Huachuca
Illustrated, vol 1, 1993:Huachuca
Illustrated, vol 1, 1993:
chuca Illustrathuca Illustrat
Roll Call:
Brigadier General William C. Brown
Regimental Commander, 10th Cavalry
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Brown Parade, the parade ground on the old main post at Fort Huachuca, is named after Brigadier General William Carey Brown who commanded the fort and the 10th U.S. Cavalry as a colonel from 1914 to 1916.
The native of Traverse des Sioux, Minnesota, was born in 1854. Following
graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1877, he was
assigned to the 1st U.S. Cavalry at Fort Walla Walla, Washington, participating
in the 1878 Bannock Indian Campaign in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. He
was on detached service in 1879 at the Umatill Indian Agency, Oregon, in
operations against Sheepeater and Bannock Indians.
William Carey Brown commanded the 10th Cavalry and Fort Huachuca from 1914 to 1916, and led the regiment into Mexico during the Punitive Expedition, Later as a Brigadier General he would serve in Europe during World War 1. The parade field on Fort Huachuca's Old Post is named for him.
He served as commanding officer of Troop C, 1st U.S. Cavalry, at Fort Assinniboine, Montana, in the winter campaign of 1890-91 against the Sioux. Other assignments took him to West Point and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
His service included time as cavalry troop commander at Fort Grant and San Carlos, Arizona, in the 1880s. Brigadier General Brown's days as troop and field officer included chasing the renegade Apache Kid in Arizona and commanding a troop in the Battle of San Juan, Cuba. He was instrumental in the development of the U.S. Army emergency field ration, the introduction of aluminum to lighten U.S. Army equipment, and other important inventions to improve weapons and equipment.
As colonel of cavalry he assumed command of the 10th U.S. Cavalry at Fort Huachuca on December 8, 1914, and deployed the regiment along the Mexican border to enforce U.S. neutrality laws during the revolution which then wracked Mexico. When Francisco "Pancho" Villa burned Columbus, New Mexico, on March 8, 1916, Brown led his regiment in the Mexican Punitive Expedition under General Pershing. There he distinguished himself in the last combat rides of the U.S. Cavalry, after rationing his men out of his own pocket.
Most prominent of his exploits was a forced march of the 10th U.S. Cavalry, led by him, which rescued the 7th U.S. Cavalry from a siege of carranzistas, at Parral on April 12, 1916. Later as a brigadier general, he was sent to France during World War I as inspector, Quartermaster Corps, General Headquarters of the American Expeditionary Forces. There he saved the Army hundreds of thousands of dollars while supervising the receipt, storage, conservation, rehabilitation, and distribution of property and supplies, winning the Distinguished Service Medal and the Silver Star Medal for his work.
Brig. Gen. Brown died at Denver, Colorado, on May 8, 1939.
