Biography of William Bedford Royall



Excerpted from "Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1911-1912", Edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary. 

Vol XII., State Printing Office, Topeka, Kansas 1912.



submitted by Teresa Lindquist (merope@radix.net); (copyright) 2001 by Teresa Lindquist

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WILLIAM BEDFORD ROYALL was born in Virginia, April 15, 1825. His first entrance into military life was as a lieutenant of 

Missouri mounted volunteers during the Mexican War. While passing westward on the Santa Fe trail in command of a company of 

recruits, in the valley of Coon creek, near the present town of Kinsley, May 19, 1848, he had his initiation as an Indian 

fighter. [See vol. 10. Kansas Historical Collections, pp. 409-415.] At the organization of the Second United States 

cavalry, March 3, 1855, he was commissioned a first lieutenant. He was promoted to a captaincy March 21, 1861. Although he 

was a Virginian by birth, a nephew of Gen. Sterling Price, and could undoubtedly have met with more rapid advancement had 

he chosen to cast his fortunes on the side of the Confederacy, he never wavered in his loyalty to the Union cause. His 

regiment was attached to the Army of the Potomac throughout the Civil War, at the close of which he had reached the grade 

of major, with the brevet ranks of lieutenant colonel and colonel. After the close of the war his regiment was transferred 

to the western plains, where it saw active service aganst (sic) the Indians in the valleys of the Smoky Hill and the 

Republican in northwestern Kansas. December 3, 1875, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Third cavalry. The 

following year he was in command of the cavalry, ten troops of his own regiment and five troops of the Second, attached to 

General Crook's command on the Yellowstone expedition. He was promoted to the rank of colonel November 1, 1882, and was 

retired with the rank of brigadier general October 19, 1887. He died at Washington, D. C., December 13, 1895.



(Included with the article: "Indian Fight in Ford County in 1859," page 320)