Dorsey Ernest Phillips was born on February 8, 1874, in Hyattstown, Maryland. After serving in the United States Army with the 7th Regular Cavalry (May 1893 to May 1898), Phillips went on to become a special agent for the Bureau of Investigation, the precursor to the modern-day FBI. Phillips began investigative operations in North Carolina in the spring of 1917 and was formally assigned to institute a Wilmington headquarters in November 1917. After accusing Gov. Thomas W. Bickett of improperly intervening in the draft for World War I, he was reassigned to an office in Jacksonville, Florida, in September 1918. Phillips died in Fountain Hill, Pennsylvania, on December 10, 1954.