Horace W. Bivins was born on May 8, 1862, on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay at Pungoteague, Accomack County, Virginia. His parents, Severn S. and Elizabeth Bivins, were farmers; he worked with them during his childhood. In 1862 his father had financed the first church and schoolhouse for freed slaves built on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Bivins enrolled at Hampton Institute in June 1885. He studied briefly there and at Wayland Seminary in Washington, D.C., before enlisting in the Tenth United States Cavalry in November 1887. He joined the regiment at Fort Grant, Arizona Territory, in time to participate in skirmishes with Apaches following the end of the Apache Wars (1848–1886).
Bivins was a remarkable marksman one of the best in the army He won several medals in the military competitions that took place at various army subdivision headquarters The headquarters represented military departments ...
