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N0KFQ > TODAY 16.02.08 02:01l 32 Lines 1442 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 13412_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 13
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Sent: 080212/1603Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:13412 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:13412_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@ALLUS
February 13, 1861
First Medal of Honor action
The earliest military action to be revered with a Medal of Honor
award is performed by Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin, an assistant
army surgeon serving in the first major U.S.-Apache conflict.
Near Apache Pass, in southeastern Arizona, Irwin, an Irish-born
doctor, volunteered to go to the rescue of Second Lieutenant
George N. Bascom, who was trapped with 60 men of the U.S. Seventh
Infantry by the Chiricahua Apaches. Irwin and 14 men, initially
without horses, began the 100-mile trek to Bascom's forces riding
on mules. After fighting and capturing Apaches along the way and
recovering stolen horses and cattle, they reached Bascom's forces
on February 14 and proved instrumental in breaking the siege.
The first U.S.-Apache conflict had begun several days before,
when Cochise, the Chiricahua Apache chief, kidnapped three white
men to exchange for his brother and two nephews held by the U.S.
Army on false charges of stealing cattle and kidnapping a child.
When the exchange was refused, Cochise killed the white men, and
the army responded by killing his relatives, setting off the
first of the Apache wars.
Although Irwin's bravery in this conflict was the earliest Medal
of Honor action, the award itself was not created until 1862, and
it was not until January 21, 1894, that Irwin received the
nation's highest military honor.
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