The sun., 1919-09-02
Medals Of Honor OF Colonel Gar
diner and Others.

diner and Others.
A section of the national defence
act of June 3, 1916, provided that all
past awards and issues of the Congress
sional Medal of Honor should be in
vestigated by a board Of retired Off
GERS with view to ascertaining what
medals, If any, had been awarded or
issued "for any cause other than dis
tinguished conduct by an officer or en-
listed man in action involving actual
conflict with an enemy By such officer
OF enlisted man or by troops with which
he was serving at the time of such
action" The act provided that in any
case where it was found that the
medal was issued under other circum-
stances the name of the recipient
should be stricken from the official
medal list. 1t was made a misde-
meanor for a person whose name was
deleted to wear the medal; and in the
event of the possessor being still In
the army the act declared that he
must return the medal.
This was the board, with Lieuten-
ant-General NELSON A. Miles, re-
tired, as its president, which called
upon Colonel ASA BIRD GARDINER, a
few months before his death, to re-
turn the Medal Of Honor held by
him. AS the boards findings have
been made public in a communication
from Secretary BAKER to the Senate
IL Is possible not only to pierce the
little veil Of mystery which seemed
to hang over Colonel GARDENERS
medal but to discover the thoughts
Of the Investigators about the award
of medals to certain other noted per-
sons, like DR.. MARY WALKER and
Buffalo BILL.
1t appears that ON September s,
1872, Colonel GARDINER wrote a letter
to BELKNAP, the Secretary of War, who
was afterward impeached in the post
trader scandal, applying for the medal
because he had volunteered his ser
vices in the Pennsylvania and Mary
land campaign, 1868, and was recon-
mended for brevet." In the last para
graph of this letter Colonel GARDINER
said: II understand there are a num-
Der of bronze medals for distribution
10 soldiers of the late war, and request
may be allowed one as IL souvenir of
memorable times now past" The rec
ords of the War Department show
that GARDINER's request was approved
by BELKNAP, but when the question
rose, in 1891, whether the award
should be entered in the Army Regis
ter, General ScHoFIELp, then the COM
handing General Of the army, decided
that the medal held by GARDINER did
not appear to have been formally
granted land cannot be classed as one
of the Medals of Honor" Under
these circumstances 1t is not surpris-
ing to find that the recent investi-
gators put the GARDINER medal on
the list Of those to be stricken from
the rolls.
There are some names on the con-
siderable roster of men who received
medals to which, under the Limitations
of the national defence act, they were
not entitled who receive sympathetic
attention from the board. Colonel
Copy is one of these. He and four
other civilian scouts and guides re-
ceived medals, and the report declares
that they rendered distinguished ser
vice in action and fully earned their
medals. 1t utters the hope that a
modification Of the law-which as 1t
stands limits the medal to officers and
enlisted men-will permit these plains
men, or those, of them who still live,
to keep all their fame. Other cases
are cited Of men who came honorably
enough by their medals but who
through the phraseology of the act of
1915, are on the stricken list: JOHN B.
LYNCH, who was decorated by order
of President LINCOLN for carrying
dispatches from the Presl-
dent to General GRANT In the Wilder
ness; ]. G. HEssE and ]. X. WILSON,
who brought away the colors Of the
Eighth Infantry from San Antonio
Texas. when that post was surren-
dered to the Confederates; and the
men who guarded the
body of LINCOLN on the way from
Washington to Springfield. There is
no suggestion IN the report that DR..
MARY r. WALKER got her medal by
any dishonorable means, but the par
agraph relating to her in the boards
report Is curt enough:
This was a contract surgeon
whose service does not appear to
have been distinguished IN action or
otherwise"
Naturally the report deals at length
with the medals awarded wholesale