William McBryar

Lieutenant William McBryar in U.S. Volunteers uniform.

National Archives

Quick Facts

Significance:

Buffalo Soldier and Medal of Honor Recipient

Place of Birth:

Elizabethtown, North Carolina

Date of Birth:

February 14, 1861

Place of Death:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Date of Death:

March 8, 1941

Place of Burial:

Arlington, Virginia

Cemetery Name:

Arlington National Cemetery

William McBryar, a Buffalo Soldier in the Tenth U.S. Cavalry, received the Medal of Honor for his participation in the 1890 Cherry Creek Campaign in the Arizona Territory. He was later a member of another Buffalo Soldier regiment, the Twenty-Fifth U.S. Infantry, during the Spanish- American War.

McBryar was born on February 14, 1861, in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, to Rose McBryar, an African American woman, and a white father whose identity is unknown. In 1883, McBryar enrolled at St. Augustine’s Normal College in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he studied physics, sociology, government, Latin, and Spanish. He left college before his senior year and moved to New York City.

On January 3, 1887, McBryar enlisted in the army. He was assigned to K Troop, Tenth Cavalry. The Tenth Cavalry was one of the four Black regiments known collectively as the Buffalo Soldiers. In March 1890, McBryar was stationed in the Arizona Territory and participated in the Cherry Creek Campaign, one of the final encounters between the Apache and the U.S. Army. Sergeant McBryar and nine troopers from Company K were assigned to track down five Apaches who allegedly killed Fred Herbert, a Mormon freighter, near Fort Thomas. The 10 Buffalo Soldiers encountered the five Apaches in a narrow canyon along the Salt River on March 7. The two groups exchanged gunfire; when the smoke cleared, two of the Apache fighters were dead and the remaining three surrendered. None of the Buffalo soldiers sustained casualties. For his efforts, McBryar received the Medal of Honor on May 15, 1890.

In 1893, McBryar transferred to the all-Black Twenty-Fifth Infantry at Fort Custer, Montana, and was promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant. The regiment shipped out to Cuba and participated in numerous battles of the Spanish American War. At the Battle of El Caney, McBryar was given command of the second platoon of Company H. He led his men up the hill, and with the help of others captured the fortified Spanish position. McBryar and the Twenty-Fifth Infantry were also involved in the Battle of Las Guasimas and the Battle of San Juan Hill. Shortly after the end of the war, McBryar accepted a lieutenant’s commission in the Eighth U.S. Volunteer Infantry, a regiment made up of African American volunteers and tasked with occupation duties in Cuba. The members of the regiment were known as “immunes,” because it was incorrectly thought that coming from the southern United States, they were immune to tropical diseases such as yellow fever, malaria, and other tropical diseases. McBryar, in fact, contracted malaria while in Cuba.

The Eighth U.S. Volunteer Infantry disbanded shortly after the Spanish formally surrendered and hostilities ended. McBryar then accepted a commission as a second lieutenant in Company M, Forty-Ninth U.S. Volunteer Infantry in the Philippine War. He was temporarily assigned as lieutenant to his old unit, the Twenty-Fifth Infantry, during an expedition in Luzon, Philippines. His time in the Forty-Ninth U.S. Volunteers was short-lived, as they were mustered out of service in June 1901.

After 14 years of military service, McBryar returned to North Carolina to establish himself in a civilian trade. A few years later, in 1905, he enlisted once more as a private in the Ninth Cavalry, stationed at Fort Leavenworth. Because of his previous military experience and skill, he quickly rose to corporal. Later that year, however, he was medically discharged with rheumatism at the age of 44.

After retirement from the army McBryar held several jobs, as a watchman at Arlington National Cemetery; as a guard for the Federal Penitentiary Service in Washington State; and as an instructor of military science at Saint Paul’s Normal and Industrial School in Lawrenceville, Virginia. McBryar died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 8, 1941, at age 80. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 4 Lot 2738-B.