Roads to the Great War: The Incredible 32 Days of June 1916

Roads to the Great War: The Incredible 32 Days of June 1916: Stretch June 1916 a little, adding a day at each end—31 May and 1 July. This minor astronomical adjustment allows adding two monumental even...

At last, the Trump's have a chance to erase the stain of no service.

Reporter: How long are you willing to wait for a response from Iran?

Trump: Don’t rush me. We were in Vietnam for 18 years.

From a press conference yesterday.

I must ask who is "we"?  Trump wasn't in Vietnam for 18 years. . 18 months, or shoot,. 18 hours.  

No Trump has served in any U.S. war. . . ever.  While there are reasons that explain it, Trump's grandfather was regarded as a draft evader in his native Germany and had to leave as a result, upon returning home after having made his initial fortune in lodging and prostitution.

Well, at last, it appears this historical stain can be addressed.

The White House posted this as a pin for "no pannicans".  People who really trust in Trump.

And who could trust more in the demented octogenarian than members of the Trump family itself.  This must be the Designated Insignia for a 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, a la Spanish American War, unit for Trump's new forever wars.

Oh, just imagine the glory.  Don Jr. and Barron can be the first off the Blackhawk in Iran, or Cuba, and finally be under fire.  Sure, some of them may get blown away, just like Quentin Roosevelt in World War One, but they will have given their lives for the thing that matters most to Donald Trump, that being Donald Trump.  

Not that an entire unit can be filled up with just Trumps.  There's a lot of them, but not that many.  Just like the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, recruiting can occur quickly and the unit can be filled up with rich swells and MAGAs.  Elon Musk missed his mandatory military service in his native South Africa. . .well here's his chance.  Name appear on the Epstein lists. . .well here's the chance to blot that out.  Maybe even the prince formerly known as Andrew can join.

And Bebos. . . there's a spot for you!  

And of course all the smaller MAGAs can go.  No reason single men like Chuck Gray and Reid Rasner can't show their undying love of the leader.  And some with military experience can finally prove their mettle in the new Trumpian world.  After all, Theodore Roosevelt left his position in the Department of the Navy to fight in Cuba. . . there's no reason that J.D. Vance can't resume his military career. And Marco Rubio might get his chance to lead a charge up San Juan Hill.

And triumphal arch will at last serve a purpose.  The dead bodies of the Trump Riders can be dumped into the hollow core of the monstrosity.  A fitting purpose for it.

Sunday, March 31, 1946. Arresting Nazis, Russia pays up, you have to wonder about Дональд, Field Marshall Gort passes.

7,000 Allied soldiers served warrants on Nazi officials.  Ausgezeichnet!

The first Greek elections since 1936 took place, with the Communist Party of Greece refusing to participate.  

Russia, as a political subdivision of the USSR, paid its U.N. dues of $1,725,000, under the thesis that the USSR had multiple representation in the UN.

Trump would probably support an effort of Russia not to pay, which was feared at the time, sending the leader of the nation a Я люблю тебя, Дональд note, like he does in an implied way to the current leader of Russia constantly.

What's up with that?

Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort became yet another World War Two senior officer to die following the war, albeit his death was due to liver cancer.

He was a recipient of the Victoria Cross in World War One.

Last edition:

Monday, January 14, 1946. Wartime and Post War foodstuffs.

Labels: 1940s, 1946, Army, Cartoons, Iran, J.R. Williams, Mountain Troops, Personalities, The Cold War, U.S. Navy, United States, USSR, World War Two

Tuesday, March 16, 1926. Sgt. Stubby crosses the Rainbow Bridge.

Boston Terrier Sgt. Stubby, mascot of the mascot of the 102nd Infantry Regiment, died at age 10.  He'd served for 18 months in France in the Great War, participating in 100 battles and four offensives.  He provided warnings of attacks and of the use of mustard gas, and captured a German soldier by holding him by the seat of his pants.

He was a genuinely heroic dog.

The Casper recaptured fugitives indicated that they'd left Casper by rail.

I posted this page for the bus schedule.  I have a detailed thread coming up on trains, and then noted this.  I wasn't aware that there was a bus by 1926.

