By John P. Langellier, Ph.D.
(John Langellier is the Director of the Central Division of the Arizona Historical Society located in Tempe. This article is a summary of a presentation he will make at the Eleventh Annual Western History Symposium that will be held at the Hassayampa Inn on August 2, 2, 2014. The Symposium is co-sponsored by the Prescott Corral of Westerners and the Sharlot Hall Museum and is open to the public free of charge. For more details, visit the Corral’s website atwww.precottscorral.org or call Fred Veil at 928-443-5580).
During the winter of 1861-62, following the beginning of hostilities in the Civil War, Union officials concluded the deeds of the American soldiers, sailors and marines who were distinguishing themselves in the fighting against the Confederates should be recognized. Early in the conflict, General-in-Chief of the Army Winfield Scott received a proposal for a medal for individual valor. Scott felt medals smacked of European affectation and rejected the idea but the idea found support in the United States Navy. On December 21, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln signed Public Resolution 82, which contained a provision for a navy’s medal of valor. The medal was “to be bestowed upon such petty officers, seamen, landsmen, and Marines as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry and other seamanlike qualities during the present war.”
On July 12, 1862, a similar resolution for the United Army became law for a medal of honor for “such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities, during the present insurrection.” Although it was created for the Civil War, Congress made the Medal of Honor a permanent decoration in 1863. Since that time, more than 3,400 men and one woman have been recognized for heroic actions in the nation’s battles and for other courageous efforts. Included in this valorous cadre were 157 recipients who fought in the deserts and mountains of today’s Grand Canyon State including eleven Apaches born in the Arizona Territory plus five other Arizona born heroes who performed above and beyond the call of duty.
The first of these men of valor was Bernard John Irwin, who received his MD at New York Medical College, then elected to practice his healing arts as a military surgeon. By early 1861, he had practiced for three years in New Mexico Territory when word came that troops near Apache Pass in today’s Arizona were called out as reinforcements. With only 14 men, Irwin led a rescue party eastward from Fort Buchanan to link up with besieged troops under Lieutenant George Bascom. The doctor and his command engaged in a fierce fight against Cochise and his warriors. In danger of being overrun, Irwin’s column reached Bascom’s anxious force in early February. The attack broke off. Decades later, Irwin was presented the Medal of Honor, for his daring actions on February13-14, 1861, the earliest engagement that resulted in the bestowal of this prestigious symbol of courage under fire.
In 1886, Dr. Leonard Wood put aside his scalpel to take up the life of a combat soldier on the trail of Geronimo (Photo Courtesy US Army Military History Institute).
Another surgeon turned fighting officer was Harvard medical school graduate Leonard Wood. Despite his excellent training as a healer, he had been dismissed from Boston City Hospital for exercising too much independent judgment in his treatment of patients. After a brief stint in private practice, one of Wood’s Harvard classmates persuaded the fledgling physician to seek a commission in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Shortly after his arrival in Arizona, Wood put aside his scalpel for a six-shooter, as American forces relentlessly pursued Geronimo during the Apache leader’s last days of resistance. Wood’s immediate superior, Fourth United States Cavalry Captain Henry Lawton, summed up his plucky subordinate’s role, reporting:
“His courage, energy and loyal support during the whole time; his encouraging example to the command, when work was the hardest, and prospects darkest, his thorough confidence and belief in final success of the expedition, and his untiring efforts to make it so, have placed me under obligations so great that I cannot express them.”
A grateful War Department eventually recognized Wood’s actions with a Medal of Honor. Later, he became President William McKinley’s personal physician, but left the comfort of the White House to assume command of the legendary “Rough Riders.” The unit and its second in command, Theodore Roosevelt, would achieve fame during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt went on to become commander in chief, and in 1910 Wood was named the U.S. Army’s chief of staff.
Not all Medal of Honor Arizona recipients were soldier-surgeons. In fact not all were officers or enlisted men in the United States Army. But the inspiring tales of all the heroes who performed above and beyond is too lengthy for this article, and the rest of the story must be told elsewhere.
(“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners, International (www.prescottcorral.org). The public is encouraged to submit articles for consideration. Please contact SHM Library & Archives reference desk at 928-445-3122 Ext. 14, or via email at dayspastprescott@gmail.com for information).