William Hemphill Bell

William H. Bell (28 January 1834 – 17 October 1906) was a career officer in the United States Army. A veteran of the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars, he served from 1858 to 1897 and attained the rank of brigadier general as the army's commissary general of subsistence.

Bell was born and raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and attended the United States Military Academy at West Point from 1853 to 1858. Commissioned as a second lieutenant of Infantry, he served in New Mexico Territory, which included explorations of territory controlled by the Navajo people. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and his duties included participation in the First Battle of Bull Run, faculty member at West Point, and commissary of subsistence at posts in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico.

After the Civil War, Bell continued to perform commissary duties in Washington, D.C., California, Alaska, Washington state, Colorado, and Wyoming. In late 1897 Bell was promoted to brigadier general. In January 1897, he reached the mandatory retirement age of 64 and left the army. In retirement, Bell was a resident of Arvada, Colorado. He died in Denver on 17 October 1906 and was buried at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery.

Early life William Hemphill Bell was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania on 28 January 1834, a son of Judge Thomas S. Bell and Keziah Ann (Hemphill) Bell. Among his siblings was army officer Thomas S. Bell Jr. He was raised and educated in West Chester, and in 1853 he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy (West Point). He graduated in 1858 ranked 21st of 27. Among his classmates who attained prominence during the American Civil War and the last three decades of the 19th century were Marcus P. Miller, Royal T. Frank, Asa B. Carey, Bryan M. Thomas, and Oliver Paul Gooding. His first assignments were in New Mexico Territory, where he escorted working parties that constructed roads, escorted recruits to their first duty stations, and escorting working parties that surveyed Fort Craig, Cantonment Burgwin. They were married until her death in 1902, and were the parents of sons Joseph Edgar Bell, Thomas Sloan Bell, Edgar Collins Bell, and William Hemphill Bell Jr.

Start of career Bell served in the Union Army throughout the American Civil War. From March 1894 to June 1896, Bell was assigned as chief commissary for the Department of California. He was promoted to colonel on 10 June 1896, and served as chief commissary for the Department of Colorado from July 1896 to March 1897.

From March to November 1897, Bell was assigned as principal assistant to the army's commissary general. In November 1897, he was assigned as the army's commissary general and promoted to brigadier general. He served until January 1898, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 64 and was succeeded by Samuel T. Cushing. After retiring, Bell built a home in Arvada, Colorado. He died in Denver on 17 October 1906. Bell was buried at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery.

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Dates of rank Bell's dates of rank were:

Second Lieutenant (Brevet), 1 July 1858 Second Lieutenant, 6 December 1858 First Lieutenant, 14 May 1861 Captain, 11 June 1862 Major (Brevet), 13 March 1865 Major, 14 August 1883 Lieutenant Colonel, 27 December 1892 Brigadier General, 14 November 1897 Brigadier General (Retired), 28 January 1898