A closer look.

What isn't clear is how long the bus trip took.

There is bus service from Casper today.  Greyhound.  We'll take a look at that in some future post.

Apparently unrestrained immigration was worrying some.  Others were worrying about Wyoming's oilfield population leaving for Texas.

Robert Goddard launched the first liquid fuel rocket in the United States at his Aunt Effie's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts.

Rocketry, like aviation, advanced like crazy.  By World War Two rockets would be in use as ground weapons, air to air weapons, and of course, with the first ballistic missiles.

Last edition:

Monday, March 15, 1926. Boxer Rebellion Echoes, Manhunt ends, National Guard Cavalry Inspection.

Labels: 1920s, 1926, Boxer Rebellion, cavalry, China, Costa Rica, Crime, Disaster, French Navy, Idaho Army National Guard, Imperial Japanese Navy, Italian Navy, Railroads, Royal Navy, U.S. Navy, Wyoming National Guard

In the event of conscription (and Trumpite insiders say the demented octogenarian is considering it) conscript ICE first, and then deploy them.

Chuck, Reid, John. . . history awaits.

There's precedent for it.

When Woodrow Wilson, after campaigning on keeping us out of war, committed us to the greatest one in the world's history at that time since the Napoleonic Wars, he was faced with the problem that his pacificist Attorney General was of the view that National Guardsmen could be Federalized only to spats within the United States.  That's what kept them on the border, but not over it, during the Punitive Expedition.

But somebody came up with the brilliant idea that as the U.S. was introducing conscription, the entire Guard could just be conscripted. . . so it was, on August 5, 1917, specifically.

ICE already acts like an occupying military force, and it dresses like one.  It's familiar with weapons, as we all know.  If troops are needed for boots on the ground, draft them en masse. 

I'm not joking.  Those who signed up for ICE had to be comfortable with MAGA extremism.  Let them go fight for MAGA.  Draft them into the Army, and if boots are going in, send them.

I'll note I've seen a similar idea posted elsewhere:

Draft MAGA First for Trump’s war!

Go fight for their Trump!

I feel the same way here.  I'm tired of the rah rah MAGAs who are were against war until Trump was for it, and support anything that Trump supports.  Over half of the American public feels Donald Trump is a demented twat waffle.  Let those who admire him go fight and if necessary die for their beloved.  They portray Trump as a hero. . . well here's there very own chance to be one themselves.

Let the Trumps go first.  Barron is of military age and, based on the life history of his family, is more likely to be a boil on the butt of humanity than something benefitting it. Service would do him, and his two brothers, and heck his sisters good.  Maybe the Trump family will pull itself out of the world it lives in and inflicts on the rest of us if they see a little of the rest of it that isn't so rich and gaudy.

Let them go fight, and if necessary die, in their father's war.

And the same for Wyoming mega MAGA Trumpites.  Chuck Gray is still young enough to serve and hasn't had a real job a day in his life.  He's not married and doesn't have any dependents either.  Here's his chance.  He can come back a veteran, maybe a hero, or, if in a body bag, well, there won't be a widow or orphan. Reid Rasner already has the crewcut, and he's single too.  Let him go put his life on the line for Donald.  He talks might big, let him put his mouth, and his body, where his words are.   Yes, there's risk involved, but if that risk isn't accepted, well the words were just that.

Chuck and Reid, a recruiting station is a near as the mall.

And then there's all the "I'm a veteran" candidates out there who on the far right in Wyoming.  Well, if there's one thing being a veteran qualifies you for its military service.  Brent Bien.  . . your chance to show us your mettle once again awaits. . . 

Shoot, let non veteran John Barrasso go.  Heck, make him go.  He's been practicing the Patton "war face" for years.  Yes, he's a geezer, but I'm confident if he asked Donny, Donny would let him go and shortly forget who he was. 

