Background
William McEntyre Dye was born on January 26, 1831 in Pennsylvania, United States.
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William McEntyre Dye
Edit ProfileEducation
On July 1, 1853, he was graduated from the United States Military Academy as brevet lieutenant with a standing above the middle of his class.
Career
He had been appointed to West Point from Mansfield, Ohio, where his guardian was a John McCullough.
Before the Civil War he served both on garrison duty and on the frontier, with regular promotions.
In August 1862 he went to the front as colonel of the 20th Iowa Volunteers, and in the campaigns of the next year served in Missouri and Arkansas.
For bravery at Vicksburg he was made brevet major in the regular army, and for gallantry and skill in handling a brigade in the Red River campaign of 1864 he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel.
In September 1864 he commanded a brigade during the campaign against Mobile, and later served as assistant provost-marshal-general of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Dakota.
On March 13, 1865, he received the brevets of colonel in the regular army and brigadier-general in the volunteer army for gallant and meritorious service throughout the war.
On July 8, 1865, he was mustered out of the volunteers, and on January 14, 1866, was promoted to major and assigned to the 4th Infantry.
The quiet life of an officer in time of peace was not to his taste, how ever, and he was honorably discharged from the army at his own request, September 30, 1870.
After his resignation from the army he took his family to Marion, Louisiana, where he engaged in farming.
In 1873, he went to Egypt with other American officers to join the staff of the Egyptian army.
Later in 1875 he became assistant to the chief of staff, Gen. C. P. Stone, in the army of Khedive Ismail Pasha in the campaign against Abyssinia, where he was wounded.
He returned to New York in June 1878.
Two years later he published an account of his adventures under the title of Moslem Egypt and Christian Abyssinia, or Military Service Under the Khedive (1880).
After his return to the United States, he served for several years as chief of police of Washington, D. C. ; but in 1888 adventure called again and he made haste to answer.
His duties consisted chiefly in conducting a military academy for the training of Korean officers.
He made a careful study of military systems, evolved a series of maneuvers best suited to Korean conditions and to command in a foreign tongue, and later published in the Korean language a small treatise on military tactics.
His troops were so well trained as to arouse the commendation of visiting American naval officers, but he was immeasurably handicapped by the failure of Korean officials to cooperate with him and by the impossibility of holding Korean noblemen to strict military discipline.
His influence extended only to a small portion of the army, while the rest of it was subject to numerous conflicting influences, both native and foreign.
Until the coming of Russian influence in the spring of 1896, the Korean king retained Dye as a sort of personal body guard.
From 1895 to 1898 he wrote a series of six articles on agricultural subjects for the Korean Repository.
His last relations with the Korean government were marred by controversies over salary.
On May 5, 1899, he left Seoul for Muskegon, Michigan, where he was confined to his bed until his death in November.
Achievements
Works
book
Personality
Though he had a great fondness for agriculture as a hobby, it did not possess the romance of adventure.
He had suffered severely with dysentery for many years.
Connections
On Feburary 18, 1864, he had married Ellen A. Rucker, the daughter of a Chicago judge. He had one son and two daughters.
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Born
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Died
January 13, 1899 (aged 67) -
Nationality
American