Distinctly Montana Magazine

63 w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m bugler incapable of manually controlling his horse. Fortunately, Snow narrowly es- caped his brush with death. First sergeants Michael A. McGann, Jo- seph Robinson, and John Henry Shingle received Medals of Honor for valor exhib- ited at Kollmar Crossing, the one sector of the battlefield in which Lakota forces pos- sessed a significant numerical advantage. Hostilities there culminated in the fierc- est fighting of the entire engagement. According to Paul Hedren, the author of Rosebud, Third Cavalry officers who were also Civil War veterans concurred that they never experienced "anything hotter" than the firefight and close-quarters com- bat that erupted at Kollmar Creek. Cap- tain Guy Henry, who joined the ranks of MOH recipients in 1893, survived a griev- ous bullet wound to his face, one inflict- ed at Kollmar Crossing. Henry justifiably described this area as the "Valley of the Shadow of Death." Twenty-four Medals of Honor were awarded for gallantry in Montana's most iconic battle. The Reno-Benteen defense site was the focal point of activities that led to conferment of those medals, most of which were awarded to soldiers (15) who volunteered, on the morning of June 26, to procure water for their wounded comrades. These men were subjected to "galling fire" from Lakota warriors, so Captain Benteen dispatched four sharp- shooters to Medal of Honor Point. From this exposed position, they provided cover fire as water brigades moved to and from the Little Bighorn River via Water Carrier's Ravine. Private Charles Win- dolph, Sergeant George Geiger, Black- smith Henry Mechling, and Saddler Otto Voit received Medals of Honor for their service in the latter capacity. Indeed, the medals of Mechling, Windolph, and Pri- vate James Pym have long been exhibit- ed at the Little Bighorn Battlefield visitor center. Five additional Little Bighorn combatants received the Medal of Honor for gallantry in other engagements. The best-known member of this cadre is Thomas Ward Custer, who became America's first dou- ble Medal of Honor recipient on May 26, 1865. The action for which he received his second medal was particularly notewor- thy. On April 6, at Sailor's Creek, Second Lieutenant Custer galloped directly to- ward Confederate infantry lines, leaped over defensive breastworks, and engaged their color bearer. Seizing the regimental flag with one hand, Custer was shot in the face at point-blank range, so close that his face was speckled with burnt gunpowder. Soon thereafter, Custer dispatched his adversary with one round from his pistol. Colonel Henry Capehart, who witnessed this feat, later stated that "for intrepidity I never saw this incident surpassed." The largest Medal of Honor award cer- emony in Montana history occurred on July 18, 1877, at Cantonment on Tongue River, where General William T. Sherman pinned medals on the dress coats of 31 en- listed men, all of whom served under the command of Colonel Nelson Miles during the winter campaign of 1876–1877. Ci- tations for these awards are sparsely de- tailed and, in Miles's letter of recommen- dation, broadly contextualized as having occurred at "Cedar Creek, Montana, Oc- tober 21,—Redwater Creek, Montana, December 18, 1876; and Wolf Mountain, Montana, January 8, 1877." Elmer Alonson Snow Captain Guy Henry Second Lieutenant Thomas Ward Custer

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