Most Americans didn't want this war.  Most Americans shouldn't have to fight in it.  Perhaps only those who are willing to volunteer for it within the service right now should have to.  We let servicemen with moronic objections to vaccinations out of the service during the Biden Administration.  We should let those who have no desire to fight and die for whatever we're fighting and dying for now get out, if they don't want to serve. Their ranks can be filled by MAGA, ICE, and Trumps.

But it won't happen.

ICE will simply carry on as it is, until 2027.  MAGAs will continue to support any dumbass thing Trump spews out of his decaying brain.  People who have connections with Epstein Island will go on doing what they do.

And if we're still in it by fall and its turning to shit, well 9 out of the 10 "Trump was always right" crowed will deny they ever saw anything in him.  They knew, they'll claim, he was a fraud all along.

Only the dead, Santayana tells us, have seen an end to war.  It's a pretty good guess that no Trumps and no fire breathing MAGA politicians are going to see war at all.  They're okay with Trumps war, but not so much that they'll ever seek out to fight in it.

Not that this is a surprise.  Trump has always felt that servicemen are schmucks.  He's loyal to no one other than himself, and perhaps to those who have something over him.  The dead, well, you know, that just happens.

Thursday, March 9, 1916. Germany declares war on Portugal,

Germany declared war on Portugal.

The Germans attacked the commune of Cumières-le-Mort-Homme from Béthincourt, France.

The Italians launched an offensive around Gorizia and Tolmin.

The Western Frontier Force left Sidi Barrani and marched to capture Sollum, Egypt from the Ottoman Empire and their Senussi allies.

Arnold Spencer-Smith of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition died while en route to Hut Point for medical treatment for exhaustion and scurvy.

And peace was about to end for the United States:

Remembering Pancho Villa’s attack on Columbus, N.M.

 

Thursday, March  9, 1916. The Raid On Columbus New Mexico. 

And with this entry, the day to day tracking of events from January 1, 1914, up to the this date in 1926, is complete. There won't be any daily updates for 1916 hereafter, as we've already done that.

Anyone tracking this in the future will note that our styles changed over time.  Indeed, considerably.  For one thing, on later posts you can always look back and see the post right before it in a link.  When we started these daily entries in 2016, that wasn't the case.  In some instances, however, that feature has been later added.

Additionally, as with the entries from March 9, 2016, we often did more than one, if there was more than one thing to feature for the day.  At some point we stopped doing that.

You'll still find, for the time being, daily updates, when there's something worth noting, for 1876.  We're unlikely to carry that past the summer, however, as the 1870sn are really outside the focus of the blog.  I've thought about stopping it earlier, and may do that.

You will likely still see events carrying forward from 1901, which started with 1900.  This is backfill, frankly, for the 1910 to 1920 period that is the focus of the blog. The same is true for the 1911 entries, which are backfilling up to 1914.  As 1911 is already within the Mexican Revolution period, that will carry on, even though the first decade of the 20th Century may very well not.

We don't post many entries from the 1920s now that we're up to 1926, although we do occasionally. This is really outside the focus period of the blog and by 1926 the country was on to a new era.  The same is true for the 1940s, now that we're past the Second World War, although we still post a few.  The fifty years ago entries, now into 1976, are few and far between as well as there just aren't that many things I find interesting from that period, historically, which of course I have a personal memory of.

Anyhow, I hope the readers enjoyed reading the daily entries from March 9, 1916 up to March 9, 1926, and enjoyed the backfill that brought in the rest of World War One and the daily happenings as it was going on.  The immediate prewar era, 1910 to the end of 1913, will still be getting backfilled, which we hope you also enjoy.

Last edition:

Wednesday, March 8, 1916. Villa crosses the border.

Labels: 1910, 1916, Battle of Columbus, Battle of Dujaila, British Army, Columbus New Mexico, Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Iraq, Mexican Border War, Ottoman Army, Pancho Villa, The Punitive Expedition, World War One

Wednesday, March 8, 1916. Villa crosses the border.

Pancho Villa and about 400 of his men crossed the Mexican border near Columbus New Mexico.

The town had a U.S. Army garrison of 600.  

The town was also the home of Sam Ravel, a man to whom Villa had given money to buy arms but who had not delivered, although that is unlikely to have been the reason for the attack, as we discussed here:

The Columbus Raid. Why did it occur?

