George Columbus Barnhardt

George Columbus Barnhardt (December 28, 1868 – December 10, 1930) was an American Brigadier general active during World War I.

Barnhardt was born in Gold Hill, North Carolina. In 1892, he graduated number seventeen of sixty-two from the United States Military Academy.

Barnhardt was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Sixth Cavalry and served at Fort McKinney, New York from September 30, 1892 to October 2, 1894.

During the Spanish-American War, he commanded a cavalry troop in the Santiago campaign. After the war, he spent two years at Fort Leavenworth, in Kansas and then participated in the China Relief Expedition, followed by four years in the Philippines.

From 1907 to 1909, he was in Cuba and from 1909 to 1912 was adjutant of the 15th Cavalry. Barnhardt then did General Staff duty from 1913 to 1916 and was on the Mexican border. In 1916, he was also serving with the Quartermaster Corps. He commanded the 329th Infantry at Camp Sherman, in Ohio, and was in France with the American Expeditionary Force.

On August 1, 1918, he was promoted to Brigadier general of the national army and assigned the 178th Infantry Brigade in France and Germany. From 1921 to 1925, after arriving back in the United States, Barnhardt was a General Staff colonel, and from 1925 to 1927 he commanded the Sixth Cavalry. He also commanded the Military District of Washington from July to September 1927, and his last assignment was the command of the 22d Infantry Brigade in Hawaii.

Barnhardt was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal from the United States, as well as the Croix de Guerre with palm and the Legion of Honor from France.

George Columbus Barnhardt died at the age of sixty-one on May 14, 1924.