Born in Somerset, Ohio, March 1, 1848, to Nathan and Temperance (Hood) Birkhimer, William spent his youth in Iowa. He attended school in the Denmark Academy in Lee County, Iowa. Most of Birkhimer’s schooling and career activities centered around his military service which began during the Civil War. At age sixteen, Birkhimer enlisted with the 4th Iowa Cavalry Volunteers and stayed with this unit for the last year and a half of the war. His captain extended him nine commendations for bravery at actions including those at Selma, Alabama, and Columbus, Georgia.
After the war, he was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1870. While there, he was known as a determined and bright student with a strong temper and kind heart and unswerving sense of duty and loyalty. Upon graduation, he became an artillery expert (first in his class at the artillery school at Fort Monroe) and served a number of domestic posts in artillery. His career also included a teaching stint at West Point as Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy from 1874-1876. During this time he married Geraldine Howard and had one child. Geraldine died as a young woman after having two children.
Birkhimer complemented his military activities with military scholarship. He authored: “Law of appointment and Promotion in the Regular Army of the United States,” in 1880; Historical Sketch of the Artillery, U.S. Army,” in 1884; and “Military Government and Martial Law,” in 1891. The latter book was used widely as a reference by the military in the Philippines, the country where Birkhimer earned his Medal of Honor. In 1889, he earned a law degree from the University of Oregon. He was also appointed Judge Advocate of the Department of Columbia .
When the Spanish-American War broke out, the fifty year-old was a captain of artillery when he shipped off to the Philippines. He participated in several engagements before and after his Medal of Honor duty. Following his bravery at San Miguel de Mayumo, he was appointed colonel of the 28th Volunteer Infantry and fought at Putol Bridge, near Taal and the campaign in northern Mindanao. He was highly complimented for his bravery and discipline in battle.
The army acknowledged Birkhimer’s grit and determination by giving him command of the 28th Infantry Regiment. South of Manila in the province of Cavite, Birkhimer’s 28th encountered Filipino lines near Imus in early January, 1900. His troops broke through and learned through a spy that a strong Filipino unit was entrenched near the village of Putol. Birkhimer attacked. The enemy was confident as it cheered and shouted “Viva Las Filipines.” The 28th routed the enemy, according to Birkhimer, and killed sixty-five insurgents.
When he was not engaged with the enemy, Birkhimer studied their guerilla warfare tactics and was impressed with their methods, such as their ability to blend into the population. Soldiers could appear as peaceful non-combatants, later don their uniforms and weapons, and become deadly soldiers. This strategy helped to extend the war into a long stalemate. Birkhimer wrote: “I owe it to our rebel enemy to say that, from their standpoint, I regard their scheme of warfare [as] nearly perfect. In the facility with which they can play the insurrecto-amigo act they have an immense advantage. …Their preeminent advantage…lies in their chameleon act—insurrecto or amigo—as suits them.”
Birkhimer’s last assignment was to administer a district in southern Luzon. A letter about him and his constant energy portrays him in less than flattering terms. “Old Birkhimer is about the biggest old ass that anybody ever saw wearing boots and spurs. The officers and men of his regiment hate him as they do the devil…He keeps the telegraph line hot sending long, prosy, asinine orders to everybody.”
Following his Philippines service, Birkhimer received a series of well-deserved promotions up to brigadier general. Shortly after his last promotion, Birkhimer retired for health reasons after over forty years of service.
As to his character and personality, he was noted for his intensity, vigor and energy that sometimes antagonized people. One who knew him wrote, “Under a harsh manner General Birkhimer has an extremely kind heart. He was chivalric and magnanimous to a degree.” Along this line, another officer remembered Birkhimer in the Philippines, “He was a magnificent commander in the field, never resting himself and able to get the hardest kind of work out of his subordinates…with all his preoccupation to his duties, that never allowed him to be familiar with his subordinates, he had the undoubted admiration and even affection of the volunteer soldiers…”
Birkhimer left another legacy relating to the Medal of Honor. As the highest form of recognition for valor in combat, he felt it should be presented in a more decorous way than it had before. He had written to the Secretary of War in the manner of a suggestion after he returned from the Philippines, “every possible attention should be paid to formality and solemnity of circumstance” when a recipient was given the medal. In 1905, President Roosevelt signed an executive order making following Birkhimer’s suggestion. Award ceremonies “will always be made with formal and impressive ceremony,” and the awardee “will, when practicable, be ordered to Washington, D.C., and the presentation be made by the President, as Commander in Chief, or by such representative as the president may designate…”
Birkhimer died in 1914 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.