Ottoman forces stopped a much larger British force attempting to relieve Kut.

The sledging party of the second arm of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was reduced to three walking members during their return trek from Mount Hope in the Antarctic.

Last edition:

Tuesday, March 7, 1916. Villa close to the border.

Labels: 1910s, 1916, boats and ships, British Army, Egypt, Mexican Border War, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Pancho Villa, Royal Navy, Senussi

Tuesday, February 22, 1916. German advance at Verdun.

The Germans advanced to Fabas, France, in their offensive at Verdun.

The French executed Phan Xích Long following an attempted prison breakout days earlier.

Last edition:

Monday, February 21, 1916. The Battle of Verdun commences.

Labels: 1910s, 1916, Albania, Battle of Verdun, boats and ships, Commercial fishing, French Army, German Army, German Kriegsmarine, Italian Navy, Personalities, Verdun France

Weekend Update #170: Russian Advances Are Slower Than The Battle Of The Somme Trump And Putin Together, Different Examples

 

Weekend Update #170: Russian Advances Are Slower Than The Battle Of The Somme

Trump And Putin Together, Different Examples

Monday, December 31, 1945. The end of a historical episode and the dawn of a new one, additional labels.

Thursday, December 23, 1915. Villa defeated again.

 

The news reported a Villa defeat.

Henry Ford Abandons His Peace Ship

Last edition:

Wednesday, December 22, 1915. Hartmannswillerkopf ends.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Alsace-Lorraine, Battle of Hartmannswillerkopf, Mexican Border War, Mexican Revolution, World War One

Thursday, November 5, 1925. The Big Parade.

 

Released on this day in 1925, the film is regarded as one of the greatest films about World War One.

The picture also would be associated with a level of tragedy for its stars.  John Gilbert died in 1936 at age 38 due to alcoholism.  He managed to marry four times in his short life, and was not married at the time of his death.  His costar in the film, Renee Adoree made the transition to sound movies, but died in 1933 at age 35 of tuberculosis.  She'd married twice, but was not married at the time of her death.

Born in the Russian Empire, with his true name never definitively learned, Sidney Reilly, a British spy, was executed by the Soviets.

He had a prolific career as a spy, leading to his nickname as The Ace of Spies.  He was reported a model for James Bond.  Early in his life as an emigre he went by the last name of Rosenblum, which would suggest Jewish heritage.  In the late 19th Century he seems to have worked for Scotland Yard as a paid informant on immigrant matters.  He married widow Margaret Thomas at Holborn Registry Office in London in 1898 after her husband had died under conditions that suggested poisoning, something of note as Rosenblum was working as sort of a herbalist at the time.  She was wealthy and that, by extension, made him wealthy.  Soon after that, he began his career as a spy, spying for the British and the Japanese in the lead up to the Russo Japanese War.

While it is difficult to determine the range of his activities, it is claimed that:

• He pretended to be a Russian arms merchant to spy on Dutch weapons shipments to the Boers during the Boer War.
• He obtained intelligence on Russian military defences in Manchuria for the Kempeitai.
• He obtained Persian oil concessions for the British Admiralty in events surrounding the D'Arcy Concession.
• He infiltrated a Krupp armaments plant in prewar Germany and stole weapon plans.
• He seduced the wife of a Russian minister to glean information about German weapons shipments to Russia.
• He attempted to overthrow the Russian Bolshevik government and to rescue the imprisoned Romanov family, actions which lead to his being sentenced to death in absentia.
• He served as a courier to transport the forged Zinoviev letter into the United Kingdom.

He had been lured by into the Soviet Union by the Cheka, posing as anti Soviet agents.

It's difficult to tell the overall truth of his activities.  British intelligence is notoriously able to keep its secrets for one thing.  Reilly was good at keeping them as well, and as he worked for various entities he had a strong reason to.  Like the James Bond character that's supposedly based upon him, he had a strong affinity for women and married up to three or four times, with other alleged affairs in addition.  His last marriage was to actress Pepita Bobadilla.

