Son of Robert Palmer and Mary (Estabrook) Beebe.

Enlisted in the Union Army on June 28, 1861 and appointed Sergeant Major of the 3rd New York Infantry. Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant of Company G on November 15, 1862. Promoted to 1st Lieutenant on June 24, 1863. Appointed Regimental Adjutant on May 27, 1864. Was on Detached Duty as Acting Assistant Inspector General of 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 10th Army Corps when he was Wounded In Action (left thigh) on October 27, 1864 at New Market Road, VA. Mustered out of Federal Service on August 28, 1865 at Raleigh, NC. For Gallant and Meritorious Service during the war he was appointed Brevet Captain and Brevet Major, U. S. Volunteers to date from March 13, 1865.

Married Clara Coryell on April 25, 1867 at Havana, NY. They settled in Denver, CO where he was a Hardware Merchant and had four children: Robert Dwight, Anna, Bertie and one other.

Anna Beebe (1872-1973) married William F. Keller (1871-1921). They had two daughters, Doris and Frances.

"Case 411. — Lieutenant Dwight Beebe, Adjutant 3d New York Veteran Vols., was wounded on October 27, 1864, while in command of a skirmish line on the Darbytown Road, near Richmond. He was, on the same day, admitted into the Flying Hospital of the Tenth Corps, near Chapin's Farm. Dr. C M. Clark, late Surgeon 39th Illinois, under date of September 17, 1869, gives the following description of the case: "The wound was made with a conoidal ball, which entered the right thigh, outer surface, at the junction of middle with upper third, passing upward and inward, and making its exit at the upper and inner angle of Scarpa's triangle, slightly abrading the scrotum in its passage. On examination of the wound I found an extensive comminution of the femur, and removed sixteen (16) fragments before the operation was decided upon. * * I made a longitudinal incision from the great trochanter down, to the extent of five inches, and took away the upper fragment with a chain saw at its junction with the capsule (the bone above being sound). I then removed all the spiculas attaching to the periosteum (which was preserved) and muscle, cleansing the wound thoroughly; then turned out the lower portion and removed it smoothly with the common amputating saw. Dr. N. Y. Leet assisted me in the operation." On October 28th, Lieutenant Beebe was taken to the landing near Deep Bottom, and placed on board a hospital transport and conveyed to Fortress Monroe, and admitted into the Chesapeake Hospital on the evening of November 1st. He was placed upon a fracture bed and received the best attention. There was a profuse discharge and the patient soon became exhausted. The upper extremity of the lower fragment necrosed, and a ring of bone seven-eighths of an inch in length exfoliated. This occurred in the middle of January, 1865. After the dead bone was eliminated, Lieutenant Beebe rallied. On May 17, 1865, he was able to be moved comfortably, and obtained a leave of absence and went to his home in New York. He returned to the hospital July 9th, and, in September, 1865, again went to the north with his regiment to be mustered out at the expiration of its term of service ( Circular 2, p. 33). In a letter dated Havana, October 27, 1868, Mr. Beebe says: "I continued to improve until I was able to get around with a cane and supposed I was as well as I would ever be, until August, 1867, when my wound broke out and discharged terribly for about three weeks. The medical men here thought it was brought on by irritation, being on it too much. Now, with the exception of the limb being quite weak, it only troubles me in damp weather, when it has a dull heavy ache. It has all healed. The flesh on the outside of the thigh is quite numb. My knee is stiff. My general health is not good, and my physician cautions me to be very careful of myself. The limb measures 3 1/8 inches short. Resection, 2 1/4 inches; necrosis of the bone, 7/8 inch." Pension Surgeon G. D Baley, of Havana, N. Y., examined Lieutenant Beebe in November, 1867, and reported: "Right leg is three inches shorter and three inches smaller in circumference than the other. There is anchylosis of the knee joint. The patient has repeatedly been confined to his room six weeks at a time. The wound is now discharging, the limb is weak and painful. He is constantly liable to fall in walking." In a letter to the editor, dated April 30, 1869, Dr. Baley describes the portion of the femur shown to him by Lieutenant Beebe's father, the upper division of the bone being "just below the greater trochanter obliquely downward from the outer side of the bone, to the middle of the lesser trochanter on the inner side; the lower division being a transverse cut embracing 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inches of the upper section of the bone. I think the head of the bone could not have been removed, as there is now, and was at the time of my first examination, the full development of the greater trochanter and neck of the femur. There is at this time great tenderness and pain both above and below the section of excision, with frequent suppurations. There is also evidence of a loss of portion of bone two or three inches below the lower section of the operation." Pension Surgeon F. J. Bancroft, of Denver, Colorado, reported, in September, 1875: "Ball entered anterior portion of thigh, fracturing upper third, and made its exit near the anus. Resection of two inches of the upper third of the femur was performed, causing shortening of three inches. The muscles are softer and smaller in this limb." Since that time the pensioner has been exempted from biennial examination, his disability being corsidered permanent. A copy of the photograph, furnished by the patient (Contributed Photographs, Vol. XII, p. 17), is represented in Fig. 162. He was paid March 4, 1879." -- The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. Part III, Volume II. (3rd Surgical volume) by U. S. Army Surgeon General's Office, 1883.