William Emerson Strong was born August 10, 1840, in Granville (Washington County), New York. He was living in Racine, Wisconsin, when he was commissioned captain of Company F, 2nd Wisconsin Infantry, on April 24, 1861, and was promoted to major of the 12th Wisconsin Infantry on September 7, 1861. He was appointed the Assistant Inspector General on December 13, 1862; was brevetted colonel on September 1, 1864; promoted to brigadier general of of U.S. Volunteers on March 21, 1865, and mustered out on September 1, 1865.
After the Civil War, Strong moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he was a lawyer and lumber merchant. In 1872, he accompanied Secretary of War Belknap, Colonel Randolph B. Marcy, Lt. Col. James W. Forsyth, and Lt. Gustavus C. Doane on an expedition to explore the new Yellowstone National Park.
William E. Strong died April 10, 1891, in Florence, Italy. He is buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.
The following mentions of William E. Strong are from Chapter 20 of E. B. Quiner’s Military History of Wisconsin (Chicago, 1866):
Page 576: Major Strong, who had held the position of Division Inspector General, was on the 13th of December [1862], promoted to the position of Acting Inspector General of the Seventeenth Army Corps.
Page 588: On the muster out of Colonel Bryant, Lieutenant Colonel Proudfit was promoted to Colonel, Major William E. Strong, Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain John M. Price, Major.
The Civil War and Northwest Wisconsin 