Last edition:

Wednesday, November 4, 1925. Now or then?

Labels: 1920s, 1925, 1925 Election, Democratic Party, History repeating itself or at least rhyming, New Jersey, New York

Wednesday, October 20, 1915. Arms okay for Carranza.

The impact of Woodrow Wilsons' administration recognizing Carranza, whose followers had blown off the Convention of Aguascalientes, and who personally hated the United States, was becoming immediately clear.

Arms to Carranza. . . that would tip the scales for sure.

While Wilson had his hand on the scale of the Mexican Revolution, he was issuing a proclaimation about American Thanksgiving.

President Wilson issued a proclamation regarding Thanksgiving.

Proclamation 1316—Thanksgiving Day, 1915

October 20, 1915

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

It has long been the honoured custom of our people to turn in the fruitful autumn of the year in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for His many blessings and mercies to us as a nation. The year that is now drawing to a close since we last observed our day of national thanksgiving has been, while a year of discipline because of the mighty forces of war and of change which have disturbed the world, also a year of special blessing for us.

Another year of peace has been vouchsafed us; another year in which not only to take thought of our duty to ourselves and to mankind but also to adjust ourselves to the many responsibilities thrust upon us by a war which has involved almost the whole of Europe. We have been able to assert our rights and the rights of mankind without breach of friendship with the great nations with whom we have had to deal; and while we have asserted rights we have been able also to perform duties and exercise privileges of succour and helpfulness which should serve to demonstrate our desire to make the offices of friendship the means of truly disinterested and unselfish service. Our ability to serve all who could avail themselves of our services in the midst of crisis has been increased, by a gracious Providence, by more and more abundant crops. our ample financial resources have enabled us to steady the markets of the world and facilitate necessary movements of commerce which the war might otherwise have rendered impossible; and our people have come more and more to a sober realization of the part they have been called upon to play in a time when all the world is shaken by unparalleled distresses and disasters. The extraordinary circumstances of such a time have done much to quicken our national consciousness and deepen and confirm our confidence in the principles of peace and freedom by which we have always sought to be guided. Out of darkness and perplexity have come firmer counsels of policy and clearer perceptions of the essential welfare of the nation. We have prospered while other peoples were at war, but our prosperity has been vouchsafed us, we believe, only that we might the better perform the functions which war rendered it impossible for them to perform.

Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Thursday the twenty-fifth of November next as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, and invite the people throughout the land to cease from their wonted occupations and in their several homes and places of worship render thanks to Almighty God.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this twentieth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifteen and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and fortieth.

Signature of Woodrow Wilson

Louis Botha, once a Boer General, of the South African Party won the 1915 South African general election and retained power.

French forces reached the town of Krivolak on the Vardar river in Vardar Macedonia. The British dug in at a mountain pass near Kosturino and Doiran Like.

The Ottoman Empire brought an end to Armenian resistance at Urfa.

The British Commonwealth recognized women as bus and tram operators for the duration, something that had been going on for some time.

Sweden established the Swedish Infantry Officers College.

Whatever It Is, I’m Against It: Today -100: October 20, 1915: With bleeding heart ...: Headline of the Day -100:  Male voters in New Jersey reject women’s suffrage in the referendum by roughly 133,000 to 184,000. It los...

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 19, 1915. The US extends recognition to Carranza.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Bulgaria, Constitutionalist Army, Italy, Mexican Border War, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, Russia, Texas, Texas (Brownsville), Venustiano Carranza, World War One

Sunday, October 7, 1900. Birth of a monster.

Heinrich Himmler was born in Munich.  Unlike Hitler, the future orchestrator of the Holocaust did not see combat in World War One, being in officer training when the war ended.

It's odd think that he was only 44 when World War Two ended.

Last edition:

Saturday, October 6, 1900. Orange.

Labels: 1900, 1900s, Boer War, British Empire, Orange Free State, South Africa

A look at the later lives of Wounded Knees' Twenty Medal of Honor recipients.

