Civil War Union Army Officer. He was commissioned as a Captain in the 3rd New Jersey Volunteer Infantry on June 1, 1861, and was mustered in as the commander of Company H. he led his unit until June 25, 1863, when he was promoted to Major, replacing the resigned Major James W.H. Stickney. He served until June 23, 1864 when he was honorably mustered out at the expiration of his enlistment.

"Case 965. — Fracture of ilium from a fall under a horse. — Major W. E. Bryan, 3d New Jersey, aged 41 years, was injured in the right hip by his horse falling upon him. near Brandy Station, February 22, 1864. Two days after the accident he was conveyed to Washington, where he entered Armory Square Hospital and afterwards Georgetown Seminary. Surgeon D. VV. BIiss, U. S. V., in charge of the former, and Surgeon H. W. Dueachet, U. S. V.. in charge of the latter, both described the injury as a "fracture of the right ilium.'' Subsequently the patient was treated for a time in private quarters, and on June 23, 1864, he was discharged from service, since when he has become a pensioner. The Philadelphia Examining Board, consisting of Drs. J. Collins. T. S. Harper. J. H. Sherwood, and E. A. Smith, certified, February 7, 1872: "The pensioner sustained a fracture of the crest of the right ilium, he complains of constant pain and inability to follow any occupation, looks delicate, and carries the right hip somewhat higher than the left." Subsequent examining boards reported, in 1875 and 1877, that "the hip is flattened and the leg slightly shorter than its fellow, he alleges pain and fatigue in the hip, and has oblique inguinal hernia of right side, well supported by a truss." The pensioner was paid .June 4. 1881." -- 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.