George Columbus Barnhardt

Barnhardt was born in Gold Hill, North Carolina. In June 1892, he graduated number seventeen of sixty-two from the United States Military Academy.[2] Several of his fellow classmates included future general officers, such as Charles Pelot Summerall, Tracy Campbell Dickson, Julian Robert Lindsey, William Ruthven Smith, James Ancil Shipton, Louis Chapin Covell, Preston Brown, George Blakely, John M. Palmer, Frank W. Coe, Howard Russell Hickok, Robert Mearns, Henry Howard Whitney, William Chamberlaine, John Edwin Woodward and Peter Weimer Davison.

Barnhardt was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Sixth Cavalry and served at Fort McKinney, New York, from September 30, 1892, to October 2, 1894.

During the Spanish–American War, he commanded a cavalry troop in the Santiago campaign. After the war, he spent two years at Fort Leavenworth, in Kansas and then participated in the China Relief Expedition, followed by four years in the Philippines.

From 1907 to 1909, he was in Cuba and from 1909 to 1912 was adjutant of the 15th Cavalry. Barnhardt then did General Staff duty from 1913 to 1916 and was on the Mexican border. In 1916, he was also serving with the Quartermaster Corps. He commanded the 329th Infantry at Camp Sherman, in Ohio, and was in France with the American Expeditionary Force after the American entry into World War I.

On August 1, 1918, he was promoted to Brigadier general of the national army and assigned the 178th Brigade in France and Germany. From 1921 to 1925, after arriving back in the United States, Barnhardt was a General Staff colonel, and from 1925 to 1927 he commanded the Sixth Cavalry. He also commanded the Military District of Washington from July to September 1927, and his last assignment was the command of the 22d Infantry Brigade in Hawaii.[3]

Barnhardt was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal from the United States, as well as the Croix de Guerre with palm and the Legion of Honor from France.[4][5]

Some sources claim George Columbus Barnhardt died at Ft. Bliss on December 10, 1930.[6] Other sources give a death date of May 14, 1924.[7]

• Cullum, George W. 1891. Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. military academy at West Point, N.Y.: from its establishment, in 1802, to 1890 : with the early history of the United States military academy. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. OCLC 1417240
• Davis, Henry Blaine. Generals in Khaki. Raleigh, NC: Pentland Press, 1998. ISBN 1571970886 OCLC 231779136
• Marquis Who's Who, Inc. Who Was Who in American History, the Military. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1975. ISBN 0837932017 OCLC 657162692
• "Valor Awards for George Columbus Barnhardt." Valor Awards for George Columbus Barnhardt. Military Times, n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2016. <http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=17242>.
• "Biography of George Columbus Barnhardt". Digital Collections. East Carolina University. 1930–1939. Retrieved June 20, 2021.