Wounded Knee, the Massacre, has been back in the news this past week due to wannabe "War" Secretary Hegseth determining that the review of the Medals of Honor awarded for action there is over, and the now long dead soldiers will keep their medals.  We posted on that here:

Lex Anteinternet: Today In Wyoming's History: Reviewing the Wounded ...: Today In Wyoming's History: Reviewing the Wounded Knee Medals of Honor. :  Reviewing the Wounded Knee Medals of Honor. Sgt. Toy receivin...

But, what happened to the Medal of Honor recipients from Wounded Knee?  

Most thinking people recall the incident with horror, inkling, frankly towards a genocidal view of the massacre, and not without good reason.  But at the time, the Army honored those who participated in the battle at an unprecedented rate.

What became of them?

Let's take a look.

• Sergeant William Austin, cavalry, directed fire at Indians in ravine at Wounded Knee

William Austin has the unusual distinction of having been born in Texas (Galveston) but having entered the service in New York City.

Austin left the Army in 1892 to enter the cotton business.  He served again in the Georgia National Guard during the Philippine Insurrection, and then returned to civilian life and ultimately had an automobile dealership.  He served again as a Reserve Quartermaster during World War One.  He was married three times.  His first marriage to an actress ended in divorce, and he outlived his second wife.

He lived in California in his later years and died in Palo Alto in 1929 at age 61 by which time he looked quite old by modern standards.  All in all, he had lead a pretty successful life.

• Private Mosheim Feaster, cavalry, extraordinary gallantry at Wounded Knee;

Feaster was a career soldier who served until 1914, having served at some point as a lieutenant..  He died in 1950 at age 82.

Oddly, for a very long serving soldier who was commissioned at some point, finding details on him is next to impossible.

Or perhaps it's not so odd.  His commission was probably a wartime one, and he was a career enlisted man otherwise.

He was born in Pennsylvania, and died in California.

• Private Mathew Hamilton, cavalry, bravery in action at Wounded Knee;

Hamilton was a Scottish immigrant and was 25 years old at the time of Wounded Knee.  He had not, like many Irish immigrants, immediately joined the Army upon arriving in the United States.  He also wouldn't make a career out of the Army, leaving it, as a Sergeant, in 1899, having served in the Spanish American War.  He took his discharge from the Army while in Cuba, and then went to work as a packer contracter to the Army in Cuba.

His ultimate fate is unknown.

• Private Joshua B. Hartzog, artillery, rescuing commanding officer who was wounded and carried him out of range of hostile guns at Wounded Knee;

Hartzog rose to the rank of sergeant but did not remain in the Army.  Following his time in the Army, he returned to his native Ohio and married in 1894.  He moved to Alabama with his wife thereafter, but his wife soon died.  He remarried in 1918, but divorced and remarried again in 1923.  He died in 1939.

• Private Marvin Hillock, cavalry, distinguished bravery at Wounded Knee;

Hillock was born in Michigan to an Irish American family (his father was a Canadian).  He left the Army soon after Wounded Knee and became a miner in Lead, South Dakota.  He contracted sort of a shotgun marriage soon thereafter but it did not last long, although that may have meant that his spouse died.  He married again, albeit unsuccessfully, and seems to have relocated to Ontario for a time and then disappeared.

• Sergeant Bernhard Jetter, cavalry, distinguished bravery at Wounded Knee for "killing an Indian who was in the act of killing a wounded man of B Troop."

Bernhard Jetter was born in the Kingdom of Württemberg and first joined the Army in 1883.  He left the Army in 1896 with a "special" discharge, probably indicating a service disability, and married for a second time in 1916.  Nothing is known of his first wife, other than that she had died.  He moved to Brooklyn and died at age 65.

• Sergeant George Loyd, cavalry, bravery, especially after having been severely wounded through the lung at Wounded Knee;

Loyd was Irish born and joined the Army in 1866, the year after the Civil War at which point there was a huge turnover in the Army.  He had been at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

He killed himself, while still a serving soldier, at Ft. Riley in 1892, at which time the 49 year old Loyd was regarded as an old soldier.

