William Dorrance Beach

Brigadier General William Dorrance Beach (June 18, 1856 – June 18, 1932) was a United States Army officer active during World War I.

Early life Beach was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Joshua Munson Beach. After attending a private school in New Jersey, Beach went to public schools in New York before entering the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York. He graduated number twenty-four of sixty-four in the class of 1879. Among his classmates included several general officers of the future, such as Hunter Liggett, John S. Mallory, James A. Irons, Lloyd M. Brett, Albert L. Mills, John A. Johnston, Henry A. Greene, Frederick S. Foltz and Samuel W. Miller.

Military career Upon graduation, Beach was commissioned in the Third Cavalry and performed frontier duty until 1883. He participated in the Ute Expedition in 1879 and from 1882 to 1883 he was on the Apache Expedition. From 1884 to 1888, Beach was an assistant professor at the USMA, after which he was on the Mexican border with troops in 1891 and 1892. From 1892 to 1898, Beach was an instructor at the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Death and legacy William Dorrance Beach died at the age of seventy-six on June 18, 1932.