Sgt. Patrick
James Leonard and his four men crouched behind their fallen horses, trading
shots with a band of 50 Indians hell-bent on wiping out Company C of the 2nd
U.S. Cavalry.
Leonard and his men had been
searching for stray horses near Little Blue, Nebraska, when the Cheyenne and
Pawnee attacked May 17, 1879, and pinned them down for more than two hours.
Time and again, the Indians
charged. Time and again, they were beaten back by bullets. The Indians fled
only after a party of surveyors happened by and helped the soldiers.
Leonard won a Medal of Honor
--- awarded by Congress on June 22, 1870-- for bravery that day, which
included saving two women settlers and a 10 year old child.
But you wouldn't know it by
looking at his tombstone in rural Norton County. For more than 88 years,
that simple gravestone has carried no notice that Leonard won the nation's
highest military honor.
That will change Aug. 15,
when 40 to 50 of Leonard's descendants will dedicate a Medal of Honor
memorial stone in his name at St. Joseph cemetery in New Almelo, Ks., a
small town 30 miles southwest of Norton, Ks., in northwest Kansas.
The 20 minute ceremony
performed by Veterans of Foreign Wars honor guards from Norton and
Jennings, has been planned by Sonny Wells of Liberty, Missouri, a researcher
for the Medal of Honor Historical Society, which has been marking the graves
of forgotten recipients since 1981.
"We're proud of
him," said Doris Organ LaCount of Wichita, one of Leonard's
granddaughters, " We didn't know him - he died before any of us was
born - but they said he was a great guy, as a soldier and as a farmer
afterwards. He helped people around him."
Leonard was born May 19,
1847, in Meath, Ireland. He was a 21 year old tobacconist when he joined the
Navy as a seaman on March 16, 1865, in Cincinnati. Although it was a
two-year enlistment, Leonard was discharged Aug 20, of that year in Mound
City, Ill.
"I think that this is
the most formidable attempt that the Indians have made since 1864.
There must have been nearly ( 100 ) One Hundred in the band altogether, and
their intention evidently was to "clean out" both the Little
Blue and Spring Creek," wrote commanding officer Capt. E.J. Spaulding,
who recommended Leonard and his men for the Medal of Honor in a report dated
May 23, 1870.
Leonard was discharged Sept.
12, 1872, at Camp Willow, Nebr. He enlisted a third time May 1, 1876, at
Fort Saunders in Indiana Territory and was discharged at Fort Custer in
Montana on March 9, 1880.
He settled in Lenora in
Norton County where he farmed and operated a hardware store for many years.
Leonard was 51 when he died Jan. 24, 1899, at St Joseph's Hospital in Kansas
City, MO., from complications during surgery on a large tumor caused by an
old war wound.
Family members always knew
that Leonard had won the Medal of Honor, but it wasn't until last year that
they researched his military records and learned he qualified for a free
memorial from the Society, a private group that works with the graves of
more than 3,400 American heroes who have won the Medal of Honor.
" I think it's
nice," said Louise Organ Austerman, another granddaughter. " We
probably should have done it a long time ago, but the family just didn't
know how to go about getting recognition."
Leonard's Medal of Honor is
kept locked up in a safe-deposit box in Wichita. The new grave marker will
be the family's reminder to the rest of the world of their ancestor's
gallantry.
" I think he would have
been proud." LaCount said. "It took a while, but now he's
getting the recognition he deserves."
Taken from the Norton
Courier: Jan.26, 1899
PATRICK J. LEONARD DIED JAN.
24, 1899
Pat Leonard, one of the old
settlers of Lenora, prominent in business and political circles was brought
home Wed., morning a corpse. He and his family went to Kansas City some days
ago where Mr. Leonard underwent a surgical operation from which he bled to
death, not with standing every effort was made to save him, even to the
extent of drawing blood from a friend so far as could be safely done.
Lenora Items Feb. 2, 1899
Last week we mentioned about
Mr. P.J. Leonard gong to Kansas City to have a tumor removed from his leg. A
tumor weighing 50 lbs. was removed and as the loss of blood left him very
weak, a pint and a half of blood, taken from another person, was injected
into his arm. After this for a time he appeared to rally, until some stomach
trouble set in and he died Tuesday evening. He was brought home and
laid to rest in the Catholic Cemetery west of town. He was a member of the
Order of the Workman at the time of his death. The bereaved family have the
most sincere sympathy of the entire community.
Feb. 23, 1899
Messrs Tillotson, Saum and
Callaway have been taking an inventory of the estate of the late P.J.
Leonard. At present they are invoicing the hardware at Dresden, which store
has been run by a brother of the deceased.
Note: Doris Organ LaCount and
Louise Organ Austerman, both of Wichita, and Jack Noone of Jennings,
Ks., were cousins and grandchildren of P.J. Leonard. ( The girls mother
and Jack's mother were sisters )
