William C Nesbit was born in 1890 at Altoona, Pennsylvania, to a family with a long history of social activism as well as a proud tradition of military service. Thirteen members of his extended family served the Union cause in the Civil War. His grandfather, William W. Nesbit, was a corporal in the famous 54th Massachusetts Infantry and later served as president of the Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League. Nesbit enlisted in the Army on 16 August 1911 and was assigned to ‘I’ Company, 24th Infantry. He re-enlisted for a second hitch in 1914 and served the regiment during General John Pershing’s Punitive Expedition into Mexico in 1916.

During the court-martial, Captain Tom Fox testified that Sergeant Nesbit had a reputation as an excellent soldier, “especially as to his loyalty to his officers.” Nesbit did not take the stand or make a statement on his own behalf. Every depiction of Nesbit in the record indicates that he was a professional NCO of the highest caliber. His concern for the welfare of his soldiers was part of his persona, and he was consistent in that to the end. When he and the other twelve condemned men were led to the gallows in the predawn darkness of 11 December 1917, Nesbit gave them his final order. “Not a word out of any you men, now,” a witness recorded him saying, and he led them to their deaths as soldiers, with their dignity intact.