The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-10-21
HONOR IS
FOR LOCAL HERO
Colonel Mccarthy is Voted
Gold Medal

! Colonel Michael Mccarthy, 5O2 Boy
! er Ave-. the only member of the Med
al of Honor legion in the state of
Washington, and one of the 39S to
whom this medal has been granted by
tne United States during our history,
! has been identified recently for new
| medal which has just been voted by
congress. The new medal is a gold one,
and while it is to replace the bronze
one in the future, those who have al
ready received their bronze medals
will cling to them as the most precious
of the possessions and ones which can
never be replaced.
These medals are granted only for
great personal valor in action They
greatest bravery that man can per-
| form. They are to the United States
all and more, that he Victoria cross is
| to England. They have been granted
fewer times than the Victoria cross and
! are recOgnitions of only the greatest
valor. Deeds Which would bring the
~. c." would never bring the medal
of honor granted by the United States
! RoOsevelts action in the Spanish war
would have earned him the English
| badge of bravery, but in The United
| States his claim was dismissed be-
cause he did no more than any other
soldier
To win one means the risk of ones
| life. usually several times over, as was
the case when Col Mccarthy earned
his. A short history of the event will
be interesting.
Escape Almost Miracle.
| l. was on June 16, 1877, that two
companies of United States troops
! found themselves surrounded by In
dians with only one way of retreat left
open. This was up a canyon and in
and six men were left onsa command
ing point, 20 cover the two companies
as they slipped up the canyon to
safety.
Surrounded by Indians, the seven
men fought like demons. "McCarthy
was truly Omnipresent, now fighting,
now helping a poor dismounted COM
rade from the enemy's grasp Every
where he was the prominent figure and
it was only after two. horses had
been shot under him and the third
! wounded his six companions killed
| tnat the brave young man took a
thought of his own safety. Seeing the
| futility of further fighting. after his
comrades had been killed by a hand-to-
handfight-but not before scores of the
! enemy fel-he slipped into the brush
! to hide, gnasning his teeth because he
could do nothing further.
Deceived the Indians.
/ His boots were spied by squaW who
was mutilating the dead bodies and
robbing them. Quickly he slipped out
j of them and the Indians never thought
any one could have escaped. After sew
eral days of wandering barefoot and
half starved, he joined his command.
appearing as almost a ghost to the men
whose lives he had saved and who had
given him up long before as dead. This
| is, in brief, the history Of Col McCar-
! thys gallant action. In granting the
medal, r. A. Alger, secretary of war,
tells why the board granted it in the
following manner.
As Told by Alger.
I'm The action with hostile Indians
at White Bird Canyon, Idaho, by
this man with six other men, was de-
tailed to hold commanding point but
the troops fell back and he was left
unsupported. With great gallaLtry he
held the post and fought his assailants.
He thought he had been abandoned for
dead but fought his way through the
victorious Indians and Joined fraction
of the routed command. and continued
The fight in retreat. He had two norses
shot from uEder him and was taken
prisoner, Out ellctleu HIS CocobC
reported for duty after three days OF
hiding and wandering in the noun
tains''
The order for the medal is dated
Nov 25, 1897.
Col Mccarthy is, like all true ne
roes extremely modest about the mat
ter and will say nothing at all con-
cerning it. He has his medal ana ne
is proud of it. but there is LothlnS
boastful or vainglorious about the man
who risked his life to cover the re-
trea- of the two companies.
The colonel has the bullet Whlch
wounded the third horse he rode IN
the action. He has the watch Whlch
he wore at that time and which mas
never been wound since. He has prloles
and other mementoes of famous lndlan
chiefs which he took while soldier
OH the frontier.