William Harrison Speer was born on January 12, 1842, in Indiana to William Speer and Mary Barnhill. His father was a farmer. Speer grew up and attended school in Wayne, Indiana.
Speer enlisted in the Union army on September 13, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company I of the 7th Indiana Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, and the siege of Petersburg. He was wounded at Gettysburg, but he eventually recovered and rejoined the regiment. He was promoted to corporal on November 12, 1862, and to sergeant on May 1, 1863.
He expressed his devotion to the Union, writing in October 1861 that he would “ever remain willing and ready to fight for the Union the constitution, and the enforcement of the laws, for freedom and Liberty.” He vowed to “do my duty as a soldier” and “not…to lay down my musket until this Rebellion is put down and peace and harmony shall cover this land, as the waters cover the great deep.”
War weariness crept into his correspondence by 1864, and he decided not to reenlist. As he explained to his brother, “I want to see the folks at home too bad to go in for three years more.” Nonetheless, he remained committed to the war effort, supporting a draft that fall and hoping it would compel Peace Democrats to join the fight.
Speer returned to Wayne after leaving the army, and he married Sarah J. Harding on October 10, 1865. The couple had no children. Speer worked as a farmer, and by 1870, he owned $10,000 of real estate and $700 of personal property. He applied for a federal pension in September 1869 and eventually secured one. His wife died on November 11, 1906, and his health deteriorated after she was gone. He died of “paralysis agitans” in Wayne on February 14, 1910.