AOG Report for 1909.

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