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First Name: William

Last Name: Beck

Birthplace: Philadelphia, PA, USA

Gender: Male

Branch: Army (1784 - present)



Middle Name: Henry



Date of Birth: 29 June 1842

Date of Death: 26 November 1911

Rank: Brigadier General

Years Served:
William Henry Beck

   
Engagements:
•  Indian Wars (1775 - 1924) intermittent
•  American Civil War (1861 - 1865)
•  Spanish-American War (1898)
•  Philippine-American War (1899 - 1902)

Biography:

William Henry Beck
Brigadier General, U.S. Army

William Henry Beck was born on 29 June 1842 in Philadelphia, PA, the son of John Rogers Beck and Jane Owen Ward Beck.

Beck served during the Civil War as a Corporal with Company B, 10th Illinois Infantry from 16 April 1861. He also served with the 6th Illinois Cavalry as an enlisted man and officer.

After the war, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant serving with the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers from 1867 until 1898. He was commissioned Colonel on 9 September 1899. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1903 and retired from the Army. He returned to active duty during the period 1907-08, serving in Cuba.

Beck's military career included the Civil War, exploration of the West during the Indian Wars, the Spanish American War in 1898, then in the Philippine Insurrection in 1902.

Personal

William Henry Beck married Rachael Wyatt Elizabeth Tongate, daughter of John T. Tongate and Elizabeth Wyatt Tongate, on 21 August 1863 in St. Louis, MO.

They had a daughter, Mary Rachel Beck, in 1868 at Fort Apache, AZ, and a son, Paul Ward Beck, born 1 December 1876 at Fort McKavett, TX. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Ward Beck, U.S. Army Air Service, was shot to death on 4 April 1922 in Oklahoma City, OK.

Death and Burial

Brigadier General William Henry Beck died on 26 November 1911 in Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.



Honoree ID: 2233   Created by: MHOH

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