William R . Parnell William Russell Parnell ( 13 August 1836 – 20 August 1910 ) was an Irish - born adventurer and soldier during the mid - to late 19th century . A member of the 17th Lancers during the Crimean War , he was one of the few survivors of the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade . He later became a Major and brevet Colonel in the U . S . Army participating in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars . Parnell served as an officer to the 1st U . S . Cavalry in the Nez Perce War and received the Medal of Honor for leading a rescue of troops , and personally saving the life of a fallen trooper , at the Battle of White Bird Canyon in 1877 . Biography . William Russell Parnell was born in Dublin , Ireland on 13 August 1836 . He may have been a distant relative of Irish nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell . At age 18 , Parnell enlisted in the British Army serving with the 4th Hussars and , during the Crimean War , with the 17th Lancers . He took part in the now infamous Charge of the Light Brigade and was one of its few survivors . He also saw action at the siege and capture of Sevastopol in 1855 . In 1860 , Parnell arrived in the United States and joined the U . S . Army in Brooklyn , New York when the American Civil War began the following year . He became a member of the 4th Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry , popularly known as " Dickel ' s Mounted Rifles " , serving primarily with the Army of the Potomac . During the first two years of the war , he was part of Colonel Louis Blenker ' s campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia . He also saw action at the battles of Cross Keys , Port Republic , Cedar Mountain , and the Second Battle of Bull Run . With the Cavalry Corps , he also fought at the battles of Fredericksburg , Beverly Ford , Brandy Station , Stoneman ' s Raid , Aldie , and Middleburg . On 21 June 1863 , he was captured after leading a failed cavalry charge at the Battle of Upperville and briefly held as a prisoner - of - war . He escaped two months later and made his way to Petersburg , West Virginia where he was reunited with his regiment . He later saw action at the battles of the Wilderness , Spotsylvania , Trevilian Station , Petersburg , Lee ' s Mills , Winchester and Cedar Creek among other engagements . He had been shot in the left hip at Upperville , the bullet embedding itself in the bone , and his doctor decided against removing it . He also sustained a number of saber cuts at the battle . One of them severed the bone in his nose . He received no medical attention for it and the bone gradually corroded and fell away " leaving a gaping hole in the roof of his mouth " and making it difficult for him to speak . Parnell had a metal plate made to cover the roof of his mouth allowing him to talk but also raising the pitch in his voice . The plate was very fragile and throughout his life Parnell was fearful he might break it . The plate would break six years later and he had to travel to Portland to have another one made and inserted . Parnell ' s war record was especially considered exceptional . He was wounded in battle several times , brevetted twice and had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel by the end of the war . After being mustered out of volunteer service , he applied to join the Regular Army . On 3 February 1866 , Parnell was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 1st U . S . Cavalry and won promotion to first lieutenant within eight months . In the summer of 1867 , he and his company were sent to California where he was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Crook to take action against hostile Indians active on the Pit River . He was later appointed head of the 1st Cavalry by Crook . At the Battle of Infernal Caverns on 26 – 28 September 1867 , Parnell was wounded by an arrow and brevetted for gallantry . He again served with Crook a year later battling Indians at Dunder and Blitzen Creek in Oregon on 14 March 1868 . During 1872 - 73 , Parnell also saw action with Captain David Perry in the Modoc War and in many other campaigns in the Pacific Northwest during the 1870s . He later penned a poem entitled " The Infernal Caverns " which appeared in the " Army and Navy Journal " on 26 October 1872 . It was in the Nez Perce War in the Idaho Territory that Parnell particularly distinguished himself . On 17 June 1877 , at the Battle of White Bird Canyon , Parnell led a small group of soldiers through a heavy fire to rescue Sergeant Michael McCarthy and six other men who had been assigned to defend a critical defensive position . Though two of McCarthy ' s men were killed , the rest managed to safely join Parnell and continued fighting . During the battle , Parnell turned back to rescue a fallen soldier whose horse had been killed while crossing a marsh . Both Parnell and McCarthy received the Medal of Honor for their heroic efforts . He also fought at the Battle of the Clearwater on 11 – 12 July 1877 , and , in the Bannock campaign , at Birch Creek on 8 July and John Day ' s River crossing on 20 July 1878 . In February 1879 , Parnell was put in command of 10 men , with an interpreter and guide , and given a special orders to go to Okanagau Pass . It was extremely difficult to travel to , especially given the harsh winter conditions , and the party had to pass through British Columbia . At the conclusion of this assignment , he was promoted to the rank of captain on 7 April 1879 . He spent the next several years at various frontier outposts in the Pacific Northwest , including duty at the Western Shoshone Indian Reservation in August 1881 , and eventually retired from active service on 11 February 1887 , due to injuries suffered in the line of duty . He became a major and placed on the retirement list in 1904 , and spent the last ten years of his life as a military instructor at Saint Matthews Episcopal Day School in San Mateo , California . He died in San Francisco , California on 20 August 1910 , after falling from a street car and interred at the San Francisco National Cemetery . Medal of Honor citation . Rank and organization : First Lieutenant , 1st U . S . Cavalry . Place and date : At White Bird Canyon , Idaho , 17 June 1877 . Entered service at : New York . Birth : Ireland . Date of issue : 16 September 1897 . Citation : With a few men , in the face of a heavy fire from pursuing Indians and at imminent peril , returned and rescued a soldier whose horse had been killed and who had been left behind in the retreat . External links . city