US Military History Institute photo

Hiram Dryer enlisted as private in the Mounted Rifles in August of
1846. By August of 1847, during the war with Mexico, Dryer had
been promoted to sergeant and was serving with Company H of
the Mounted Rifles. He was promoted to First Sergeant, Company
H, Mounted Rifles, in September of 1847.

In June of 1848, for gallantry at the battles of Chapultepec and
Garita De Belen, he was brevet second lieutenant and transfered
to the Fourth Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant,
Fourth Infantry, in September of 1853.

Lieutenant Dryer volunteered to carry supplies to a party of
emigrants snowed-in, in the Cascade Mountains, in November of
1853.   He was engaged in an expedition agains the Snake Indians
from May to October of 1855 and was on general recruiting
service from 1858 to 1860.

He was promoted to captain, Fourth Infantry, in May of 1861 and,
with the Fourth U.S. Infantry Regiment, was engaged in the Siege
of Yorktown and the battles of Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, Second
Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Fredericksburg. In June of 1863, prior to the battle of Gettysburg, Captain
Dryer left the Regiment after he received injuries from a fall off a horse.

He served as military commander and superintendent of volunteer recruiting service and chief mustering and disbursing
officer in Boston, Massachusetts, from June, 1863, to April, 1865. He was promoted to Major and assigned to the 13th
Infantry in May of 1865. He was transferred to the Twenty-Second Infantry when the Army was reorganized in 1866.
Hiram Dryer was brevet Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army, for gallant and meritorious services at the Battle of
Chancellorsville, Virginia.

He died at Fort Randall, Dakota Territory, March, 5, 1867 at the age of 37.