• Sergeant Albert McMillain, cavalry, while engaged with Indians concealed in a ravine, he assisted the men on the skirmish line, directed their fire, encouraged them by example, and used every effort to dislodge the enemy at Wounded Knee;

McMillian is very unusual in that he was a school teacher, the son of a U.S. Senator, and had attended Princeton prior to his enlistment in the U.S. Army.  He seems to have been what some would refer to as a soldier of fortune.  He was court-martialed for using vile language towards a woman in 1892, and left the Army at the end of his enlistment.  He moved to  St. Paul, Minnesota and entered the University of Minnesota where he earned a Bachelor of Law degree in 1894, that being a "law degree" before reformist elements in the law converted the basic degree to a doctorate.  He worked for West Publishing Company, the premier legal publisher even today, thereafter as an editor.  He suffered a nervous breakdown at that time and his fortunes declined thereafter.

McMillian was likely a sensitive man, and he's  a 19th and early 20th Century example of PTSD.  He likely couldn't overcome what he'd witnesses, and had been awarded a medal for, at Wounded Knee.  He served as a Red Cross driver in World War One.

After Wounded Knee he requested that he be reduced to the rank of Private.  His request was refused.

• Private Thomas Sullivan, cavalry, conspicuous bravery in action against Indians concealed in a ravine at Wounded Knee;

Sullivan was an Irish immigrant who moved to the US at age 28 and immediately entered the Army.  He made a career of the Army and retired as a First Sergeant after 23 years of service, which would indicate that he likely retired early due to medical reasons.  He served in the Spanish American WAr and the Philippine Insurrection.

Sullivan married after he left the service and took up various employments, including policemen.  His wife Ellen was also an Irish immigrant.  He died in 1940 at age 80.

• First Sergeant Jacob Trautman, cavalry, killed a hostile Indian at close quarters, and, although entitled to retirement from service, remained to close of the campaign at Wounded Knee;

Trautman was a German born Civil War veteran who retired from the Army in 1891.  He died in 1898 of a stroke at age 58 while living in Pennsylvania, which is where he had originally entered the service from, first serving in a Pennsylvania cavalry unit.

Information on Trautman is hard to find, but an interesting aspect of this is that his first and last name are most commonly associated with people of the Jewish faith.  That doesn't mean he was Jewish, but a person has to wonder.

• Sergeant James Ward, cavalry, continued to fight after being severely wounded at Wounded Knee;

Ward was a first generation American from an Irish family in Quincy, Massachusetts.  He was the second of seven children.  He left a bricklaying job to join the Arm in 1876 and had been first stationed at Ft. Laramie.  His last enlistment, the one he was on during Wounded Knee, was short, indicating that he was discharged for medical reasons.  He married after he left the service but his health continued to decline leading first to his paralysis, and then death in 1901.

• Corporal William Wilson, cavalry, bravery in Sioux Campaign, 1890;

Cpl Wilson is particularly unusual as he was black.  He was known as a marksman and for wearing a non regulation black leather coat and a broad brimmed hat.  He is the only black soldier to have won the Medal of Honor at Wounded Knee and the last black soldier to win it on American soil.

He deserted the Army in 1893, with  his rifle, after being detailed to a rifle match.  Desertion wasn't that big of deal at the time, and he returned to Maryland, where he married and had seven children.  He died in 1928 at the age of 58.

Desertion in the 19th Century Army was extremely common, although taking your firearms was regarded as bad form.

• Private Hermann Ziegner, cavalry, conspicuous bravery at Wounded Knee;

Ziegner was born to Hugo and Lena Ziegner in Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and emigrated to the United States when he was 14 years old.  He enlisted in the Army in 1889. He left the Army after eight years of service and married, but served again in the Spanish American War where he was a sergeant and later the first sergeant of Company E, 71st New York Infantry. He went up San Juan Hill in the famous charge.  He died of service induced malaria in 1898 at age 34, his family being reduced to poverty as he suffered through it.

Whatever his service at Wounded Knee entailed, his service in Cuba was clear, and he, and his family, suffered for it.  Curiously, his tombstone notes only his service in the Indian Wars and his rank, at the time, of private.

