Pictures of these heroes on the site, include one they and so many others on the net claim is George. But all have it wrong. Same for most who get his age, place of birth and in fact even his name wrong. And we can blame George for most of this!
George first joined the US army, on 4 August 1868 by enlisting with D Company of the 15th US Infantry at Memphis. Thus their claim to state MOH status. The paperwork claimed that he was 26 years old and born in Pulsaki County Illinois.
How and when he arrived in the US remains a mystery. However research has shown that George was not 26 but 29 when enlisted. While his actual date of birth remains a mystery also, he was christened on either 1 or 4 August 1839 in the Parish of Boughton Aluph, Kent, England. And his birth name was Stephen...not George. There were 9 children in the family. The youngest was brother George, the name Stephen chose when enlisting or perhaps on arrival, in North America.
It seems that as a youth he was involved in a serious aggravated assault on another, charged and fined. Suggestions have it that he fled the country and came to the US, perhaps to avoid the scandal, or the fine. The changed name would make it difficult for the family to find him, and prevent the military rejecting him as unfit for service.
This service was not continuous, as he took several breathers between some of the enlistments, taking on other jobs but eventually again returning to the uniform.
Over much of this time George would find himself in the thick of skirmishes with the native Americans. The white's would keep pushing the natives away from areas they wanted to inhabitate and the Natives were losing the fight for serviceable lands for their way of life. Atrocities would take place small and large and often caused by either or both sides much of the time.
The events have both sides blaming the other for the slaughter that became famous as the Wounded Knee Massacre by the natives and the less alarming Pine Ridge Campaign (describing the larger campaign) for the 7th US Cavalry.
While the natives were performing their Ghost Dances the whites were getting ever more concerned that the dance was about to lead into to full scale battle, and thus the 7th were sent in with overwhelming numbers of troopers and 4 Hotchkiss guns, to "settle" the natives down and get into their camp to disarm them, though few were apparently armed.
On 29 December 1890, while several versions of the story exist, the first shot of a rifle went out. Others very soon followed by both sides. It would not be long before it was all over. But by then between 250 and 300 native men women and children lay dead on the ground, as did some 25 soldiers. To these can be added about 80 other Natives and Cavalrymen who were wounded. Reports claim that most of the natives were unarmed.
Later investigations lambasted the army leadership on site and later calls for rescinding medals of Honor have not resulted in same. Various arguments introduced were interesting as none seemed to be of consideration during the famous days on the 1916 purge of the 27th Maine medals and a few others, noted often in this space.
RULES FOR SOME, SOME OF THE TIME l GUESS!
Regardless, you can easily see that because of the ridiculous positioning of the soldiers, during the battle they were all firing inbound.. possibly hitting some of their own men.
Six months later, on 23 June 1891 George was awarded a Medal of Honor with the citation... Conspiculous and gallant conduct in battle.
Within 6 months he would be dead, having succumbed to double pneumonia while stationed to to the Jefferson Barracks in Montana and is today at rest in their cemetery.
Our group, the Medal of Honor Historically Society of the US discovered this back on 2004 and took steps to correct it.
Here is the new marker...
This in incorrect. The fellow appears to be far to young, but stronger still, is the fact that he is very much alive whilst wearing the Medal of Honor from Civil War days... AND the replacement medal not created until the early 1900's and over a dozen years AFTER HE HAD DIED.
After George's death, his medal was sent to his father back in England. When the father died it was sent to Canada where the real George was then living. Upon his death the medal went to George's daughter. It is thought the medal found a home in Ontario possibly, then Alberta and farther west later still and may have been in the country for decades before being sent off by unknown persons back to London and auctioned off in 2014.
I'll be back in TWO weeks.