William Peirce Ennis, son of Lieutenant and Mrs. William Ennis of the Fourth Artillery, was born at the Presidio in San Francisco on 30 January 1878. His mother was Andrine L. Pierce of Boston. His father graduated from USMA in 1864, was brevetted twice for gallantry in action before the year was out and was for five years (1933 to 1938) the oldest living graduate of USMA. The family lived for years at Newport, Rhode Island, where young William developed a love for the water, light artillery and horses. He entered USMA and graduated number twenty of seventy-four in the class of 1901. Beverly F. Browne (q.v.) was one of his classmates. He was commissioned in the Artillery Corps, and on 25 April 1903 married Eda Totten, not only an army girl, but an artillery daughter. She had the reputation of being one of the most beloved women in the army, always ready to comfort the stricken and help the overburdened. They had only one child William P. Ennis, Jr., who retired as a lieutenant general. His first three years of duty were in a light artillery battery at Fort Hamilton, followed by four years in West Point, then three years at the Remount Depot at Fort Reno, Oklahoma, just west of Oklahoma City. He had the reputation of being the best trainer of artillery horses in the army. In 1912, he went with the First Battalion, First Field Artillery to the Philippines. They rejoined the rest of the regiment in Hawaii in 1913, and in 1915, he was ordered back to West Point to command the artillery detachment there. He was known as "Roaring Bill," and was admired in the corps as a man who ran his business without a hitch and always knew exactly how much to demand from his horses and his men (including cadets). At the end of 1917, he was sent to Fort Sill as senior instructor in the Department of Materiel, School of Fire. He became a colonel (NA) in May 1918, and received the Distinguished Service Medal for his work as director of the Department of Materiel. On 8 August 1918, he was promoted to brigadier general (NA) and commanded the 13th Field Artillery Brigade at Camp Lewis, Washington. Armistice came and everyone reverted to their permanent ranks, so he again became a major. He spent the next six years in school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas at the Army War College, and on General Staff assignments. His energy and curiosity spread in all directions. While G-4 in Panama (1922 to 1925), he, with a collection of fellow fishing enthusiasts, purchased an old sub-chaser named Papagallo, and he became the engineer. He personally patched the hull, tore down and rebuilt the engines, installed new prop shafts and happily cruised the Gulf of Panama for a long time. He studied navigation, and took the exam for and received the ship's captain's papers. When the skipper was rotated home, he became the captain. He habitually rose at 0500 to supervise before office hours the training of a carload of green horses, supposedly polo ponies. He received the greatest compliment the Chief of Artillery could then offer– the position of assistant commandant of the Field Artillery School. The field artillery was being reorganized into battalions and regiments. During his term he surrounded himself with very able men, including Devers, Honeycutt, Swing, Brooks and Sibert, to name just a few. People were proud of the training they got from him, and were proud of him, also. He left Sill in 1929, commanded the Second Battalion of the 16th Field Artillery for the next two years, then had General Staff duty with his old friend Fox Conner in Boston. For three years he commanded the Sixth Field Artillery at Fort Hoyle, Maryland. Most of the time he was in command of the First Field Artillery Brigade and the post as well. He retired in 1941, and his family went to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts to live. They had twenty-seven peaceful and happy years there. At the age of ninety, he died, on 28 July 1968, survived by his widow and son. His one-time brigade chaplain, Rt. Rev. Herman R. Page, conducted the service.