• Musician John Clancy, artillery, twice voluntarily rescued wounded comrades under fire of the enemy.

Clancy is hard to find dentils on.  He was a New Yorker who joined the Army at aged 19 and he left the Army in 1894.  He died, oddly enough, at the home of the cavalry, Ft. Riley, in 1934 at age 64.

• Lieutenant Ernest Garlington, cavalry, distinguished gallantry;

Garlington was a West Point graduate who received accelerated advancement, at a time in which Army appointments were very much by regiment, due to the losses at Little Big Horn.  He served as inspector general in Cuba during the Spanish–American War and participated in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, obtaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  He was retired from the Army as a General in 1917 due to age.  He died in 1934 at age 81.

• First Lieutenant John Chowning Gresham, cavalry, voluntarily led a party into a ravine to dislodge Sioux Indians concealed therein. He was wounded during this action.

Gresham was a career soldier who retired as a Colonel in 1915, and then had a position in the California National Guard during World War One as a ROTC instructor.  He died in 1926 at age 74.

• Second Lieutenant Harry Hawthorne, artillery, distinguished conduct in battle with hostile Indians;

Hawthorne is perhaps the most eccentric of the Wounded Knee MoH winners as he was a Naval Academy graduate who after a brief hitch in the Navy, transferred to the Army.  He served in the Spanish American War and was the military attache to Japan from 1909 to 1911.  During World War One he served as the  Inspector General in the Panama Canal Zone and was awarded the Purple Heart (oddly) and a Silver Star. He retired as a Colonel in 1919 after World War One and died in 1948 at age 88.

• Private George Hobday, cavalry, conspicuous and gallant conduct in battle;

Hobday was an English immigrant who enlisted in the Army in 1868 and at the time of Wounded Knee was a very old soldier, being 48 years of age.  He died of pneumonia in 1891 while still a serving soldier.

• First Sergeant Frederick Toy, cavalry, bravery; 

Toy was a career soldier with an exemplary service record.  He served as an orderly to President Theodore Roosevelt and was recalled from retirement as a training officer during World War One.  He died in 1933 at age 67.

• Corporal Paul Weinert, artillery, taking the place of his commanding officer who had fallen severely wounded, he gallantly served his piece, after each fire advancing it to a better position

We know know that this fire may have resulted in many innocent deaths, including that of women and children.  Weinert probably knew that at the the time and stated upon being informed that he'd be awarded the Medal of Honor that he had expected to be court-martialed..

Weinert was a German from Frankfurt, he served two hitches in the Army, the second one during the  Spanish American War.  He died in 1919, at age 49.

So what can we draw from all of this?

Well, perhaps not much, but we can glean some interesting facts and make a few conclusions.

One thing is, and we'll start with the Weinert comment, at least some soldiers appreciated right at the time that the battle had turned into a massacre.  Weinert's comments showed that he appreciated that the "battle" had taken unnecessary lives and had descended into a massacre.  McMillain's request to be returned to the grade of private says something similar, as does his difficulties in life thereafter.

Not all of the soldiers, however, seem to have been bothered by what they experienced, which in spite of our modern assumptions to the contrary, if fairly common, and franky disturbing.  We'd like to think that we'd appreciate the horror of a thing right from the onset of it, but many people frankly don't.

The number of career soldiers who won the MoH is surprising. That is, it's surprising so many of them were career men.  Most soldiers in the Army have always been sort of passing through, but many of these troops were not and stayed in for as long as they could.

That might partially be because so many of these men were immigrants, eight out of the twenty, and several more were first generation Americans.  The Army had been a haven for immigrants, and in particular Irish and German immigrants.  These awards show that.

Some disappeared.  It'd be difficult for a Medal of Honor recipient to do that today, but as we've noted, the Medal of Honor was not as rare then, as it is now, being the only medal the U.S. awarded.

We'd like to think the men were haunted by their roles in what is now widely regarded as an atrocity.  But, most don't seem to have been.  The number who left the service and then returned for later wars suggests that they retained either a loyalty or some sense of fondness for military life, in spite of the horrors they'd participated in.  Only McMillain seems to have been the exception.