Neil Bancroft (1846–1901) was an American soldier in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

who served with the

7th U.S. Cavalry The 7th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army cavalry regiment formed in 1866. Its official nickname is "Garryowen", after the Irish air " Garryowen" that was adopted as its march tune. The regiment participated in some of the largest ba ...

during the

Black Hills War The Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of battles and negotiations that occurred in 1876 and 1877 in an alliance of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne against the United States. The cause of the war was the ...

. In 1878, he was one of 22 soldiers who received the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

at the

Battle of the Little Bighorn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

and who carried water "under a most galling fire" from the Little Bighorn River to the wounded soldiers on

Reno Hill The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

.Beyer, Walter F. and Oscar Frederick Keydel, ed. ''Deeds of Valor: From Records in the Archives of the United States Government; how American Heroes Won the Medal of Honor; History of Our Recent Wars and Explorations, from Personal Reminiscences and Records of Officers and Enlisted Men who Were Rewarded by Congress for Most Conspicuous Acts of Bravery on the Battle-field, on the High Seas and in Arctic Explorations''. Vol. 2. Detroit: Perrien-Keydel Company, 1906. (pg. 221)Dustin, Fred. ''The Custer Tragedy: Events Leading Up To and Following the Little Big Horn Campaign of 1876''. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Edwards Brothers, 1939. (pg. 231)Chandler, Melbourne C. ''Of GarryOwen in Glory: The History of the Seventh United States Cavalry Regiment''. Annandale, Virginia: The Turnpike Press, 1960. (pg. 397, 432)Magnussen, Daniel O., ed. ''Peter Thompson's Narrative of the Little Bighorn Campaign, 1876: A Critical Analysis of an Eyewitness Account of the Custer Debacle''. Glendale, California: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1974. (pg. 315) Brininstool, E.A. ''A Trooper with Custer, and Other Historic Incidents of the Battle of the Little Big Horn''. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1975. (pg. 182) Hammer, Kenneth M., ed. ''Custer in '76: Walter Camp's Notes on the Custer Fight''. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1976. (pg. 113, 115, 270) Manning, Robert, ed. ''Above and Beyond: A History of the Medal of Honor from the Civil War to Vietnam''. Boston: Boston Publishing Company, 1985. (pg. 325) O'Neal, Bill. ''Fighting Men of the Indian Wars: A Biographical Encyclopedia of the Mountain Men, Soldiers, Cowboys, and Pioneers Who Took Up Arms During America's Westward Expansion''. Stillwater, Oklahoma: Barbed Wire Press, 1991. (pg. 31) Schoenberger, Dale T. ''The End of Custer: The Death of an American Military Legend''. Surrey, British Columbia: Hancock House Publishers, 1995. (pg. 243) Russell, Jerry L., ed. ''1876 Facts About Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn''. New York: Da Capo Press, 1999. (pg. 36) Scott, Douglas D., P. Willey and Melissa A. Connor. ''They Died With Custer: Soldiers' Bones from the Battle of the Little Bighorn''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. (pg. 39) Hatch, Thom. ''The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life of George Armstrong Custer and the Plains Indian Wars''. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2002. (pg. 242) Yenne, Bill. ''Indian Wars: The Campaign for the American West''. Yardley, Pennsylvania: Westholme Publishing, 2006. (pg. 207) Brust, James S., Brian C. Pohanka and Sandy Barnard. ''Where Custer Fell: Photographs of the Little Bighorn Battlefield Then and Now''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. (pg. 196) Bancroft left military service two months before the men of his regiment were issued the award. His medal was returned to the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * Dep ...

because of this and, consequently, he remained unaware that he was an MOH recipient. When it was finally decided to locate him years later, it was found that Bancroft had died.

Biography

Neil Bancroft was born in

Oswego, New York Oswego () is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 16,921 at the 2020 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in Upstate New York, about 35 miles (55km) northwest of Syracuse. It promotes itself as "The Port C ...

in 1846. At age 18, he enlisted in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

on September 20, 1873. Sent to the frontier, he was assigned to Troop A of the

then under the command of

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

. He saw action during the

and, during the

in June 1876, he was among the many soldiers who carried water "under a most galling fire" from the Little Bighorn River to the wounded soldiers at the Reno-Benteen site for much of the engagement. All of the Little Bighorn water carriers received the

for their "extraordinary bravery" on October 5, 1878. Bancroft, however, had left the service two months earlier and his medal was simply returned to the

. Throughout his life, Bancroft was unaware that he had received the nation's highest honor. By the time the government tracked down Bancroft to officially issue his medal, it was discovered he had died. His medal was eventually put on display in the

Smithsonian Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

in Washington, D.C. where it remains to the present day.

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 7th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Little Big Horn, Mont., June 25, 1876. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Birth: Oswego, N.Y. Date of issue: October 5, 1878. Citation:

Brought water for the wounded under a most galling fire.

Biography

Medal of Honor citation

See also

References

Further reading